All this month we are talking about Pinterest beyond the U.S. borders and the ways to market as an international business or to an international market. Marketing on Pinterest is global, but before you start targeting EVERYONE, you need to know who your audience is and focus on how to reach them specifically. Don’t get caught in the weeds doing all the things. 

This week, we are talking specifically about what it’s like to market to an audience that is not in your home country. In this episode, we focus on a Simple Pin Collective member who has experience marketing globally while living in the UK.

I’m chatting with Angela Tempest, of Skylark Virtual Services, to hear about her experience living in the UK and what it has been like marketing to both a Canadian audience and a U.S. audience. Angela shared some tips and strategies that will help you think about how you market to a specific country. 

Before we jump into the information that Angela shared…

If you are interested in a community of Pinterest marketers that are all learning and strategizing together, we would love to have you join the Simple Pin Collective. The Collective is our Pinterest marketing membership community. It’s open at all times. 

Angela is a UK-based Pinterest marketer who manages her own food blog, Pesto & Margaritas. She started her own online business, Skylark Virtual Services, in 2018. Angela serves clients in Canada, the U.S., and the UK.

Angela’s clients come from different niches but she tends to attract clients in the niches she knows well — digital marketing and food. She does have a client who teaches watercolor art to kids and another client who is a photographer and coaches people in photography. She says she’s always up for trying something a little different.

 I guess I sort of have a little bit of a mixed bag. It’s always interesting because I get to see Pinterest from different avenues and different perspectives, which can be fun! ~ Angela    

Angela hasn’t experienced a need to use any special technology to access different platforms in the UK. (this WAS a challenge a few years back).

She remembers once or twice being locked out of a client’s account. The typical Is this really you? alert was issued and she just asked the client to respond yes. She’s been able to access clients’ accounts without any problems. 

Although the tech difficulties are not a challenge working with clients from other countries, Angela acknowledged many other types of challenges that she’s faced.

Challenges Inherent in Marketing to a U.S. Audience from Another Country

 

Different Holiday Calendars and Seasons

Understanding the little differences between countries is important, especially in the food market. Seasonal differences are not as critical because the Canadian, U.S. and UK markets are all in the northern hemisphere. Differences in holidays, however, are important to understand. 

For example, Thanksgiving in Canada comes before Thanksgiving in the U.S. While in the UK, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving at all.

Language Differences (Spelling and Phrases)

Variations in how words are spelled is another important thing to consider in your Pinterest marketing. You need to figure out what terms and keywords work for everyone and which ones need to be specific for different countries and/or different events.

In the UK, words are often spelled with the use of “-our” when “-or” would be used in the U.S. (e.g. favour, colour vs. favor, color) and “s” is often used in the UK where “z” is used in the U.S. (e.g., organisation vs. organization).

Food bloggers  likely have up to 75% of their audien...