To help companies reach new markets and keep them. These localization services are more critical than ever. Content marketing is a proven method of communicating with your marketing through exciting articles, visuals, and videos to capture and hold attention. However, you must speak the language and be on their cultural wavelength to succeed in a new market.
It is what marketing localization services do. However, choosing the right one and successfully implementing it requires planning and preparation. So, to help you “plan globally, market locally,” we’ll ask you some questions.
The translation is the most critical component of a localization strategy
The most crucial aspect of localizing a website or marketing campaign, or digital app is translation. It is essential. Translation agencies are often called localization agencies by companies that offer translation services. Companies offering marketing localization services also call themselves translation agencies. In the digital world, Localization refers to everything that makes a site appealing, understandable, and persuasive to a local audience.
Some localization tasks require technical skills, such as adapting date and number formatting and converting currency or measurement units. Localization is not a simple matter. It requires an understanding of the cultural preferences of the target audience. Even if you have the right words, the tune of your content could be off-putting.
To ensure that content is not culturally offensive or inconsistent, make sure you have at least one native speaker on your team. It will ensure that each member of your team is familiar with the aesthetic preferences of each audience.
Our market research and analysis required to begin marketing localization?
However, it is essential to find culturally savvy communicators for your localization teams. Therefore, do your research about the best places to localize before you start any localization efforts. These are some of the questions that you will need to ask.
- Which markets are most likely to buy your products or services?
- What languages are the most popular around the globe, and which have the most important markets?
- What your target audience speaks languages and dialects in their native language?
- How difficult is it to create or obtain the right content for this language and that audience?
- How do local consumers perceive your products and services?
- How can you create criteria for ongoing marketing content that attracts and engages interest in a new area?
Before you can start to develop content and team formation, you must address your business planning issues. It is often a good idea to find a local partner who specializes in local marketing. A global agency for Localization may be the best and most cost-effective option for this type of research and the dispensing of this expertise. Localization expertise will likely be included in the value-added service of working with a global agency rather than a freelancer.
Approach expanding in this order — Localization, internationalization, globalization
Localization agencies are better than freelancers because they have a bigger picture of all the technicalities involved with localizing websites, apps, and digital content. In addition, Localization consists of both software developers and linguists.
Software can’t tolerate any disorder in the processor in the sequence. Therefore, it’s essential to follow this order — Localization, internationalization, and globalization when localizing. The critical step in this process is internationalization. Here, programmers convert content items that need to be localized into variables. These variables can then be replaced later by data, symbols, or phrases specific to each locale.
After complete internationalization, developers or translators can treat each content item as an entry in a database. Your content can be viewed as a two-dimensional matrix or data table. Each variable is a row, and each location is a column. The only thing that can be done to globalize your marketing matrix is to add columns. It means you can get more out of one effort.
Do you prefer to work with a group of freelancers or with a localization agency?
You may be able; if your “globalization” needs are limited to the addition of one language to your website, then you can clone your existing website and hire a few freelancers to translate it into another locale. However, the complexities increase when you consider globalization to more than one language or locality. While working with freelancers is cheaper, the benefits of outsourcing are outweighed by the higher development costs, longer project durations, and increased risk of failure because of the inability to complete complex projects.
Localization agencies can provide the insight and strategic advice of companies that have been through this process many times. To implement your project brief, you have access to a diverse linguistic and technical team. Your primary contact will be with your account manager. It will ensure that the project is delivered as agreed without you getting involved in the translation and bug fixing. Better agencies will offer a guarantee that covers fixes and corrections for up to one year.
Be sure to know the scope of your project. A partner agency will be more successful than a freelancer if your project is more significant.
Are there underserved markets around the globe that are hungry for your products or services?
Localization is now possible on all content marketing platforms, including websites, social media, and videos. Localizing content can be as simple as adding subtitles to clips or an automated translation function for tweets, comments, and posts.
However, this technical ease of Localization shouldn’t be misled. The key to adaptability in your localization service’s DNA is the constant flux of content and trends.
Content change is rapid in youth-oriented, fast-growing markets like India, China, Latin America, and China. Therefore, only “fast on their feet” and have robust localization infrastructure can keep up with the content marketing curve.
Although established and lucrative, English-speaking markets are generally harder to reach. The fastest growth occurs in the non-English speaking, young and mobile audience. Today, penetration of these emerging markets is the best content marketing opportunity, especially during these difficult times.
Before you expand into global markets, make sure to have a plan
It should teach you one thing: You must have a plan when you approach a market that needs translation. Set goals, understand the market scope, and how much you will be investing. These questions will assist you in navigating the process and help you develop a globalization strategy that fits your content.
