Let's explore the key considerations and best practices for architecting Salesforce Marketing Cloud to support a multi-country, multi-language marketing strategy, including examples of data models and AMPscript.

Business Units

The first consideration of a global Salesforce Marketing Cloud setup is the use of Business Units. Business Units allow you to create distinct organizational structures that map to your different regions, countries, or brands.

For example, you might have the following Business Unit hierarchy:

Global
  - North America
    - United States
    - Canada
  - Europe
    - United Kingdom
    - France
    - Germany
  - Asia Pacific
    - Japan
    - Australia

Each Business Unit can have its own:

Data extensions (subscriber lists, product catalogs, etc.)
Email send definitions
Journeys & Automations
Branding and design elements

This compartmentalization ensures complete separation of data, content, and processes between your different markets. It also allows for centralized control and visibility across the entire global operation.

There are some potential downsides to the approach of architecting Salesforce Marketing Cloud for a multi-country, multi-language setup:

Complexity and Maintenance Overhead: While the Business Unit structure provides isolation and control, it also adds significant complexity to the overall Marketing Cloud setup. Managing multiple Business Units, data extensions and content variations.
Duplication of Effort: Even with a centralized content management system, there is a risk of duplicating work across different regions, as local teams may feel the need to create their own tailored assets and content. This can lead to inefficiencies and a lack of brand consistency.
Cost Implications: Implementing a multi-country, multi-language setup in Salesforce Marketing Cloud can incur cost for the purchase of additional business units.

Implement Multi-Language Support

One of the key challenges in a multi-country setup is providing content and messaging in the appropriate languages for each region. Salesforce Marketing Cloud supports this through its Localization features.

Within each Business Unit, you can set the default language and create content variations in other languages. For example, you might have the following data model for managing multilingual content:

Translation Data Extensions
  - Email_Content_Translations
    - EmailID
    - Country
    - Language
    - Subject
    - HTMLBody
  - Landing_Page_Translations 
    - PageID
    - Country 
    - Language
    - Title
    - Body

When subscribers receive communications, you can use AMPscript to dynamically render the content in their preferred language:

%%[
  var @country = AttributeValue("SubscriberCountry")
  var @language = AttributeValue("SubscriberLanguage")
  var @subject, @body
  
  if @country == "US" and @language == "en" then
    set @subject = LookupRows("Email_Content_Translations", "Country", "US", "Language", "en", "EmailID", EmailName)["Subject"]
    set @body = LookupRows("Email_Content_Translations", "Country", "US", "Language", "en", "EmailID", EmailName)["HTMLBody"]
  elseif @country == "FR" and @language == "fr" then
    set @subject = LookupRows("Email_Content_Translations", "Country", "FR", "Language", "fr", "EmailID", EmailName)["Subject"] 
    set @body = LookupRows("Email_Content_Translations", "Country", "FR", "Language", "fr", "EmailID", EmailName)["HTMLBody"]
  else
    set @subject = LookupRows("Email_Content_Translations", "Country", "US", "Language", "en", "EmailID", EmailName)["Subject"]
    set @body = LookupRows("Email_Content_Translations", "Country", "US", "Language", "en", "EmailID", EmailName)["HTMLBody"]
]%%

<subject>%%=v(@subject)=%%</subject>
<body>%%=v(@body)=%%</body>

This ensures that each subscriber receives the email content in their preferred language based on their country and language preferences.

Centralize Asset Management

While Business Units provide isolation between markets, it's important to also have a centralized mechanism for managing shared assets and content. This prevents duplication of effort and ensures brand consistency across regions.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud's Content Builder allows you to create reusable content blocks, templates, and images that can be referenced across multiple Business Units. For example, you might have a central library of approved logos, icons, and branded imagery that can be leveraged by all your regional teams.

Leverage Business Unit Hierarchies

For organizations with complex structures spanning multiple levels (e.g. global, regional, country, etc.), Salesforce Marketing Cloud's Business Unit hierarchies can be leveraged to simplify management and reporting.

Higher-level Business Units can serve as "parent" containers for more granular "child" Business Units. This enables:

Centralized control over shared assets, settings, and processes
Roll-up reporting on metrics and KPIs across the entire hierarchy
Delegated administration and permissions management

By thoughtfully designing your Business Unit hierarchy, you can achieve the right balance of global consistency and local autonomy.

Implement Governance

As your global Salesforce Marketing Cloud deployment grows, it's critical to establish clear governance policies and processes. This includes:

Defining standard naming conventions and taxonomies
Implementing change management workflows
Conducting regular audits and performance reviews
Providing training and support for local market teams

A well-governed platform ensures scalability, transparency, and compliance across your international marketing operations.

To wrap it up

Architecting Salesforce Marketing Cloud for a multi-country, multi-language environment requires careful planning and configuration. By leveraging Business Units, implementing localization, centralizing asset management, utilizing hierarchies, and enforcing robust governance, you can build a scalable global marketing platform that delivers personalized, consistent experiences for your customers worldwide.

Architecting Salesforce Marketing Cloud for Multi-Country, Multi-Language

Ymar