US Marketing Strategy: 8 rules you should follow

Webinar organized as part of the US Bridge Program on: How to build your marketing Strategy for the US? Our roundtable was composed of the following experts: Lucie Broto, ex-CMO of Withings, Marion Janic, Partner at RooneyPartners, Matt Rauscher, founder of Nituno and Nicolas Rose, french-american partner at XAnge.

8 US Marketing commandments to follow:

• 1️⃣ Prepare yourself for the “Big League”
• 2️⃣ Test U.S. marketing channels and methods
• 3️⃣ Do not JUST translate content into English
• 4️⃣ Cut to the chase and be straight forward
• 5️⃣ Work on your Buyer Persona
• 6️⃣ Change your mind on trade shows
• 7️⃣ Don’t waist time on press conferences
• 8️⃣ Public speaking, you won't neglect

USA is 6 times bigger than France. The market is ultra-competitive. To avoid being left behind, you must play by the same rules.

What you must do?

Dare to position yourself as the leader in your market: provide figures and mention American clients as key references.

“If you don't claim yourself to be number one, someone less successful than you will do it instead.” - Lucie Broto, ex-CMO of Withings

Want to get an overview of the cultural gap? Read this:

Cultural differences between Europe and America

The Western world (i.e. Europe, the Americas, Australia and New Zealand) could be considered as a single "Western civilisation". 'Westernness' could be defined by people who are ethnically or culturally European, in other words people of European descent or speaking a European language as their mother-tongue.

www.eupedia.com

Are you used to doing subway marketing campaigns or TV spots in France? In the US, don't even think about it! It would be too expensive. Even a simple digital marketing campaign is 4 times more expensive in the US than in France.

What you must do?

"What works in France, won't work in the United States, but what works in the United States will work in France.” - Matt Rauscher, founder of Nituno

In our interview of Fabrice, General Manager US @ Odoo (XAnge Family), he declared that US marketing costed approximatly x5 more than in Europe.

Be US-first in your content creation, both internally (knowledge management in English) and externally (social media communication in English).

“Your head of content must be based in the US.” - Marion Janic, Partner at RooneyPartners

In France, we tend to lengthen our speeches and give a maximum of details to prove the quality of a product. That’s not the case in the US.

"Apple has the most complex products. Yet their Marketing is perfectly simple. It makes the buying experience simple.” - Matt Rauscher

How to find the perfect persona?

"What allowed us to grow was targeting a specific audience. These early-adopters allowed us to test the U.S. market.” - Lucie Broto

In France, trade shows are not considered as lucrative business event to attend. It’s the complete opposite in the US: trade shows are mandatory for newcommers trying to expand in the US Market.

"The best way to create authority is to go to trade shows. You get all the potential customers there over three days.” - Matt Rauscher

What you must do? Trade shows are a unique opportunity to meet your clients. It's a great chance to test your message and value proposition. List the key annual trade shows in hyour industry and don’t miss them!

"During the COVID period, we had to put extra effort into digital marketing to achieve the result we would have achieved in 2 days of trade shows” Thomas Habib, COO @ Implicity (XAnge family)

What you must do?

Prioritize personalized 1to1 meetings with journalists.

“Most journalists consider press releases as spam.” - Marion Janic