In a rapidly growing globalized marketplace, marketing and selling your products and/or services to an international audience can no longer be taken for granted. In this global marketplace, localization, translation, and other language services have a critical (if often overlooked) role to play. Therefore, in this week’s blog, we will be asking (and, hopefully, answering!) the question: how can multimedia localization improve your global marketing strategy?
What is “Localization”?
Surprisingly, localization is often one of the last details to be considered by many “newbies” to the international marketplace. For starters, many businesses may not be entirely clear about what “localization” involves. According to the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), localization is “the process of adapting a product or service to a specific locale.” Furthermore, while localization involves translation (e.g., translating a text from English into Spanish), it also includes several other critical components, which, according to GALA, also include:
- Adapting design and layout to properly display translated text in the language of the locale;
- Adapting sorting functions to the alphabetical order of a specific locale;
- Changing formats for date and time, addresses, numbers, currencies, etc. for specific target locales;
- Adapting graphics to suit the expectations and tastes of a target locale;
- Modifying content to suit the tastes and consumption habits of a target locale
In short, the end goal of localization is to give a product or service “the look and feel of having been created specifically for a target market, no matter their language, cultural preferences, or location.”
In order to properly “localize” your product and/or services’ content, you will need to work with a professional localization provider.
What Does a Localization Service Provide?
A comprehensive localization service will provide region and dialect-specific translations and linguistic consulting when it comes to marketing (e.g., changing your branding or slogan to better fit the expectations and customs of the local target audience).
They should also be able to work within the source format of your files, such as HTML or XML for websites, or graphic design formats, from Adobe InDesign to Quark Xpress. They should also be experts in coding and testing to make sure that the foreign language versions of your website, software, and other content actually works properly. All in all, the localization workflow can be lengthy and complex and requires a special skill-set.
It is important to note that a localization provider is quite different from a typical translation company. While a translation company can provide parts of this complex process, a professional multimedia localization provider can manage the entire project life-cycle, from front-end analysis and quoting through to the back-end testing and online quality assurance (QA).
What Are the Benefits of Localization for Your Global Marketing Strategy?
Localization allows you to speak more directly to your target audience, in their own language and, most importantly, within their own specific and unique socio-cultural context. This brings many advantages to your global marketing strategy, such as:
- Grow your business (and revenue) by attracting large new potential markets in other countries and regions;
- Increase brand recognition and familiarity in new international markets;
- Go “viral” with your creative foreign language content, such as videos and social media posts in the target language;
- Develop brand loyalty by showing local customers that you value the importance of communicating in their own language;
- Avoid complicated and costly regulatory issues by following a comprehensive, front-to-end localization solution;
- Connect with new local partners in the region who may want to work with you to expand business opportunities even further.
The above are just a few of the benefits of localization for your global marketing strategy. Once you have achieved a level of success in one new overseas market, you can also apply lessons learned and fresh ideas to other regions. Only slight changes to your localization approach can allow you to then springboard into even more markets in the region. For example, a successful implementation of your localization strategy in Japan can allow you to launch a similar campaign more easily in neighboring countries, such as Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, and more.
The Next Steps
Of course, simply localizing your website, software, or app is likely not enough to help you successfully break into a foreign market. Rather, it is only the first (albeit the most important) step. Once you have built your localization foundation with your website, software, or app, multimedia localization can continue to improve your global marketing strategy and outreach efforts.
In other words, you can apply “localization” to everything from foreign language Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for websites to marketing videos (including foreign language voiceover). You can even provide captivating marketing brochures using professional, multilingual desktop publishing (DTP) services, to name just a few. You may even want to think about making any chat/messenger apps available in the target language, a social media campaign, and more. When it comes to a comprehensive localization marketing strategy and solution, the sky is the limit.
All of the aforementioned tools in your “marketing tool-kit” that you have already been using for your domestic marketing efforts will now need to be applied vigorously to an entirely different market. Not to mention, the local market you enter may already have local alternatives to your products and services. They also have the advantage of being truly “local,” which many buyers tend to trust more. Through a comprehensive localization strategy, you can present your products and services in such a way that your brand comes to be seen as an equally “local” option.
At Translation Source, we are here to walk you through every step of the localization process. We apply multimedia localization to improve your global marketing strategy and develop a strong branding footprint in rapidly growing international markets.
Since we are a full-service provider, we can help not only with the translation component of your localization strategy, but all of the necessary marketing support and consulting for your target region, cultural adaptation, regulatory issues, and much more. In other words, we are a truly “one-stop shop” for all of your localization needs.
If you would like to learn more about Translation Source’s expert localization services, please email us at info@translation-source.com or call us toll-free at (800) 413-7838 to speak with one of our localization specialists.
