International companies know something that smaller companies can learn from: Know your audience.
You might think you know your audience, but do you really? If you think your audience is “Americans,” “Nebraskans” or “Omahans,” then you only know the most basic things about them. You need to drill down to the demographics of your audience: How old are they? What is their culture or race? What is their median income? What do they do for fun? Where and how do they spend their money? How much disposable income do they have?
Only by knowing these details, and often others, can you effectively market to your audience.
International companies often face a bigger hurdle because they have audiences around the world, in different countries where cultures vary greatly. For this reason, it’s common for these companies to have a marketing person or department in each country, as well as to keep an agency in each region (Americas, EMEA, Asia-Pacific) on retainer. And for good reason; consider this situation.
When I worked at an international software company, I was the publications editor for our two company pubs. One was product-focused, and the other — the full-color, glossy one — was industry-focused. Both were distributed to our offices and customers worldwide. As the editor, I was responsible for all editorial content, and I also proofed the layouts, ensuring that they were attractive and that the graphics and photos illustrated the articles.
For one issue, everything looked beautiful. I wasn’t in love with the cover photo, but the photo of the man sitting at home with his feet up and his laptop on his lap was fine. My manager also proofed and approved the layouts (the more eyes the better), the issue went to print, and it was sent to our offices to distribute to their customers.
All was fine until we received a phone call from our office in India. The marketing manager very politely told us that she could not distribute this publication to her customers. “Why?” we asked. “Because of the feet,” she replied.
Evidently, and unbeknownst to us at the time, showing the soles of the feet is offensive to Indian people. The cover photo of the man relaxing with his feet up? Well, that photo was a long shot, taken so that the bottoms of the man’s feet were right at the front of the photo — a no-no in India, as well as in other parts of the Middle East, Asia and some parts of Asia-Pacific.
Although we were disappointed that the publication couldn’t go out to our customers in that region, we were more thankful that we had someone working in that country and managing distribution there. Think how mortifying it would have been had we sent the pub directly to those customers.
Know your audience. Know what they like and don’t like, what they find offensive and what they want. And if you don’t know or don’t have the time to find out, then it’s time to find an expert who can help you. Whether you hire a consultant or an agency, it’s crucial to the success of your marketing and your business to know your target audience and to hit the mark with them every time.
Add your comment