5 Things To Consider When Globalizing Your Search Engine Marketing Campaigns

Posted by Brenden in Featured Articles, PPC, Search Network, Tips & Tricks on 11 18th, 2009 | no responses

In today’s rapidly expanding e-commerce environment, affiliates need to globalize in order to thrive. This wisdom comes at just the right time, when opportunities for affiliates to put their search marketing programs on the global stage are bigger and better then ever.

Take Asia for example. Some reports suggest Asian Internet growth has increased over 200 percent in the last four years, and Brazil is reportedly Amazon.com’s 10th largest market—a market they developed without even using advertising!

So how do affiliates achieve this sort of global growth for themselves?

1. Choose Your Region Wisely

Whatever the product or service you’re promoting, make sure there is a demand for it in the country you market to. It won’t do you any good to push something on a group of people who don’t want or need what you’re selling.

As with most things related to global SEM, researching the target audience and local market trends is the best way to find out whether your product is right for the region.

2. Watch Your Language

Obviously, keyword and keyphrase research for different languages is essential to success in your global SEM campaign.

However, these tools won’t always help in dealing with linguistic subtlety: when one word can make the difference between closing a sale and offending someone’s personal sensibility. So whenever you can, you should work with skilled translators who are preferably fluent in the language and culture you’re marketing in.

To get a feel for the best regional keywords, study the different search patterns based on region and look for key insights. Little things like this matter in the bigger picture. For instance, it’s been found that Europeans tend to pluralize their searches, while US-based searchers use singular terms. Be aware also that one word can have multiple spellings within the same language, and searchers may not always include a word’s accent mark when entering their search terms.

3. Tailor Your Marketing Efforts to the Country’s Specific Culture

International SEM is much more complex than what most affiliates are used to, requiring you to grasp the regional-specific language nuances as well as the cultural differences inherent in the region you’re targeting.

So when you’re adapting a banner ad, landing page, or PPC (pay-per-click) ad for a different culture, you should go beyond merely translating content from one language to another. Try looking closely at the different regions within the country, the different dialects, and the different expressions of that culture that come as a result.

Technological considerations based on region can also play a part in your international campaigns. For example, in parts of South America and Asia, online behavior is different because people primarily use dial-up. Slower load times and poorer image rendering can mean that advanced creative doesn’t get displayed and automatically fails without ever getting seen. Take all these factors into consideration when creating marketing materials for your SEM campaigns. The more you know about the differences in each region, the better!

4. Create Local-Level Content

Try strategies like local hosting and using local country domains. Again, try to work with local translators who have native command of the language whenever possible.

Populate your sites and landing pages with original and unique content specific to the region; topics, news, issues, local affairs and trends are all great ways to add value and relevance to your campaigns.

5. Global SEM Takes Time – So Sit, Commit, and See It Through!

If you do it right, going global could open up profitable new markets. But it requires your total commitment to working hard, learning the necessary cultural nuances, and building your campaigns around that knowledge. If you do it right, you’ll have a huge advantage in starting now and working towards profitability in the long-term.