1. Webinar Use Field Marketing To Improve Marketing Content Alignment To International Customer Needs
Peter O’Neill, Vice President, Principal Analyst
March 26, Call in at 10:55 a.m. Eastern time

2. Agenda The field marketing pendulum is in motion.
Most international tech vendors currently centralize marketing.
Tech vendors tend to localize centrally.
Effective localization involves more than just language.
Field marketing is central to an international content strategy.

3. Agenda The field marketing pendulum is in motion.
Most international tech vendors currently centralize marketing.
Tech vendors tend to localize centrally.
Effective localization involves more than just language.
Field marketing is central to an international content strategy.

4. Typical client inquiries on field marketing
“We want to reinvest in field marketing in order to grow internationally; what are the skill sets I should be recruiting?”
“How can I ensure that we all sing from the same song sheet?”

5. The field marketing pendulum

6. Typical client inquiries on field marketing
“We want to reinvest in field marketing in order to grow internationally; what are the skill sets I should be recruiting?”
“How can I ensure that we all sing from the same song sheet?”
“My central marketing colleagues have created a ‘seminar-in-a-box’ for me to execute, but it doesn’t make sense for my market. What do I do?”
“How can I make sure my point of view is heard?”

7. Agenda The field marketing pendulum is in motion.
Most international tech vendors currently centralize marketing.
Tech vendors tend to localize centrally.
Effective localization involves more than just language.
Field marketing is central to an international content strategy.

8. “Which of these best describes the geographic scope of your company?”
Half the tech vendors we interviewed for our Q MOI Online Survey operate internationally
“Which of these best describes the geographic scope of your company?”
279 companies
Base: 535 B2B high-tech marketing executives at companies with 100 or more employees
Source: Q B2B Marketing Organizations And Investments Survey

9. Their international orientation depends on their country of origin

10. Tech product vendors are the most highly centralized.
Marketing centralization prevails in the tech industry — even with international tech vendors
Tech product vendors are the most highly centralized.
Source: Q B2B Marketing Organizations And Investments Survey

11. And even global vendors have a very centralized marketing culture and processes
Source: Q B2B Marketing Organizations And Investments Survey

12. Product vendors highly centralize marketing more than services companies
“Which statement best describes how your company coordinates marketing between headquarters (HQ) and across regions?”
Base: 227 B2B high-tech marketing executives at companies with 100 or more employees who market and/or sell in more than one region
Source: Q B2B Marketing Organizations And Investments Survey

13. Marketing centralization varies by HQ location with French and German vendors as the most collaborative
“Which statement best describes how your company coordinates marketing between headquarters (HQ) and across regions?”
Base: 227 B2B high-tech marketing executives at companies with 100 or more employees who market and/or sell in more than one region
Source: Q B2B Marketing Organizations And Investments Survey

14. Agenda The field marketing pendulum is in motion.
Most international tech vendors currently centralize marketing.
Tech vendors tend to localize centrally.
Effective localization involves more than just language.
Field marketing is central to an international content strategy.

15. The tech industry localizes less marketing materials than other sectors but only a little less
Source: Q B2B Marketing Organizations And Investments Survey

16. Product vendors localize more marketing materials than service providers
“To what extent are marketing activities (i.e., campaigns, collateral, events) localized for specific geographical markets?”
Base: 227 B2B high-tech marketing executives at companies with 100 or more employees who market and/or sell in more than one region
Source: Q B2B Marketing Organizations And Investments Survey

17. Indian tech vendors localize the most, followed by Singapore
“To what extent are marketing activities (i.e., campaigns, collateral, events) localized for specific geographical markets?”
Base: 227 B2B high-tech marketing executives at companies with 100 or more employees who market and/or sell in more than one region
Source: Q B2B Marketing Organizations And Investments Survey

18. GlobalLink components
Global translations agencies aid centralization efforts
GlobalLink components
Workflow and content management
OneLink
PCI-certified proxy solution for turnkey website localization
Project Director
Integrates with CMS/SCM and automates and centralizes the content extraction/submission/delivery and translation level selection
Content reuse and translator productivity
TM Server, Term Manager, and TransStudio
Manage brand terminology and share translation assets across the enterprise in any language
Quality management
Translation & Review Portal
Allows third parties to review translations for all projects and automatically update TM assets

19. Global translations agencies aid centralization efforts (cont.)
HP reduced content globalization costs by $100 million over five years — 140-plus billion page views per year.
Source: “Your Content, Their Language” presentation, SlideShare (

20. Agenda The field marketing pendulum is in motion.
Most international tech vendors currently centralize marketing.
Tech vendors tend to localize centrally.
Effective localization involves more than just language.
Field marketing is central to an international content strategy.

21. The translation can be perfect, but what about the rest?
Typically, there are 35 possible marketing vehicles and properties, 28 types of content, and at least eight influencer roles across all stages of the purchase process.
Well-informed local marketing will help tech marketers to confidently:
Invest in the most impactful vehicles to reach buyers and drive leads.
Engage buyers with the right content at the right time to influence buyers and drive up conversion rates.
Understand the unique objectives of influencers to achieve greater relevance and shorten the sales cycle.
Source: Forrester’s Tech Marketing Navigator

22. Local marketing differences that matter
Buying centers have a different composition with different influencers, gatekeepers, and decision-makers involved.
Investment decisions are made in a different manner: dominated by business executives instead of IT.
Buyers in some countries analyze products and vendors in much greater levels of detail.
German buyers, for example, are more influenced by in-person events and direct campaigns. Peers and vendor sales representatives have a greater influence in France.
Almost all US-centric messaging, graphics, and customer examples are inappropriate for use in countries such as China, Vietnam, and Thailand.

23. Agenda The field marketing pendulum is in motion.
Most international tech vendors currently centralize marketing.
Tech vendors tend to localize centrally.
Effective localization involves more than just language.
Field marketing is central to an international content strategy.

24. International tech marketing must involve the field
Understand market diversity in your target geographies in order to adapt.
Use field marketing for content creation.
Encourage collaboration between central and field marketing.
Develop a shortlist of target markets for local content.
Leverage global customers and partners locally.

25. Thank you Peter O’Neill +49 174.321.0020 +1 650 387 5648