Lessons Learned from Launching PPC Campaigns in Europe, Asia & Latin America International Search Summit @ SMX Advanced 2014

Manager, Customer Acquisition @MarcBitanga

Marc Bitanga

Marc Bitanga Manager, Customer Acquisition

@MarcBitanga

Speaker •  Launched international PPC campaigns

for Hootsuite & Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

•  International SEO for EA Sports FIFA websites.

•  International SEO for Suite101.com (German, French, Spanish websites)

Top Brands Trust Hootsuite

175+ COUNTRIES

15 LANGUAGES

90+ SOCIAL NETWORKS & INTEGRATIONS 747 OF FORTUNE

1000 COMPANIES

9+ MILLION USERS

1200+ ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS

Lessons Learned Going Global

Who’s Going to Manage Your Campaigns? Your 5 Resourcing Options

Five International PPC Resourcing Options

In-House: Machine

Language

In-House: Outsourced Translations

Agency: “Big Agency Model”

Agency: Centralized

In-House: Fully Staffed

Not Recommended

Limited Potential

Costly & Requires Active

Management Great Option The Dream

Pros

•  Quick initial go-to-market

Cons

•  Doesn’t factor cultural nuances

•  A lot can be lost in translation

•  Doesn’t help with ad copy localization

•  Good luck performing keyword cleaning for negatives

#1 – In-House: Machine Language Translations

Pros

•  Better than using machine translations

Cons

•  Translations not localization

•  Translators aren’t marketers

•  Difficult to coordinate ad copy localization (character counts)

•  Good luck performing keyword cleaning for negatives

#2 – In-House: Outsourced Translation of Keyword Research & Ad Copy

Pros •  Agency can help identify opportunities

•  Improves scalability

•  More accurate localization; including cultural nuances

Cons •  Hard to find an agency that will take your

business; slim profit margins

•  Requires a solid account director

•  Prone to communication issues

•  Some big agencies aren’t PPC experts

#3 – Agency Support: “Big Agency” Hub & Spoke Model

Account Director

Spanish Office

Italian Office

German Office

Dutch Office

French Office

Pros

•  More accurate localization; including cultural nuances

•  Agency can help identify opportunities

•  Improved knowledge sharing & responsiveness

•  Less costly

Cons

•  Niche expertise; experts in PPC, but may not be experts in other media

•  Very few agencies support this model

#4 – Agency Support: Centralized Model

Single Agency, One

Office

Spanish Specialist

Italian Specialist

German Specialist

Dutch Specialist

French Specialist

Pros

•  You know your product the best

•  More accurate localization

•  Improved knowledge sharing

•  Less costly

Cons

•  Difficult to recruit

•  Minor cons…

#5 – In-House: Fully Staffed

In-House Team

Spanish Specialist

Italian Specialist

German Specialist

Dutch Specialist

French Specialist

Language & Culture: Things We Learned

•  Spanish is 2nd most spoken non-English language in US

•  Spanish can cover Spain & most of Latin America

•  Many Asia-Pacific countries have English as a second language

Spanish & English Can Cover a Lot of Ground

Source: Pew Research

•  98.5% of residents are Japanese origin; little cultural diversity

•  Unique cultural perspective

•  Localize with a native speaker; not just someone who learned Japanese

Japan is Unique: Low Immigration + Unique Culture

Source: Game Industry

•  Baidu searchers in China search through all the search results and read descriptions

•  Could be because they trust Google results over Baidu

•  Potentially impacts SEM ad copy; it matters

Baidu Searchers Behave Differently

Source: SEL

US English vs. UK English •  In some regions such as Hong

Kong & Australia, UK English is acceptable

•  In other countries such as the Philippines they prefer US English

Don’t Assume US English is the Norm Globally

•  In some countries many English speaking expatriates are in senior, decision-making roles

•  Create campaigns with expats in mind for countries like Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand

Don’t Forget About Expats in Asia-Pacific!

Not just bilingual; a mix of English & their local language in the same phrase. For example, Germany…

Some Cultures Mix English with Their Local Language

“web-based” “free”

Digital Marketing: Things We Learned

Keywords Should Change. But Campaign Structure & Strategy Shouldn’t.

•  English-only campaigns targeting multiple nations = incremental conversions

•  Target multiple countries

per language

Target Multiple Countries with Languages, Even English

English Target: Europe

Spanish Target: Spain

French Target: France,

Belgium, Switzerland

German Target:

Germany, Belgium,

Switzerland, Austria

•  Google Search & Facebook have high penetration in many nations; very dominant ad networks

•  Very few “secret” local-only ad platforms

•  Japan, China & Russia are exceptions

Google AdWords & Facebook PPC Dominate Many Nations

Source: We Are Social

Facebook: 50% Penetration in W. Europe

Google: 93% European Market Share

Source: FairSearch.org

•  In Latin America we found most users clicked on our logo rather than the CTA!

•  Replicating your US landing pages globally is a good first step

•  But you’ll need to pivot quickly to succeed

Landing Pages: Be Prepared to Pivot Quickly

Spanish Landing Page Heat Map

?

Parting Tips…

+tools +plus

One of our former Italian PPC specialists bid on these keywords.

Agency Onboarding: They Need to Know Your Products

First 3-months are very telling when working with an international agency. Either your agency will “get it” or they won’t.

•  Ensure flexible “out” clauses in your contracts

•  Build in performance criteria bonuses in compensation

Agencies: Performance & Flexibility in Contracts

•  Get used to off-hour emails & communications to keep things going

•  Either early morning hours or staying later to support your agency/teams

•  Use project communication tools like Basecamp to consolidate communications & files

Forget 9 to 5 Hours: What it’s Like to go Global

Thank You! Marc Bitanga @MarcBitanga