Europeans can learn a lot from U.S. marketing. But, while there are differences, best practices remain surprisingly similar in B2B marketing between the United States and the UK.
A phrase to symbolize the close economic relationship between the United States and Europe, and the UK in particular, was coined during the Wall Street Crash of 1929. "When America sneezes, Europe catches cold" made reference to the Great Depression that swept the world after the U.S. economy took a tumble. This phrase remains indicative of the close business ties that Europe has with the United States. In particular, the UK has watched its "cousins" across the Atlantic to learn about the latest business innovations in enterprise software and web-based markets, while the United States -- in turn -- looks to the UK as a portal into a lucrative, if complicated, European market.
While we perhaps have not quite yet become the "global village," as many pundits would have us believe, the distinctions between the markets of which B2B marketers need to be aware have been diminished by this globalization, as well as by the web itself. While some distinctions remain, the best practices for launches and ongoing marketing are far more similar than different today.
Triangulate marketing messages
While it's true that the U.S. market seems to thrive on its pioneer heritage while the UK tends to be more conservative, the fact is that nary a product launch in the United States is ever executed without some testimonial from a satisfied third party.
This third party doesn't need to be a customer, necessarily. It could be an analyst or some other influential. But Geoffrey Moore's Crossing the Chasm -- written in 1991, and gaining widespread acceptance in U.S. Business Schools beginning in 1997 -- saw to it that triangulation would become the norm in the UK and in the United States. In fact, said Moore, there are really two very different phases in the development of any high-tech market: the first is an early phase that builds from a few, highly visible, carefully nurtured visionary customers; and a mainstream phase, where the buying decisions fall predominantly to pragmatists. This first phase -- that of the Early Adopters -- has become gospel to B2B marketers around the world.
In other words, much hinges on the early adopter, no matter whether the discussion is about market penetration or talking about market penetration. Companies in regulated markets especially -- such as the fast-growing pharmaceutical software markets in the late 1990s -- were beholding to Moore's thinking, and as first enterprise software companies in the mid-to-late 1990s, and then web companies thereafter began to innovate vertically and attack this market and others, the differences between how to market to business in the United States and UK began to decrease. Triangulation became far more de rigueur.
Therefore, years later, while innovation is at the heart of American business, it is not nearly as rewarded by trade press now as it used to be. Much like large investors, members of the trade press are wary of spurious claims made by marketers and generally won't even run launch stories without a quotable third party as part of the pitch. Most reputable trade editors require two or three. In the UK, the traditional reticence when it comes to innovation remains strong; we're a cautious lot and we're always looking for proof points.
While conventional wisdom used to be that it is easier to launch a product first in the United States and release later in Europe when there are customer testimonials to back up the launch, these days, there are other reasons why marketers start in the United States and then move overseas.
Market dynamics
For one thing, the cost of doing business in Europe is much more than it is in the United States, perhaps as much as 35 percent more when dollar versus Euro evaluations come into play. So, it is no longer always true that the United States will lead.
It is interesting to compare how the internet became a major force in the United States and UK and then contrast this with the mobile phone market. The importance of the internet as a marketing channel was recognized at a very early stage in both countries. Yet it was the United States that became the faster innovator in online marketing. This is partly because of the telecom Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1996, which deregulated the industry and opened markets for investment, while paving the way for broadband expansion and cross-media investments by major media conglomerates -- some of whom have been more active this year than ever before.
The mobile communications market was somewhat different. In this market, Europe has led the United States. The take up of mobile phones in the UK and Europe was much more rapid, and innovations such as SMS and later video mobiles have been an increasingly important channel for marketers here. Development of the market has been slower in the United States, due largely to antiquated regulatory burdens being replaced by the fast de-regulation in the early 1980s which left the United States with worst analogue -- not digital -- landline backbone in the developed world while everyone else was installing digital equipment. Once the U.S. Federal Communications Commission starts thinking of cellular service as primary, watch the U.S. market explode.
Regulation of the media market
If U.S. marketers are more open to new ideas culturally, they are certainly helped by the looser regulation that began in 1996. Data protection laws in the UK are more restrictive than the equivalent CAN-SPAM statute in the United States, which have provided primarily for opt-out, which has essentially separated the wheat from the chaff in email marketing. Of course, under UK Data protection laws, UK consumers need to opt into these lists. This consumer protection stems from the privacy-focused cultures of Germany and France, who put pressure on the EU to form directives for member states to help safeguard the privacy of consumers in Europe.
Size matters
It may sound obvious, but the size of the U.S. and UK markets make a world of difference to the way marketing is carried out; not just in terms of bulk, but also in terms of creative. Although conversion metrics do not vary too much from country to country, a larger market means that you can achieve statistically significant numbers more easily. Marketers can turn out higher volumes in the United States, which means more revenue, which in turn allows them to churn out more volumes and recruit more sales teams. Growth in the United States, because of this, can often be much more dramatic compared to Europe. A larger market also means that production and agency costs can be spread further through economies of scale.
While U.S. marketers enjoy a larger market, they also hold an advantage over UK and European marketers in that they are not trying to sell to a fractured market. Marketers looking to raise the profile of their brand in the European market need to cope with regional differences, as well as language. Each country within the European market has its own peculiarities and challenges, whereas the United States, while certainly having different groups within it, has fewer shades. Therefore, these differences, which used to be so qualitative, remain today -- but in far more quantitative measures. Triangulation is job one now in both the United States and throughout Europe. The question becomes, at least for European marketers, just how local can you make your story?
Anurag Ahuja is chief marketing officer for Bluestreak Worldwide.
