Do you know that around 40% of online shoppers around the world like to shop if the product information is provided to them in the language that they understand? No matter how best your products and services are, if customers are unable to understand them, they will not buy them. Here comes the need for marketing. The consumer market of each region is different. To penetrate any foreign and local market, you need to take into consideration the preferences, needs, and expectations of potential customers. In this era of digitalization, people use different digital platforms like websites, software, and mobile app to interact with customers.
No doubt, English is the universal language but to touch the hearts of people, global companies translate the digital content into the language that customers understand. The important thing to note is that due to different consumer behaviors, translation only is not enough. Therefore, to make customers buy your products and services, global companies take the assistance of professional website localization.
The localization should be part of a marketing campaign from the start. It will give your company a competitive edge in the fierce global competition.
Table of Contents
What is Marketing Localization?
Localization marketing is part of the business strategy of many companies. Global marketing is the process of attracting and converting browsers into potential customers from around the world. In short, marketing localization is the process of altering each element of a global marketing campaign so that it resonates with the specification of the target market.
Domestic marketing is a step ahead of writing the content in the local language. In the same way, the localization of global marketing campaigns is more than translating the content into multiple languages. Global marketing is all about diversity. Whether, it is your website, software, or mobile app, you must deal with different, cultures, legal systems, and different economies. If your software and mobile app are successful in one market then it does not mean that it will be successful in other markets too. Professional software localization guarantees that the software is easy to navigate and people can use it without any hassle. In the same way, if you are in the business of mobile apps then mobile app localization services will help you in attracting people of different genres.
Marketing Localization Process
There is no use in spending lavishly on marketing campaigns if they don’t give you the required return on investment. Although you need to invest more in a marketing campaign and it will reap you benefits in long run. Initially, you need to spend a large amount of money on research, development, and design. When you start receiving desired output then it means that your message is getting across to the potential customers and your investment will pay off. Your software and mobile app will not do good in the market if you go for poor marketing localization. A well-devised and executed localization marketing strategy ensures that all channels in digital marketing use content and visuals according to the preferences of the target market. The marketing localization should include.
Entire Product portfolio: Are you creating the content for a specific market or going for a one-size-fits-all approach?
The Relevant Messaging: How will you alter your core marketing messages with the preferences of people living in different countries to avoid any irrelevance?
Rules and Regulations: You need to see how will local tax policies and regulations can impact your activities in different countries.
The Marketing Budget: How will you allocate the marketing budget for each country? Moreover, you will have to allocate resources according to each market requirement.
Price of Products and Services: Which digital channels will you use to reach the target market? For instance, these may include mobile apps, software, or websites.
SEO Strategy: What is the content style and length of marketing content. How will you use keywords to optimize the content ranking results in each country?
Marketing Calendar: You need to target the people of different countries according to their important events and holidays.
If the above-mentioned things are taken into consideration, then your marketing strategy will support your business objectives. Apart from these things, the marketing localization will encompass two other categories.
User-Experience: Considering the user experience involves designing the UX, user interface, and visuals that are culturally relevant and user-friendly for the market.
Copy: Changing the actual content of the marketing material for different markets is very important. Here you need to decide whether you need to go for machine translation or not. You need to find out what specific terminology is used in each market to avoid offending your customers.
The Objective of Marketing Localization
The goal of marketing content is to grab the attention of potential clients, build trust and generate leads. The marketing material includes a blog that can rank internationally on Google, email marketing newsletters, social media posts, ads, product-oriented content, and many more. The marketing teams accommodate all such content with the help of CMS platforms like Contentful, Storyblok, WordPress, etc. If you are localizing content for a different culture then you must hire a marketing specialist who must be SME. This marketing specialist can modify the content according to the requirements of the new market. The marketing content should not be left with translation agencies to translate it for different markets. If you want the marketing campaign to be successful then you should involve localization from the early stage of content development.
Transcreation in Global Marketing
It is very important to note that the same concepts are easily understood in one culture, whereas, in other cultures, they are not taken positively. Here transcreation in global marketing plays its role. If you don’t use transcreation in attracting the international markets then it is a probability that your brand message will not get across and even your marketing message can fire back. For example, Pampers Nappies used the image of a stork for a Japanese advertising campaign. Although it is well-known folklore in Western culture, this image created confusion among the Japanese public. If more research was conducted on the Japanese market, then they would have known that tales of babies are taken down to rivers and streams through giant peaches. This shows that in addition to written content, images also play important role in global marketing.
Wrapping Up
Marketing content localization is required for digital content that requires high-volume translations. Sometimes marketing campaign has more words than the product UI. If you are planning to localize the content for a different market then you must hire a professional translation agency. The native translators at these translation agencies localize and identify new assets that must be developed for the emerging markets. Marketing localization can do wonders for your business. Therefore, don’t hesitate to invest in marketing localization.