Summit Week - Day Two Recap
Wrapping up Day 2 of the 2021 Think Global Forum Summit Week
The first day of Think Global Forum Summit Week was an informative one, packed with tips for navigating the current climate, making more meaningful connections, establishing an inclusive company ethos, and finding inspiration in serendipitous moments. The discussion on Day 2 addressed a very prescient concern: Global Content Operations. On hand to join us were Think Global Forum host Aoife Murphy, Sophie Top, Senior Digital Creative & Content Strategist at adidas, Lahcene Guerrouj, Manager, Content Marketing Strategy EMEA at Salesforce, and Esther Curiel, Localization Operations Manager at Indeed.
The panelists treated us to a lively afternoon of thought leadership and ‘ah-ha!’ moments while speaking on everything from the shifting landscape of B2B marketing and the changing role of content operations to whether businesses should translate, transcreate or create from scratch. All in all, it was a highly memorable day filled with interesting, timely, and actionable information.
To shed some further light on the afternoon’s topic, we caught up with Lahcene, Esther, and Sophie to share their thoughts on the state of global content operations today. Here’s what they had to say.
Be Ready, Be Relevant, Be the Best: Global Content Operations in the 21st century
From having to keep pace with an on-demand world to navigating a sea of noise in the age of personalization, global content operations has seen its fair share of challenges over the past year. Esther Curiel of Indeed states, “Global content operations faces many challenges. Balancing business goals and user expectations with resource constraints and the need for speed and scalability… Global content operations is not easy!”
Global Content Operations is also being increasingly looked at as a marketing function. “A content strategy without content operations is not complete,” says Lahcene Gerrouj of Salesforce. “If your content does not meet your audience's expectations, it’s as if it doesn’t exist. There are many reports in the industry about the high rates of content that is produced but never released. Any content strategy should consider lean and efficient content operations”.
The challenges of the past year haven’t just been an impetus for increasing efficiency; they’ve also transformed global content operations on a tremendous scale. “We went all-in in the digital world,” Lahcene says. “We have been preparing for this for years, but recently, we had no choice but to adapt fully to the demands of digital transformation. The future is now. In this moment of change, there were those who were ready and those who had to adjust. As a result, the volume of content available to an audience has increased significantly. It becomes more difficult to be heard. The key to visibility revolves around two criteria: quality and timeliness. Great quality content takes time to develop, at least for the most part. The audience needs the content at a specific time, and if we deliver too late, we might miss the gap. There is a crucial ratio between the quality of content and how long it takes to develop it. The best content marketers are those that master the management of these two key criteria”.
Lahcene is not alone in these thoughts. “The biggest challenges in global content development are reactiveness and relevance while maintaining a global tone and voice,” says Sophie Top of adidas. “Being able to create content fast enough to publish while it's happening. Making sure the message lands in the right way in all your markets and languages while keeping control over your brand narrative and voice. It's about finding the balance between a strong global narrative and a flexible – almost templated approach, for markets to react fast and in a locally relevant way”.
Esther shares similar thoughts about relevance, finding it absolutely crucial for success. “One of the biggest challenges, in my opinion, is the increasing need for content to be highly relevant – or risk being drowned in the sea of content noise,” Esther says. “Organizations who want to have maximum impact with their global content need to develop a framework that takes into account the differences in the regional markets in terms of content needs, type, and the level of adaptation of the original content that might be needed. Aligning and collaborating with partners such as UX and Localization is a necessity for successful global content operations”.
Trends in the New Normal, the Next Normal and Beyond
The health crisis was the digital tipping point for many organizations, but it also made nearly all workers remote workers. This brought some new concerns to the forefront, including where and how a localization team should be positioned in global content operations.
Esther says, “I don’t think it matters so much where the team is positioned, as long as there are strong connections and alignment with the many different teams who have stakes in the users’ content journey – and leadership teams view localization as a strategic function and a growth enabler. Of course, it’s great to see some companies appointing VPs of Localization!”
The shift towards digital also resulted in a shift towards hyper-personalization, which has reverberated throughout B2C and B2B alike, with many B2B buyers now expecting a B2C-like experience.
Sophie says, “In my opinion, B2B doesn't exist anymore. We are all humans with interests and knowledge, and we expect stories that match our needs. Personalized content is no longer optional. If you want to reach your audience, you have to know who you’re talking to. And who you talk to is never a business - there's always a person behind that business that’s receiving your message”.
Communication is More Important Than Ever: Benefits of Think Global Forum
Collaboration, communication, and inspiration are three key drivers of success in the current climate, and staying connected with thought-leaders and peers is more crucial than ever, which is why the Think Global Forum is so important. Lahcene says, “TGF is a great place to meet like-minded people who are facing the same challenges. It is a trusted environment where ideas keep floating all over the place to get us inspired. It is a great privilege to be part of it”.
Sophie agrees: “What I like about TGF is that it brings people together from multiple disciplines and angles and gives us an opportunity to learn from each other in a safe space. We may be competitors, but we're all friends too. We can benefit from previous experiences and mistakes; brainstorm with like-minded experts; put challenges on the table. With one main goal - servicing our consumers in the best possible way. Because that's what we all want, isn't it?”
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