Stories have a beginning, middle, and finally...an end. "Fine" What about marketing projects? If you are going global, then I would argue there is never an end or at the very least, it is way longer than you would expect or like it to be.

Let's review a normal project lifecycle: Project Kickoff ➡️ Production ➡️ Launch.

Project Kickoff: Stakeholders are made aware of the project.

Production: The project is executed.

Launch: Date project is live to the public. Followed by celebration and a sigh of relief.

When marketing GLOBALLY, you run into uncontrollable variables. Launch dates may vary by region due to product availability. There are also strategic release schedules or events and holidays are timed differently throughout the globe (I will explain this later). This means your domestic team will no longer have the luxury of saying goodbye forever to a long and stressful project. That is because of something no-one likes to think about...HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE.

As a new global content producer for a growing company, I had to become a detective to gather information that the local producers in country required. Eventually, I decided to be pro-active asked targeted questions early on in a project that I knew would eventually come up. These questions will not be requested for days, months, and sometimes years away. I believe that this not only made our projects less painful for our globalization team but for the domestic team as well. For the bottom line, I know it saved the company money.

Recently, I moderated a panel on marketing localization for Women in Localization's Silicon Valley chapter. After the panel, one of the panelists and I were approached with a question about how best to handle a seasonal project. This panelist and I used to work together. She used to be an in country creative director and I was an international content producer. We brought up a great example using Back-to-School. Many brands target the Education Market with these types of campaigns. Not all countries are on the same Fall to Summer schedule like we have in the United States and Europe. If you launch the same campaign much later than you need to accommodate for what may have changed in the several months that have passed and take into account the cultural differences for the particular marketplace.

What could have changed in several months? The content you feature may no longer be available and the product itself may have evolved. Let's say you are that local producer in Brazil and you are tasked with picking up a project that actually went live in August and you are now picking up where the domestic producer left off in March, the following year. The domestic producers who originally worked on that campaign are focused on making their next deadline for the upcoming school year. These producers do not have the time to drop what they are doing and brief you on a project that they left behind almost a year prior. Hopefully, you can trust that your globalization/localization team took the time to plan properly for a globalized campaign and left you all the tools you need and bring you up to speed.

Historical knowledge is not a bad thing. We move so fast that we forget that we need our history. Innovation and fresh ideas are still keys to success but History is still a valuable resource. From a creativity standpoint, you wouldn't want to present an idea that has been done before. From a production perspective, you want to streamline your processes for efficiency. Documentation is a great tool and will save the company time and money. However, it is often a challenge to record your work as you are working and difficult to see the importance of historical knowledge when you are striving to make your next deadline.

Here are some tips for domestic teams to avoid the pain of the never ending projects:

1. Involve your localization team at Kickoff. Allow them to be the keepers of the Historical Knowledge.

2. Always assume your campaigns will go global. Never build flat files that cannot be altered. Save your assets and metadata so that others can pick up where you left off.

3. History will repeat itself. Save your campaigns to make sure your ideas are actually new and mistakes will not be repeated.

Here are tips for the globalization/localization teams:

1. Ask to be involved in all Kickoffs.

2. Educate the domestic team on globalization. Help them understand what happens to the campaigns as they travel the globe.

3. Be a fly on the wall. Domestic teams do not need to know why something won't work in another region. You should never impede on their creative process.

4. Record all information. It is just as important to know what was thrown away as what stays. This will all be part of the historical knowledge.

Finally, here are some tips for the local teams in country and localization vendors.

1. Have weekly check ins. Ask your localization teams to brief you on whatever they are able to and share with them what you are working on. Be sure to include your deadlines.

2. Share your process. Allow the localization team to understand how projects are executed and what resources you have available.

3. Schedules. Share your schedules, local holidays, school schedules, as well as any culturally important information that could impact a project (i.e. military leave, paternity leave, holidays).

Globalization involves everyone from the domestic teams that originally create the marketing, to the localization teams that plan and strategize the globalization process, to the localization vendors and in-region support who execute the project in various markets. We are really one team that are connected together and support one another. It's a relay race where you hand off a project and you all help the team to win. A team win is a personal victory as well. I invite everyone to team up for globalization.