The Importance of Cultural Nuances for Global Digital Marketing Campaigns

The internet has changed the way people live and businesses operate forever. One of the biggest impacts the internet has had on business is opening up the possibilities of international trade like never before. Now, even small businesses can market and sell their products to customers across the globe. While the internet has successfully opened up borders for trade, it has not eradicated cultural differences. Businesses looking to successfully implement digital marketing on a global scale need to understand the importance of cultures. This guide is here to help you understand why culture is an important consideration for any global digital marketing campaign.

What Is Culture?

When discussing culture in the context of global digital marketing campaigns, what is specifically being discussed is national culture? National culture is a term used to describe the norms, habits, behaviors, beliefs, customs and values that predominate in a country. National culture also encompasses everything from religion to language. National culture has been found to have a big impact on the response to marketing and the motivations for purchases and brand loyalty.

Now that you understand a little more about culture in the context of global digital marketing, it is time to focus on why culture is so important in this context.

Cultural Preferences Impact Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Do not assume that because your international target audience will share similar shopping preferences to your national customer, you can expect both to have a similar response to digital marketing campaigns. Cultural differences will have a big impact on the specifics of any global SEO campaign, particularly on keyword usage. When you are looking to conduct SEO in Spain, it is not enough to simply translate a keyword into Spanish. You will also need to do national keyword research. Conducting region and language specific-keyword research will help you to better understand what motivates your target audience in a particular region.

Culture Impacts Internet Habits

Before implementing a global or international digital marketing campaign you need to first understand how culture impacts internet habits across the world. Just because one platform is popular with your target audience in your home country, this does not mean the same will be true across the world. For example, if you are operating in America, and your target audience is middle-aged women, then it is likely that your chosen social media platform is Facebook. If you were then to expand your digital marketing campaign to a country like Japan, you would need to reconsider your social media usage. Japanese people have a low Facebook usage rate, with only 20% of the population using the platform monthly. Whereas, nearly 40% of the Japanese population regularly uses Twitter.

Visual Preferences

When conducting a global digital marketing campaign is it also important to understand how different cultures interact to different digital aesthetics. In the West, there is a tendency to prefer a more minimalistic style of website design. Whereas, in Asia, there is an increased preference for digital images and graphics. Before you conduct a global marketing campaign you need to understand how different cultures are going to perceive and therefore interact with your brand.