Our new research, International Content: Monetizing Global Content Assets and Measuring Success, published in partnership with Lionbridge, is based on a survey of 278 international marketers across a variety of industries and sectors.

In the report, organizations that are successfully measuring and comparing the impact of their content across regions (about one in five organizations) are used as a point of comparison with the mainstream. Agencies and mainstream brands can learn from these high-performers, from content ownership and ROI measurement to strategy and governance.

Keep reading for a few takeaways. The full report is available to Econsultancy subscribers here, and for a limited time thanks to underwriting from Lionbridge, you can obtain a free copy with registration here.

Leaders measure ROI, enabling dynamic efforts to internationalize content

More than half of leaders (54%) believe their budgeting is “very much based on a quantifiable understanding of the likely revenue uplift.”

This is partly explained by what brands use for their KPIs; high performers are more likely to use sales (54% vs. 47%), profit (44% vs. 29%) and conversion rates (48% vs. 30%) to gauge the efficacy of their content.

What key performance indicators (KPIs) do you use to understand the value of content you are publishing in local markets?

Organizations with transactional websites tend to have tightly controlled content at the global level

Businesses that operate transactional websites are 64% more likely to report being “very tightly controlled at a global level” versus non-transactional websites.

In the report, we look at other ways transactional and non-transactional websites differ in their approaches to the management of global content.

How would you describe your organization’s governance of global content?

High performing companies are more likely to use generalized content across global markets

Leaders are exactly twice as likely as the mainstream to say that they plan to expand the number of markets in which they will have a local web presence, but, as of now, they are much more likely to have non-specific content programs in place for all markets in which they operate.

Are you planning to extend the number of markets in which you have a local web presence?

That isn’t to say that the mainstream is where industry leadership wants to be; while mainstream companies tend to have more localized content than their high performing peers, they are much less likely to have a well-developed framework for content internationalization or localization, and believe their content management to be “ad hoc” and unstructured.

Does your organization have a framework for managing global content?

For more on the state of international content and trends for the future, download the full report here.