Four strategies to reach global audiences

Because of this, a one-size-fits-all approach to global marketing isn't going to cut it. To make your global marketing campaigns more effective, consider applying these four strategies.

1. Content marketing in many locales

Content marketing isn't a new concept. In fact, 86 percent of B2C marketers use content marketing and 61 percent of consumers say they feel better about and are more likely to purchase from a company that delivers custom content.

With stats like these, it's hard to ignore the effectiveness of building relationships with target audiences through custom, informative content.

But are you applying these same strategies in your global efforts?

To get started, research your target audience and what kind of content is preferred and shared. What do they care about? What are they talking about? What platform should you use? For example, in China there are roughly 295 million bloggers alone-so it would make sense to circulate blog content there.

2. Localise your website

Along with localising your online content, don't forget your website. Do this for each target audience you plan to reach. If you're unable to localise your entire website, it's a good idea to let users know upfront that not every webpage is rendered in their language.

This doesn't have to be an expensive undertaking, and there are several ways to localise your website on a budget. Overall, the goal is to make it easier for your foreign audience to engage with your brand, so localising is a great place to start.

3. Multilingual SEO

Now that you have a localised website, what good is it if your target audience can't find it? That's where multilingual SEO comes into play. To be effective, you can't simply research a keyword in English and then translate it word for word.

Each keyword or phrase will need to be re-created and undergo a review process. Ideally, this should be done by in-country linguists who have expertise in this area as well as in your industry.

You may want to consider working with a language service provider who can assign pre-qualified linguists to help you discover and select keywords that your target audiences will likely use to find your products and services.

4. Global social media

Along with custom, localised content, you want to share that content through social media-but where do you start?

Again, your intended audience will determine where you should participate and which channels you should explore. While Facebook is popular in Hong Kong (with about 4.3 million active monthly users), it is blocked in mainland China. Determine where your target audience is most active and start there.

To keep up with social media's real-time needs, you may consider working with a language service provider to set up a machine translation process, with or without human editing.

This can help with flagging messages that translate as requests and even complaints-since these types of messages require a prompt response from you. You may also consider hiring in-country reviewers to monitor and respond to your audience.

Of course, this is just a sample of many effective strategies for global marketing campaigns. Have you used any of these? Got others to add?