It was interesting to understand how global businesses manage their multilingual content whether internally, single vendor, multiple vendors or a hybrid model. The consensus seemed to be a hybrid model, which poses some very obvious challenges in managing brand guidelines, tone of voice, message as well as delivery and cost. Eleonora Gioa of Prada made an interesting point relating to the difference in terminology required to communicate to project stakeholders as opposed to ‘fashionistas’ and how this influenced the decision making process. This theme was taken up by Steve Broomhall of Johnson & Johnson who explained that while it worked to communicate to surgeons in English on certain subjects, purchasing decisions by the same target group are made in their own local languages and so marcoms must be tailored locally with this in mind.

Juan Cardenas of Hilton Worldwide made some very insightful points throughout the afternoon. One point he raised was how decisions on translation v localisation are taken. Using the example of the Mexican word ‘alberca’ instead of the more mainstream piscina (swimming pool in English) was a way in which a company could risk alienating the mainstream while engaging positively with only a relatively small segment of the market. The key Juan explained is to take decisions on a case by case basis ensuring that one focuses on the ‘critical path’ when choosing where to localise as opposed to simply translate.

Reviewing the key drivers and motivations on when to localise Niels Bergsten of IKEA made what many managers and directors will no doubt find a very valid cost related point that actual requirements not internal requests should inform decision making. Using the example of Swiss German, Niels explained that centralised control often ensures that common sense decisions prevail.

Umberto Andreozzi from Accenture Interactive in Italy brought a broader digital perspective to the panel for businesses looking to retail online across multiple territories and languages. Umberto explained that choice of partners was critical, selecting key partners for content, translations, search marketing, platform provider, fulfilment etc. In terms of ecommerce platform he explained that a one box solution but with local functionality built in is often the best approach.

In the online space one current challenge faced by all businesses is how to address the fast moving nature of user sourced content. When addressing this challenge on a global/multilingual level, tools such as those provided by Transperfect www.transperfect.com provide solutions to establish context in almost real time thus allowing businesses to efficiently manage worldwide feedback and giving much needed breathing space when dealing with both good and bad user generated social media comment.

Content plays such a major part in SEO (and internet marketing in general) that the multinational insight provided by the panel was exceptionally useful. Multi-lingual SEO is in effect localised in its very nature. When conducting keyword selection for search campaigns the debate about translation v localisation is effectively redundant as in search marketing it is so critical to identify user intent in the keyword selection process. By their very nature query strings will (in most markets) be conducted in the local language but more importantly will often be conducted using local terminology such as Juan’s example above or in English the use of the American ‘Mom’ as opposed to the British ‘Mum’ in a search query related to mother’s day gifts for example.

When conducting keyword research on multi lingual SEO projects at Mediarun we would always look at localised search terms and therefore the content developed on a particular project for both on page use or off page syndication would therefore be intrinsically localised. As more and more businesses market their products and reach out to multi lingual markets it is clearly critical to make the right decisions on localisation.

Mediarun would like to give a warm thanks to Chi Patel and all the folks at Transperfect for their hospitality on the day.

IKEA, Hilton, Prada and J&J Leading The Way In Content Localisation and Multilingual Marketing is a post from: Response Marketing Blog - Search Engine Marketing by Mediarun

Yes, another not-too-subtle visual pun. It was late on a Thursday, okay.

Attributing a value on conversions however has traditionally proved a lot trickier. Writing on Econsultancy last week Paul Cook founder of Tag Man highlights some interesting points. The thesis of the article was that organic SEO and social media channels are being chronically undervalued. Based on ‘attributed conversions’  he identified that SEO should be credited with 14 times more value in terms of conversions and that social media is being undervalued by eight times.

The validity of these figures can no doubt be debated however the critical factor for marketers to absorb is that the whole value of a conversion cannot be attributed solely to the final click as this is a flawed model. Many times we have seen clients make terrible decisions based on such assumptions. Often these decisions are driven by FD’s or other numbers men who are quite rightly attempting to make fact based decisions using the figures in front of them. However the problem is if they only have access to data from tools such as Google Analytics the ‘facts’ they are working with are far from the full picture.

Another interesting result in the Tag Man study was the assertion that PPC is being over credited by 1.6 times. Again this is something that at Mediarun we have been aware of for many years however we have often found it tricky to prove. Adwords is perhaps a little too good at claiming credit for its conversions and when a campaign involves brand keywords, it means it’s picking up many of those last clicks.

So is this ‘the holy grail’ that marketers have been seeking? Tag Man certainly opens up interesting conversations on multi-channel/multi-agency accounts so that remuneration can be more effectively attributed. The increase in accuracy and granularity of data will also allow agencies and marketers to make much more informed decisions about where to spend budget. Clients will also be less likely to take patently erroneous decisions!

The Huge, Hidden Value of SEO: The Extra Sales That Should Be Attributed To Generic Rankings is a post from: Response Marketing Blog - Search Engine Marketing by Mediarun

Many major UK retailers and brands are yet to embrace mobile ecommerce and premium brands, such as Burberry and Conran have still not even developed a basic mobile-friendly site. The result of this is user frustration even for a mundane task such as trying to find a store location on a handheld device (let lone make a purchase). John Lewis & ASOS amongst others have created a sub domain (m.domain) which supports their initial mobile offering and these sites do deliver decent user experience and functionality.

John Smedley is another example of a brand which has recently launched a solid user friendly mobile site. The company’s site resolves automatically, presenting the user with a site layout which fits the mobile device they are using. In a tailored version of the large screen site, the user is then presented with two options; menswear and womenswear, after which the key product categories appear in an easy to use fashion. The launch of this site is part of an on-going commitment to online marketing innovation from the brand.

TopShop however, usually at the forefront of retailing, has on the face of it, developed a good, mobile-friendly site on the subdomain mobile.topshop.com but technical issues seem to have prevented the site resolving automatically when viewed on an iPhone (Safari) browser. It is this type of poor user experience that prevents consumers from successful mobile browsing and purchasing.

Mobile browsing (especially search) has exploded over the last year and all will continue to grow exponentially in the next couple of years. Unfortunately many ecommerce sites haven’t really kept up with the demands of mobile users, who want to receive information quickly and efficiently and this is an issue which publishers and retailers should address as a priority. When reviewing Google Analytics data across our portfolio of clients we can see a massive increase in visitors originating from mobile, this has been a constant trend during 2010 and is growing day by day. It is relatively easy to develop a basic mobile offering and present information in mobile friendly fashion and the market opportunity is clearly there. This begs the question why are businesses not engaging with this digital channel effectively?

Why Are UK Retailers So Slow To Deliver Mobile-friendly Content? is a post from: Response Marketing Blog - Search Engine Marketing by Mediarun