As we settle into 2017, the topic of providing a truly personalized, global, digital experience across the web has been a hot one. More and more global organizations are challenged with providing one-to-one experiences for prospects and customers who interact with their respective brands online due to lack of internal resources, disparate marketing technology platforms, and the lack of a “system of record” for prospect and customer data.

Here are some key factors to consider when trying to provide a cohesive, personalized experience across your global, digital properties.

Business First – Technology Second Approach

Your global organization’s various audiences and personas have different needs, requiring timely, relevant content that resonates and drives them to make a purchasing decision. Developing an overarching localization strategy that will help meet your business objectives is a critical step in determining which technology platforms will help support localized content, customer data collection, and provide the one-to-one digital experience many global businesses are striving for.

Once your business objectives have been identified and a customer strategy has been developed, you can begin to evaluate the appropriate technologies that can help meet your business goals as they pertain to global marketing and localization/translation, including systems for content marketing (CMS), customer relationship management (CRM), and marketing automation (MA).

Additionally, an important component to any overarching digital strategy is identifying and developing your buyer personas. Personas are the first step toward transforming your B2B or B2C marketing into the experience it really should be, human to human or H2H. Your personas will ultimately help you to manage your customers from pre-sale through post-sale interactions, on a global scale.

This “Business First – Technology Second” approach will allow your organization to identify the appropriate internal and external resources required to ensure your global marketing strategy comes to life and you are meeting your identified business goals and objectives by leveraging sound technology platforms.

Less Is More

Many global organizations are struggling with managing multiple marketing technologies and in many cases leverage multiple instances of the same platforms (such as CRM, CMS and MA), creating a tangled web of marketing technologies that are not integrated, making it difficult localize relevant content and capture prospect and customer data.

Identifying and streamlining your “core” marketing platforms will allow for cohesive management of all your global digital marketing efforts. Additionally, leveraging strong strategic partnerships is also critical in driving a successful global, digital experience for your prospects and customers.

Put Your Customers First

We should all be putting our customers first. The fact is, many companies lose sight of what’s important to their prospects and existing clients. In the digital world, tailoring the web experience to specific user needs helps to provide immersive web experiences and improve customer satisfaction and engagement. On a global scale, delivering the right content, to the right user, at the right time will help to keep them engaged by communicating effectively and gaining their trust.

Want to learn more about global marketing strategies, translation and localization tactics, and creating a truly global digital experience?

Learn more about Lionbridge’s Global Marketing Services

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