Global Means Local to Somebody
Can any one thing really be global? Is anything everywhere? You're thinking I've uncorked the Merlot a little early today, I know - but I haven't (I'm much more of a Riesling girl).
Here's what I'm thinking: a global company isn't one thing located everywhere. It's a bunch of people located in many places around the world - all with more or less the same goal. Every person, every desk, every office is located in a specific place - none of that stuff itself is "global." So when you say your company is global, you're really saying, "We have individual teams in at least a few different countries."
My question to you is: does your website do a good job communicating that? Besides saying global, does it list the specific places your teams are located? And, even better, does your site highlight these teams for their local audience?
Say you live in Bangkok and you're conducting some web-based vendor research. Which of these is more meaningful to you:
- "BigCompany is global."
- "BigCompany has locations in 50 countries."
- "BigCompany has an office in Bangkok, Thailand."
- "BigCompany Bangkok would like to introduce you to their Project Management team. Read on to hear about their perspectives on working for BigCompany, and click here to see how they support their local community and celebrate special events." Or whatever.
If it's me, I go for local insight into a company every time. I want to know that this company is not just saying they have an address in my area, but that they really have a team of people who I might be interested in working with. (Sometimes I intentionally end a sentence with a preposition because it's my blog and I can.)
The point is, as you're globalizing your site, don't forget to include locally-relevant content that could be very appealing to your local audiences. And optimize that content - don't forget to optimize it!
Completely Unrelated Sidenote: Living in Redmond, Washington, it's unusual to see consecutive days of snowfall in March. Yet, that's what we've had going on for the last few days. And I don't mean flurries, I mean really just lots and lots of heavy snow. Believe it or not, today's came with rolling thunder. It's called Thundersnow, I kid you not. Never ever a dull moment.