Reducing the Cost per MQL with the Promotion of French Campaign Assets
🎯 Campaign Objective:
To generate high-quality leads and marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) in French-speaking markets by localizing existing B2B thought leadership content and running targeted paid campaigns. The goal was to validate whether French-translated campaign assets could drive better performance compared to their English counterparts in the same verticals.
📘 Background:
Two major B2B content pieces were localized and promoted in both English and French. These assets focused on digital transformation trends and strategic insights relevant to decision-makers in B2B commerce and retail.
The campaign targeted professionals across France, Belgium, and Switzerland—specifically mid-to-senior level decision-makers in marketing, digital, IT, and procurement roles.
❗ The Challenge:
Previous campaigns in English had underperformed in several regions where local language and cultural context were critical for engagement. The team needed to understand if investing in localized content could lead to:
- More engaged traffic
- Lower cost per lead (CPL)
- Lower cost per potential customer (Pot. C)
- Higher return on ad spend (ROAS) for marketing-qualified leads (MQLs)
🛠️ Strategy & Execution:
Localization of Campaign Assets
- Translated and adapted all landing pages, ads, and gated forms into French
- Ensured tone and messaging were culturally appropriate for the region
- Maintained the integrity of the strategic messaging while making it more regionally relevant
Targeted Paid Campaigns Across Channels
- LinkedIn Ads: Targeted French-speaking audiences by job title, seniority, industry, and region
- Google Ads: Used language and geo-targeting to serve French creatives to relevant searchers in targeted countries
Split Campaign Structure for Testing
- Ran English and French campaigns in parallel with mirrored budget structures
- Monitored separately using HubSpot reporting to track leads, potential customers, and MQLs
- Optimized creatives and bidding based on early performance signals
Continuous Optimization
- Paused underperforming segments
- Refined bidding strategy mid-flight
- Updated messaging on French ads to increase CTR and trust
🔹 LinkedIn Ads Performance
- The French campaign outperformed English across nearly every key metric
- Lower cost per MQL (by ~16%) and better ROAS
- Higher CTR shows stronger audience relevance and resonance
🔹 Google Ads Performance
- The French campaign drove 5.7x more leads
- It also drove 8.6x more potential customers
- 35% lower cost per potential customer compared to the English campaign
- Maintained strong lead quality while scaling acquisition volume
🧠 Key Learnings
- Localization drives performance. Campaigns tailored for French-speaking audiences consistently outperformed English-only efforts in both efficiency and scale.
- Lead quality and cost efficiency go hand in hand. Lower CPL and lower cost per MQL were achieved without sacrificing quality, as shown by higher conversion rates and potential customer counts.
- Test-and-learn structure is essential. Running both campaigns in parallel provided clear comparative data, allowing confident strategic decisions for future regional investments.
✅ Final Impact
By localizing key B2B campaign assets for French-speaking markets and running parallel paid campaigns in both French and English, I was able to significantly improve performance across multiple metrics. The French campaigns outperformed their English counterparts, reducing the cost per MQL by approximately 16% and lowering the cost per potential customer by 35%.
These results clearly validated the ROI of strategic localization for B2B lead generation. The campaign’s structure and success also laid the groundwork for a repeatable, scalable framework that can be applied to other regions, such as DACH and Iberia, ensuring consistent performance improvements in future international expansions.
Case Information
Clients
:
Hidden
Location
:
Germany – Global
Date
:
2024
website
:
Hidden
Budget
:
€15.000