Global PPC: How To Target International Markets

As the world gets smaller and smaller and consumers embrace the advantages of globalisation, most companies came to the conclusion that if they want to be really successful they need to have an international presence.

One of the most effective way of promoting your business in a foreign market is through PPC, however, many companies struggle to achieve a good ROI or even fail miserably as they tend to overlook some aspects that are critical when it comes to international marketing.

Assuming you’ve already identified the countries you want to expand to, you might want to investigate the following aspects in more detail:

  1. What search engines and devices are most effective in the target country?

Some search engines are more popular than others in certain countries, so before placing all your eggs in one basket you might want to know what search engines people in that market use and how they use them.

Is your target audience using Google, Bing, Baidu or Yandex? What devices to they use and what is their purchasing behaviour? If the mobile device adoption rate is really high, you might want to think twice before sending traffic to an unresponsive website.

  1. Overcoming the language barrier

It is highly recommended that you create separate campaigns for different languages as that will make your life a lot easier when it comes to optimisation, especially when you want to add new keywords, ads or negatives. We also believe that having a website in the local language is essential for success as it provides more consistency and users won’t have any issues in finding whatever information they are looking for.

Please note that countries like Spain have different dialects so in that case you might want to create a different campaign for each of them.

Also, if you want to target English speaking people, having a separate campaign with English keywords in your account is the way to go.

TIP: Avoid using google Translate and hire a professional translation company

  1. Cultural Background, Local Values & Attitudes

Even though globalisation took its toll and pretty much all the nations share similar values, local customs, traditions and beliefs still play a really important role in some other places, so you might want to be aware of that.

Before you start localising your marketing materials, have a look at the questions below and see what implications they have for your strategy:

  • What’s the dominant religion in your target country?
  • Are they more liberal or conservative?
  • Do they have any stereotypes or prejudices?
  • Are they very ethnocentric?
  • What are their main national holidays?
  1. Consider time-zones

If you’re running campaigns in multiple countries across the globe, it is very important that each campaign has its own time-zone, otherwise optimising your ad scheduling bids will be very difficult.

Managing an international PPC campaign can sometimes be challenging, however, if you do it right the benefits will be immense.

If 2018 is the year you’re thinking of tapping into international markets and want to leverage our extensive knowledge to turn your PPC campaigns into a success, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our experts.

Written by Daniel Lupu PPC Analyst at Circus PPC Agency

Ahmed Chopdat
Chief Strategy Officer

An expert in high volume, highly competitive markets with a keen eye for trends, motivated by client profitability and success.


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