As marketers creating B2B marketing strategies, it’s easy to generalize, especially as your audience broadens with each international expansion. The more people you add to your audience, the more widespread your messaging becomes.

Although it may be more time-effective, when you speak to everyone, you speak to no one. Broad messaging translates into an irrelevant customer experience, making it easy for potential clients to write you off.

People Are People, Not Job Titles

Many software-as-a-service marketers treat B2B and B2C as if they are polar opposites. However, even with B2B marketing strategies, you are still marketing to a person.

When you fall short of your audience’s expectations and they see you treating them as one of many, it speaks volumes about what a long-term relationship with your company could be like.

To avoid this disappointment, think of how you would communicate differently when marketing to a vice president of IT in China versus talking to Ann, a 32-year-old woman just promoted to IT Manager in the United States—then make sure your website and marketing messaging are localized accordingly.

In Any Language—Help, Don’t Sell

According to Peter O’Neill of Forrester Research, “B2B buyers tell us that 70 percent of the content they read and study before making a purchase decision is actually found by themselves, as opposed to being given to them by marketing or sales.”

What these buyers don’t realize is that the information they found was actually placed there for them by B2B content marketers. That is all part of the positive customer experience—don’t pressure them to purchase until they are ready to purchase, but help them out until they’re ready.

Support an Extended Customer Life Cycle

International marketing in the software industry is far from over once you convert someone into a customer. The days of purchasing a one-time download are done, and customers now decide on a month-to-month basis whether they want your services.

For this, you need full-cycle global customer marketing, where you help them build their own success with your software long after the initial sale is complete. Beyond customer retention, this grows your reputation and increases referrals.

Answering Real Questions and Cultural Relevancy

In line with O’Neill’s observation about marketers putting information out there for customers to discover as they need it, you can’t just slap some data into a PDF and hope it will convert.

Instead, you need to fully answer the questions your potential customers are asking in a way that is culturally relevant for them. This means presenting it to them in their own language and making them want more of the information you have to help them until they decide to try your product.

Prospects are far more ready to convert when they feel that they are being noticed and treated as individuals. Learn more about how creating quality, pointed content in multiple languages and considering the customer experience can lead to more conversions.

About Chelsea Baldwin Chelsea Baldwin is a professional business writer and online marketing consultant who specializes in helping business grow their brands and optimize their sales funnels with effective content. She used to hold a corporate position in international marketing, but gave it up to work more closely with companies while traveling the world.