The CMO balancing act: Crossing the canyon

The CMO balancing act: Crossing the canyon

In Gartner's recent CMO Strategic Priorities Survey, 73% of CMOs reported that they will be relying on existing customers to achieve growth, rather than look to develop new markets. 


It seems a turbulent 2020 has created polarity between marketers globally; adopt low-risk yet low-return strategies or be bold by reinventing and rescaling strategies to win new customers in new markets. 


Gartner's findings suggest balancing more conservative strategies with emerging opportunities for new growth. But how do you decide which marketing strategies to prioritize in an unstable economy and with a limited budget? 

Personalize. Connect with new and existing customers in their language.


In today's world of capacity and capital constraints, localization crosses the canyon for better-than-expected ROI and building capability to enter new markets.


CMOs know localization is important. More than 50% of all queries on Google are in a language other than English and 40% of internet users will never buy from websites not in their native language.


In addition, combatting issues in diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) continues to be of vital importance for businesses globally. In fact, "95% of CMOs believe that brands should take the lead in finding solutions to societal and cultural issues'', says Jay Wilson, VP Analyst at Gartner. 


Translating your content into Spanish, connecting with approximately 41.2 million people in the United States, can both accelerate in-market growth and help to bridge the digital divide. For context, this market segment represents the equivalent GDP for the whole of Germany.


It would also help the CMO play a leadership role in their organization's DEI positioning. 


Work Smarter. Implement better ways of working by adopting market-leading technology.  


Moving to a first-party data approach combined with the impact of the global pandemic has created a seismic shift towards digital, demonstrated by the launch of new DTC (Direct-To-Consumer) sites, use of blockchain technologies, and so many other trends like virtual experiences. 


As a result, businesses continue to invest in MarTech (its value surpassing USD121B worldwide in 2019) to strengthen ways to meet consumer and customer needs. It has fundamentally transformed the way marketing performs and is tracked and measured. 


The $57B localization industry is quickly following suit.


Partnering with language service providers who have technology at the core of their offering is an attractive proposition for large enterprises. They benefit from supplier-led innovation and disruptive technologies that evolve alongside the needs and expectations of their key clients. 


The most innovative market leaders have built powerful translation software underpinned by AI, machine learning, heavy-duty data analytics and smart algorithms including translation memory functionality. This delivers faster turnaround times and increased productivity, lowers translation costs over time (due to continuous improvement), and improves spend visibility and transparency. 

Consolidate. Audit your translation process, people and technology to benchmark services. 


If you have a fragmented or disjointed translation supplier base, carrying out a localization audit is a smart move. Upgrading your language provider can have significant advantages for your organization - and without having to increase your spend.


The localization industry consists of 50 or so key players and thousands of tiny sector-specific or small-scale translation businesses which cannot hope to meet enterprise needs.


This is why more and more enterprise clients are aligning themselves with one provider who matches their holistic, longer-term goals. The result is they can significantly decrease their time to market and reach more customers in new markets - winning market share over competitors. 


As an example, in May 2020, Straker provided subtitling for IBM’s premier annual conference, THINK2020, held virtually due to COVID-19. This required creating subtitles for 6,000 minutes of video, equivalent to 920,000 words, within just 10 days.


By November 2020, Straker was appointed the Strategic Translation Service Provider to IBM, responsible for providing translation capabilities across 55 languages for IBM globally. Straker was selected for several reasons, including their market-leading AI technology, smart algorithms, automation capabilities, data-driven approach and the agile and innovative nature of the business. 


It's only just becoming clear to enterprise clients that they need greater alignment, integration and agility from their chosen language provider(s). Aside from the fact that depending on multiple translation vendors creates inconsistencies of outcomes and escalating costs, it can also negatively impact time to market through endless delays. 


While improving localization may mean having to switch providers, an audit will uncover improvements and savings to free up more budget for your buck, euro and renminbi.


Choosing the right localization partner is as important as selecting any other supplier. In this climate, a balanced approach like this gives the more innovative and forward-thinking CMOs the chance to enter new markets with new products and cross the canyon way before their competitors.