@acrolinx
Blunders to AvoidIn Your Global Content Strategy
Dr. Andrew BredenkampSteve Rotter
5
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About Our Audience
ABOUT US
Acrolinx helps the world's greatest brands create amazing content:
on-brand, on-target and at scale.
Why This Matters
3.6% of the world’s population speak English as their first language
400k -1 Billion people speak English as their second language
80% of the world’s purchasing power is outside the US
92% of the world’s economic growth is from
outside the US
69% of global marketers don’t have any insight into their current translation spend. Cloudwords Survey
“If I'm selling to you, I speak your language. If I'm buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen!”
Willy Brandt
“Web users are four times more likely to purchase from a company that communicates in their own language” IDC
“Visitors to websites stay twice as long on sites that are available in their native tongue” Forrester
…but we have a problem
Content Strategy Globalization Strategy
COMMUNICATIOSONNECTEDNES
How Does Your Organization View Global Content?
What Should You Do?
• Plan – start by extending your editorial calendar to include global content
• Prioritize – What countries and regions are important – avoid the “We’ve always done it this way”
• Process – The new reliance on content requiresa new approach to globalization
COMMUNICATIONO N V E R S A T I O
I’M JUST PRETENDING TO LISTEN
What Should You Do?
• Find the people who change your content for global/regional/local needs
• Set up dialog with them to agree on goals• Exchange regular audits to ensure content
is meeting your agreed standards
COMMUNICATIOYO N S I S T E N C
Jake Sorofman
On a visit to a Coca-Cola Co. bottler in Pensacola, Fla., in January, Chief Executive Muhtar Kent pulled a small red paint chip from his wallet and held it up to a new delivery truck. The truck might have looked Coke red to the untrained eye, but it was ever so slightly off in hue.
Does Your Company Have Comprehensive Brand Guidelines for Visuals, Messaging, Tone, and
Language
45%
30%
17%
8%
Yes
Somewhat
Just Visuals
Nothing
If You Do Have a Comprehensive Guide, Is it Used?
13% Yes
15% Somewhat
17% No
What Should You Do?
• Collect all your standards in one place and make them accessible to everyone who creates or changes content
• Keep these standards up to date – creating them is only half the challenge
• Don’t forget this is a conversation – avoid local disasters
…a few really bad options
Meet Mary
Memorize and recall:• 750 Style Guide
Rules• 125 Branding Rules• Hundreds of
Grammar Rules• Corporate and
Industry Terminology
Meet Mary
She’s a great editor…butshe losesher cell phone a lot
Meet Mary
Do you really think she canmemorize 750style guide rules
Meet Mary
Do you really think she canremember 350brand terms
Meet Mary
Do you really think she canrecall hundreds of grammar rules
Meet Mary
Do you really think she canrecognize hundreds industry terms
Meet Mary
All for content she has never seen before?
U L T U RC E
LANGUAGE REGIONCOUNTRYCULTURE
What Should You Do?
• Make a plan which defines clearly which locales (regions, countries, cultures) you need to work in
• Establish local expertise, and involve them in a discussion (note: they are not always right)
• Keep testing local engagement with your content for anomalies – what specific measures do you have for global content
CMUNICATIOLO N T R O
Options?
What Should You Do?
Increase Sentence Reuse
What Should You Do?
• Create global ready content – integrate with global teams before you launch
• Move QA and governance to the front of the process
• Scale requires the right team and the right tools
HOW IT WORKSAcrolinx is the only software that actually “reads” your content and guides writers to make it better
UNDER THE HOOD• 400+ man years R&D creating
an advanced linguistics engine• Thousands of rules evaluated
for style, terminology, tone, grammar and more
Summary
• Connectedness – Build a plan• Conversations – Get out of the office• Consistency – Walk the tightrope together• Culture – Do your homework• Control – Plan for scale
Shirley Ask