Content marketing has been slow to take off among global Taiwanese companies. The
reasons why are myriad.
Insufficient
content marketing and
content strategy talent in Taiwan. Insufficient
content writing and
copywriting talent in foreign languages.
Insufficient marketing resources, messaging, and funding. Silos and other internal company hurdles.
All have held Taiwan companies back on the global stage.
But a gift from the tech gods has arrived in the form of
generative AI. And it's changing everything,
but perhaps not in the way you think.
AI Is a Gamechanger, Not a World-Beater
Generative AI makes it possible for Taiwan companies to automate translation of Chinese-language
materials with a degree of accuracy never before possible (probably its best content-related
feature).
And it makes it significantly easier for
small or
modestly-resourced global companies to have
copywriting and marketing materials in English (and
other languages) that are clean and Chinglish-free.
It also makes it easier to create certain categories of
marketing assets that were once particularly
challenging for Taiwanese companies (like
videos or
social media).
It's a great tool. And it will get a lot greater as AI's ability to generate visuals and video
improves.
However, while these abilities make it easier for Taiwan firms to compete on the global stage, alone
they won't necessarily make them competitive.
In other words, AI can enhance Taiwan's global content marketing capabilities, but it won't be enough
to conquer the world. Not on its own.
Why AI Isn't Enough for Taiwan's Global Content Marketers
There are four main reasons why AI alone won't make Taiwan's content marketing elite on the global
stage. An
inauspicious number, I know, but appropriate when discussing bad news.
1. Your Overseas Competitors Also Have AI
The competition has access to the same AI tools you do, enabling them to elevate their content game
as well. And since a lot of them were already ahead of you when AI arrived, they're likely to leverage
it in more sophisticated ways.
I see Taiwanese companies using it to ramp up content translation and output volume, while your
competitors explore content personalization, experimentation, and more.
And with AI increasingly handling more of your competitors' grunt work, this will free up budget to
pursue more high-level and high-value forms of
content that AI can't do.
2. Differentiation Is Set to Shift to Content AI Can't Do
The content game in recent years has been very much focused on SEO through basic education. But AI will
make basic education content table stakes. Advantage and differentiation (i.e., through content that
makes a difference with decisionmakers) will come from content that AI can't generate (at least not
entirely).
In B2C, authenticity will grow in importance as scandals and snark surrounding AI-generated user and
influencer fraud, and AI-related content flubs, become commonplace.
In B2B, regurgitation numbness will make original data and insight the name of the game, with such
content
largely fitting into three categories: whitepapers (original research), e-books (expert advice), and
thought leadership (industry discourse in the form
of blogs, speeches, and bylines).
Taiwanese companies often struggle with these types of content, even with language less of a concern
now. Good quality whitepapers are expensive and require a lot of handholding with consultancies in other
timezones, while good e-books and thought leadership are hard for Taiwanese companies to write and get
approved. Why? Lots of reasons, but one big one.
3. Global Taiwanese Companies Need More To Say
Content marketing can greatly amplify your brand's voice. But if the only thing your brand has to
say is "us too," you won't be heard.
A lot of Taiwan companies are saying "us too" and it needs to stop. Being a follower brand is a race to
the bottom. It's a pricing game. And in a pricing game, you don't even need content marketing. You
just need a price list, a few sales assets, and good
technical
and
off-page search engine optimization
(SEO).
Good content marketing tells stories, answers questions, provides guidance, and makes people think.
Almost none of this is achieved with "us too" in endless repetition, of the message or the
means.
4. Taiwan's Content Marketing Is Too Repetitive
Even with global Taiwan companies increasing their content and media output (and diversifying its
formats),
content marketing strategy and tactics must evolve,
even for companies already devoting considerable
resources to them.
Taiwanese global content marketing efforts tend to be one-note. With the note in question being one of
these three.
"SEO, SEO, SEO"
Global Taiwanese companies seem to love SEO. I'm not entirely sure why. But search engine result pages
(SERPs)
are a relatively easy and inexpensive way to move your company onto something resembling a brand
leaderboard.
Becoming a top brand worldwide is hard. Becoming a top brand in the SERPs is relatively
easy.
SEO is also hard-core geek stuff. And Taiwan probably has more hard-core geeks per capita than anywhere
else in the world, including among its business leaders, making SEO a fish in Taiwan's pond.
SEO is useful, don't get me wrong, especially when you're a startup or smaller brand. But SEO can't be
the
alpha and omega of content marketing.
SEO content is an arms race by nature (a trend AI will accelerate). It's also a follower-brand tactic.
It's largely reactive. And its benefits are confined mostly to
awareness (i.e., the top of the funnel).
It has relatively little
mid-to-lower-funnel utility
(unless you sell online). And it doesn't close deals.
And don't assume only consumers and entry-level people read your SEO sludge. B2B decisionmakers are
increasingly consuming this
content, because they're doing more and more buyer's journey research themselves
(as
opposed to
talking to your salespeople).
And you really don't want to turn this audience off with content written for bots and not
them.
"Product, Product, Product"
Many Taiwanese companies talk about what they sell in their content and marketing assets and nothing
else.
Not that there's anything wrong with talking about what you sell. Powerful market leaders can get away
with
talking only about what they sell, because they can't lose. But if prospects have real vendor choices,
and your
product isn't something that's inherently sexy (like a Ferrari), you can't just talk about the
product.
Because most prospects aren't looking to buy right now. And
most purchases are made
from brands the prospect knows before the buyer's journey begins.
Prospects rarely want to consume content about a product when they're not looking to buy. So if you want
to
get people in your funnel who aren't presently shopping, you need to talk to them about something else
(i.e.,
awareness content).
And if you think sending lots of product content to prospects is fine because "there's no harm in it,"
think
again. When most of your emails are on topics that don't interest prospects, you're teaching them to
ignore you.
"Conversion, Conversion, Conversion"
This may be the biggest tragedy of them all. Because some of the global Taiwanese companies most active
with their content marketing have been listening to advice from so-called "experts," telling them that
every
single piece of content they publish should have a clear call to action (CTA) and should attempt to
convert the
prospect to a lower stage of the funnel.
Typically this is done by having contact fields at the end of an article (i.e.,
lead-gen). Or it happens by
asking prospects to click a link to your "Contact Us" page at the end. Or you explicitly pitch one of
your
products towards the end of an article and ask the prospect to click a link to a more product-focused
piece of
consideration content.
Let me be clear, the notion that every piece of content you publish must be
conversion content is wrong.
If every
blog you publish starts out with a title
promising information without a sales agenda, but
transforms halfway-to-three-fourths of the way through into an explicit sales pitch, trust
will
erode, while
your brand comes across as needy, desperate, annoying, or used-car-salesy (strong brands attract
business
without tricks or games).
It'll also discourage people from subscribing to your blog or newsletter (no one will volunteer for your
spam
if they're not currently looking to buy).
And if you're still not convinced, think about content versus advertising. Some advertising has a CTA
but not
all, nor does all advertising need one. When Samsung puts up a neon sign of their name on top of a
building, they
don't need a QR code next to it.
And advertising has an explicit commercial agenda, unlike many forms of content, where the commercial
agenda
is often more implicit (and inserting an explicit one may disappoint).
I'm not saying don't publish conversion content. I'm just saying it's not a hammer, with everything a
nail.
What Global Taiwan Brands Should Do
Every company and industry is different, of course. And I don't know your brand's circumstances.
But I do know that a one-note content marketing operation, while often cheap to scale, leaves money on
the table,
because your customers aren't all the same. So....
Diversify Your Content Marketing
Your business probably needs a diversified approach to content. One that fills
your funnel at the
top with lots of prospects and then leads them down, along various buyers' journeys suited to particular
needs,
interests, and circumstances, with individual content pieces functioning like a trail of breadcrumbs
to follow, and each content piece optimized for its particular stage of the funnel.
Raise Your Content Quality
Competitors are also offering content breadcrumbs to follow. If you want prospects
on your customer journey instead of theirs, offer something better than breadcrumbs.
A more attractive content trail to follow. A trail of jewels, hence
our name.
And if you're wondering what defines content of such standout quality, it is relevance to your
customers,
relevance to your goals, value to your customers (usefulness, humor, reassurance, etc.), and
professional craftsmanship.
Such content costs money, of course, but it doesn't have to cost as much as you might think, not if you
implement a savvy content marketing strategy that gets more done with less content. So....
Implement a Content Strategy
Most of your competitors, even the overseas ones, while they may be ahead of you, still don't have
content
marketing all figured out.
Much of their content stinks. And even among companies where it doesn't stink, many are merely
publishing content,
with no real strategy behind it. Less than half of
B2B
and
B2C
companies even have a documented content marketing strategy in place.
Even among those that claim to, many don't really have a strategy. They have a slide deck meant to
pass for one.
They don't actually have a plan to create and leverage content and promotional resources in a coherent
manner to
achieve or support business goals. They have a walkthrough of channels and tactics, along with maybe
some pillars
and keywords and a few KPI targets they're expected to hit because they're higher than the ones from the
previous year.
Why does such nonsense happen? Because content marketing and content strategy are the Wild
West.
There are no 4 P's. No commonly agreed-upon models. No agreed-upon definitions. It's pretty much every
content
marketer or content strategist for themselves, with many clueless or misguided regarding the "marketing"
and
"strategist" parts of their titles.
With AI eroding the competitive advantage businesses enjoy by simply publishing content, content
marketing
strategy and quality must be embraced.
Quality makes your content stand out. Strategy aligns your content pieces into a path for customers to
follow.
Embracing them is what will make Taiwan's global content marketing world class.
Ready to
get started?
