The document is a comprehensive checklist for marketers on how to effectively expand their business into new global markets. It outlines key strategies including using the MARACA model for market selection, prioritizing important marketing activities, and fostering collaboration within global teams. Additionally, it emphasizes the necessity of cultural awareness, local knowledge, and the alignment of marketing and sales efforts for successful international operations.

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THE MARKETER’S
CHECKLIST FOR
GOING GLOBAL
What to do (and not to do)
when entering a new market.
Niti Shah, Senior Marketing Manager, HubSpot

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the number of countries HubSpot has customers in.
93.

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WHY AM I STANDING UP HERE?

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1. How to decide where you’re taking your business
2. Which marketing activities to prioritize for a new region
3. How to work effectively as a global marketing team
4. Basic need-to-knows
AGENDA.

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1
HOW TO DECIDE WHERE
YOU’RE TAKING YOUR
BUSINESS

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The MARACA model is a framework that
provides a clear, at-a-glance view of the relative
value of a given country to your company, to
facilitate international strategy decisions.
Do the MARACA!
Nataly Kelly
VP International Ops & Strategy
HubSpot

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MARKET AVAILABILITY
How much opportunity does this market offer?

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REAL-TIME ANALYTICS
How are we performing in this market?

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CUSTOMER
ADDRESSABILITY
How easily can we address this market?

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Other
Really Big Stuff.

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OFFICE LOCATION
Will you be operating out of your headquarters or
establishing a local office? Which functions will be run
out of that office?

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REGIONAL TALENT
Is there a large enough talent pool in the region that fits
various teams’ requirements and culture?

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2 WHICH MARKETING
ACTIVITIES TO PRIORITIZE

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KNOW YOUR METRICS.
You need to know what you’re getting yourself into,
which means you need some data.

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TRAFFIC
• What countries are driving
traffic to your website?
• What sources in a region
contribute to traffic?
• What content is driving
regional traffic?

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LEADS
• How many leads are you
currently generating in that
region?
• What topics and types of
content are generating leads?

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CUSTOMERS
• What is your lead to customer
conversion rate in region?
• What traffic and lead sources
are resulting in the best (and
worst) customer close rates in
region?

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KICKSTART SMARKETING.
Meet with the regional sales team ASAP.

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NOTHING
ELSE
MATTERS IF…
…Your marketing and sales teams
aren’t aligned.
Meet with regional sales managers
and set expectations and a Service
Level Agreement (SLA).

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TRIAGE FIRST
• Address immediate blockers to
sales, such as lack of collateral
• Understand major influencers
in the sales process, such as
local business customs and
government incentives

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PERSONA RESEARCH.
Your marketing can’t be one-size-fits-all:
understand who your regional personas are.

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IDENTIFY KEY
DIFFERENCES
• Do local keyword research
• Read regional blogs and pubs
• Talk to existing customers
• Attend industry events
• Network with local companies

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HOW THEY
CONSUME
CONTENT
• Where do they find their
content?
• What formats are most
popular?

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HOW THEY
COMMUNICATE
• Do they use email or
messenger tools such as
Whatsapp?
• What social media platforms
do they prefer?
• Memes or no memes?

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HOW THEY
PURCHASE
• How much online research do
they conduct?
• Is there an expectation of face-
to-face meetings?
• How important is guanxi?

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CREATE DIGITAL
ESSENTIALS.
Can you support multiple regions and languages on
your website? What assets do you need to create?

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SALES
COLLATERAL
Make sure your sales reps have
essential localized whitepapers
and resources they need to sell.

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TOP-LEVEL
DOMAIN
If you’re expanding into different
languages, you’ll want to use
country-specific top level
domains (TLDs) for that language.

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SEO
Conduct keyword research to
understand where your keywords
rank in local online search.
Create content to rank for local
search terms.

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BLOG
Create language-specific blogs
for secondary languages you’re
selling in.
This is the biggest organic lever
you can pull in a region.

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CONTENT
Do an audit of existing content
and localize any that fit with your
new market.
When in doubt, repurpose!

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SOCIAL
Do you need local handles? Do
you have the resources to
maintain additional social?
Which networks are your ideal
customers on?

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ESTABLISH A LOCAL
PRESENCE.
Understand and integrate your company into the local
industry landscape.

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PR
Hire a PR agency that has done
work in your industry in that
region, at least at the start.
Their connections will give you a
leg up with brand recognition.

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COMPETITORS
Who are your competitors in the
region?
Some will be the same, but others
might be regional competitors
you’ll need to prepare for.

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INFLUENCERS
Who are the influencers in your
region and industry?
Connect with them, involve them
in your content, webinars, and
events.

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COMARKETING
PARTNERS
Are there local companies or
regional divisions of global
companies you could form
strategic partnerships with?

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EVENTS &
NETWORKING
Find out what events are
happening in your regional
industry.
Cultivate thought-leadership
through speaking engagements.

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LEGAL STUFF
Different countries have different
laws around IP and marketing
activities.
Running a contest? Check with
legal first!

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3 CREATING AN EFFECTIVE
GLOBAL TEAM

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CREATE GLOBAL
SYSTEMS.
Set up effective communication and processes so
teams can work across regions.

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OPERATIONS
• Internal naming conventions
for your digital assets
• Documentation of brand
guidelines, marketing
processes
• Go-to troubleshooting
resources

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COLLABORATION
• Have a centralized location for
all teams’ resources
• Share team projects, research,
and experiments
• Regular check-ins for same
functions across regions

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OPEN ACCESS TO
GLOBAL RESOURCES.
Make sure regional teams don’t have to resort to hacky
methods to get by.

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DON’T LOCK
UP THE FANCY
STUFF
Make sure regional teams have
equal access to high-value
resources that might be in HQ,
such as design, video, and
developers.

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INCORPORATE
FREELANCERS
It’s not always economical to share
resources from HQ due to
travel/equipment costs.
Budget freelancer costs for projects
that require resources beyond local
in-house capabilities.

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HIRE LOCAL.
Who better knows the local market than a local?

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LEAD WITH
LOCALS
You’re going to have a mix of
expats and locals – but
incorporate local hires into each
level, especially management.
They’ll bring local perspective,
and that’s invaluable to growth.

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CREATE A
REGIONAL
PIPELINE
• Have a recruiter on the ground
• Attend networking events and
career fairs
• Incentivize local hires to refer
people in their networks

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MINIMIZE REGIONTHINK.
Regional marketers need room to breathe and grow.

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LET REGIONS
INNOVATE
Give regional marketers
autonomy and the ability to take
the lead on global collaborations.
Just because you’re in a regional
office doesn’t mean you can’t
contribute to global goals.

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GIVE LOCAL
EMPLOYEES
AUTONOMY
The sad fact is most global orgs
bring in expats as leaders, who
then hire local teams to execute.
Try to foster leadership within a
region to create a strong culture.

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4 BASIC NEED-TO-KNOWS

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AMERICAN
VERSUS BRITISH
ENGLISH
• It’s “zed” not “zee”
• Use “s” instead of “z”
(personalise/optimise/agonise)
• Use “ou” instead of “o”
(favourite, glamour, colour)
• Stay away from American
idioms (baseball references)

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CULTURAL
AWARENESS
• Local business customs
• Cultural norms
• Social ettiquette
• Rules and laws
• Basic language skills

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HOUSE-
KEEPING
• Provide an immigration lawyer
• Choose serviced apartments in
residential areas for expats
• Know expat tax laws for new
country and back home

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GO WITH AN
OPEN MIND
You’re bound to have your
perceptions and assumptions
turned upside down, and that’s
okay.
Going global is a journey, so
enjoy the ride.

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1. Market availability alone isn’t justification for expanding to a new country
2. Smarketing should be the most important focus of a regional marketing team
3. Create local personas: they’re not the same as they are back home
4. Prioritize which marketing activities to focus on first, repurpose what you can
5. Create global systems and give autonomy and responsibility to local teams
6. Be culturally aware and open to change
Takeaways.

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THANK YOU!
@nitifromboston