Agency for international content management

With our expertise in international content management, we help companies create, translate, and manage digital content for global target markets. Our interdisciplinary project team works closely with you to design end-to-end processes for scaling your content internationally. We support you with project management, implementation, and the integration of content management systems (CMS) as well as localization tools.

Basics

What international content management is all about

What does international content management involve?
International content management includes all the tasks of classic content management—such as content strategy consulting, selecting the right formats, implementing a CMS, performing content audits, and of course creating, optimizing, and publishing content of all kinds. On top of that come the international aspects: Which target markets are you addressing? What linguistic and cultural factors need to be considered? Are there differences in user expectations across markets? What does that mean for your brand messaging? How does it affect your content and what needs to be adapted? We are here to help you find the right answers.

How qwp supports your international content management
We support your international content efforts by building efficient processes and working with local experts in dedicated project teams. Native-language translators adapt your content to the cultural and linguistic context of each region, ensuring it meets market-specific customer needs. We also analyze content performance across languages and markets and provide practical optimization advice. That’s how we help you build a global presence and drive international growth. We also support you with CMS solutions and content workflows and offer CMS trainings and process workshops .

What makes it complex

Requirements and challenges

What are the requirements for international content management?
International content needs to be tailored to ensure it resonates with different audiences and cultures. That’s why native-language experts don’t just translate your content, they localize it. Localization means adapting your content to the linguistic and cultural specifics of each target market. This includes things like currencies, date formats, units of measurement, public holidays, as well as visuals, colors, and design elements—always tailored to your audience’s needs and preferences. Your brand message also needs to remain consistent across markets while striking the right tone and creating the right impact in each language. 

What makes international content management so challenging?

Managing and organizing multilingual content requires well-structured project management. Content maintenance in particular can be complex and time-consuming. Depending on your needs, you may need different versions of your content for each language and market (versioning). That content needs to be published in time, regularly updated, and constantly monitored to ensure it stays relevant for your audience. Coordinating across teams—possibly across departments, time zones, or countries—can also be a major challenge.
Technical requirements are another key factor: CMS integration and search engine optimization (SEO) must be adapted for each market and language.

ORGANIZING MULTILINGUAL CONTENT

CMS, PIM, and key-value systems – when to use which

Alternatives to content management systems

In addition to well-structured processes and workflows, choosing the right system is essential for scaling content internationally. Content management systems (CMS) allow you to create, manage, and publish digital content. But even the best CMS has its limits—especially when large volumes of content need to be adapted and published across many markets and languages. One alternative is key-value systems—databases that work with key-value pairs. Each entry is assigned a unique key (e.g., a string in the code), which can be used to store and retrieve the corresponding value (e.g., a text element). This allows data to be managed and accessed efficiently. Tools like Phrase and Memsource are typical examples.
Phrase (formerly “PhraseApp”) is a cloud-based platform for managing translation and localization across websites, software, and digital content. Project teams can use it to set up multilingual content workflows, with a master language at the core and localized versions branching off.
For e-commerce platforms, PIM (Product Information Management) systems are often the better choice. These systems enable centralized management of product data, ensuring consistent communication across all sales and marketing channels.

What’s the difference between CMS and key-value databases?

The key difference lies in how the two systems store and manage data.
CMS platforms are designed to store, manage, and publish digital content like text, images, and video—typically for websites or other digital channels. Thanks to their intuitive interfaces, content can be created, edited, and published quickly and easily. Some CMS platforms also support version control, workflow management, and content analysis when needed.
Key-value systems, on the other hand, don’t store digital content in a structured way, but instead use key-value pairs to enable fast (technical) access to data. Compared to CMS platforms, key-value systems typically offer greater scalability and performance, as they allow fast read/write access even with large volumes of data.
Both systems serve different purposes but they can also be combined. Tools like Phrase or Contentful integrate both approaches: Contentful combines the high performance and scalability of key-value logic with the usability of a CMS, making it easy to publish content across multiple channels.