Kronos is a US-based firm that offers workforce management solutions – ie it helps companies capture data on staff attendance and availability so that they can better manage their deployment and effectiveness. It has an established programme of using content to drive engagement with prospects and customers, but it had one problem: all content was created with a US perspective. They were investing in whitepapers, webinars and conferences, but these content pieces were not as relevant to new markets, such as China, India and Mexico. Kronos was wasting money and missing an opportunity. In 2012 Base One undertook a strategic review of global messaging, which allowed us to create three broad messaging bands that would guide future content creation:

Established markets: (eg US) These regions are also currently experiencing little economic growth and the principle of workforce management is well understood amongst decision makers. The principle message was to explain how investment in workforce management was even more important in times of low growth.

Maturing markets: (eg China) These markets have grown rapidly in recent years but are now slowing down. For them, the key message is that they need to take a more strategic approach and look to increasing efficiency rather than just increasing capacity.

Accelerating markets: (eg Mexico) Because of low labour costs and a number of other economic factors, these areas are growing rapidly. Decision makers have short-term concerns that overshadow long-term strategic issues. The message to them is therefore about retaining control over a rapidly growing workforce.

This review enabled Kronos to more accurately adapt content to suit the different regions. Local Kronos marketers worked with Base One to adapt content in line with the messaging, whilst also translating where necessary and adding local references if appropriate. The result is a global programme of relevant, localised content that has been much more successful in driving customer engagement.