This question is considered absolute blasphemy by the majority of the world but not to everyone. It is the same situation when we are sharing any message with a large, diversified audience – what is the RIGHT way to tell your story? The answer is it depends on who you want to hear it!
I work with a lot of companies that are expanding with either new products or into new geographies and nothing creates more “learning opportunities” (the positive way of saying, places to make mistakes) than thinking that the entire world thinks, listens, decides and buys the same way you do.
Crafting a story with the listener in mind is critical to creating their listening. What is important to them? What problem did they wake up with this morning that you would like to discuss with them? What cultural norms dictate how the “majority” of your audience in a specific geography will listen to what you have to say? The good news is that you absolutely do NOT need to get this perfect because there is no such thing as a singular perfect message for EVERYONE.
I recently was on a call with a client who was disappointed with their website performance and wanted to understand why. We completed an audit and in reviewing the results discovered they were on target for their audience in Western Europe but the audience that they were looking for in Eastern Europe was way off. The obvious issue was that they were using the same content and format for what we have come to learn, is a very different audience with different expectations.
They had to remember that Google is reviewing their content BEFORE their potential client can find it, so their content MUST match up with what Google is looking to be able to serve it up to their target audience. It was not wholesale changes, just some very important tweaks to the language, adjustments to some images along with some formatting and within 6 months they had traffic at or above their targeted levels in Eastern Europe.
What was interesting is they made similar tweaks to the Western European countries’ sites as well and saw an almost doubling of traffic and engagement on those sites. Connecting with your audience in the way that they want to be connected is Marketing 101 but sometimes we must be reminded that our target audience does not wake up in the morning hoping to find you…they wake up with their issues and their problems that need to be solved. So, I ask you to think about how your audience wants to hear the information that you want to share with them BEFORE you push it out into the world AND see the massive difference in the results!
