In our day and time, almost everyone around the world uses the internet on a daily basis. This had led to a need for making every piece of content published on the internet accessible to everyone. The best way to make that happen is through localization.
Each and every brand that markets its products and services online should use localization in order to better communicate with their customers and make sure that everything they promote sounds appealing to the right international audience. Here are some additional reasons why localization should be at the top of your list when it comes to running your business online.
What exactly is localization?
Many people tend to confuse the terms localization with translation. While these two terms are very similar, in reality, they have a very significant difference. Translation might be a part of localization, but this term is simply a lot more than just that.
Localization is a process where a professional translator takes a piece of written content and translates it in a way that will be easily understood by a native of that one language. This means that they will have to translate every native word and phrase correctly in order for the native speakers to be able to make sense of the different figures of speech the original piece of content included.
There are many different things that can be localized when it comes to a brand. The first thing that comes to mind, of course, is the written content they produce, such as blog posts, social media posts and the various ways they choose to communicate with their customers such as emails and personal messages online.
Apart from these though, a business can also localize the names of their products and services, their social media handles and even the name of their website. Anything that you believe a non-native speaker of your original language won’t be able to understand, you will have to localize.
Should you work with a native translator?
A common question that many people ask when it comes to localizing their brand’s online content is whether a simple translator could do this job effectively. While there are many professionals out there who would be able to effectively localize your content, it would be best for you to put your trust in the hands of a bilingual native speaker of the two languages you wish to localize to and from.
The advantage of working with a bilingual native speaker is that they will know all the different native words and phrases by heart and through their experience acquired from speaking the languages for their entire lives. No matter how hard someone studies a language, there will always be certain things they won’t be able to translate simply because it is not their native tongue.
A native translator, on the other hand, will be able to give your written content a much more personal touch and make it a lot easier for other native speakers to relate to whatever you are trying to sell to them.
Moving forward, here are the 7 reasons why localization can truly benefit your brand in the long run:
#1. It helps you reach out to an international audience
One of the biggest reasons why brand localization can work in your brand’s advantage is because it will allow you to reach out to potential customers from all over the world. Thanks to the Internet, brands are able to expand their sales worldwide and come in contact with new markets.
An international audience will open the road for collaborations with other brands and a chance to gain more social media followers and loyal customers. The more other people see that your brand is successful in many parts of the world, the more likely they are to give your products a try.
Localization will help create a way for you to successfully reach out to those people and their followers and allow you to sell your products and services without any language barrier getting in your way. You will also be able to easily adapt your product descriptions in order to make sure that everything sounds appealing to your international audience and build your global brand successfully.
#2. It makes your business more relevant
Being relevant online is something that will help your brand to attract a lot of new customers and followers on your social media handles. Staying relevant is all about prioritizing the needs of your customers and creating content and products which will satisfy their needs, based on the current trends in the online communities.
Localization will help you figure out which products, as well as posts on your website, perform better with your current audience, based on their individual locations. This will allow you to adapt to the newest trends in your niche and help you stay relevant by making changes based on the performance of your online content in the different countries you are trying to expand to.
#3. It increases your customer satisfaction
When a new customer comes across your brand online and they become interested in your products or services, they will want to see more through the brand’s website. This is the point where a well-localized website will make their experience a lot more pleasant for them.
Being able to understand your product descriptions, make their purchase easily, without any issues and in general, coming in contact with different aspects of your website will, first of all, help your new customers trust your brand a lot faster.
On the same note though, this process will help increase their satisfaction and help them associate your brand and online presence with a positive experience. This will make it a lot more likely for them to give your products and services another try.
#4. It makes your marketing strategies more effective
An online marketing campaign has many different aspects to it and a simple translation of the key points of the strategy is not going to help you spread the word in the right way. In order for your marketing campaign to be a success, you will need to localize a few different things you will need to use.
Apart from the written content of your campaigns, you will also need to localize any videos, pictures or infographs you will be using. Not only will this make them easy to understand by your international audience but they will also be easier to understand, remember and share with their own online followers.
If you are using any certain taglines in your campaign, it is most likely that they will need to be translated in a way which will be easy to understand in a different language. By localizing your tagline with the help of a professional translator, you are instantly making your campaign relatable to the different groups of people you are trying to attract.
#5. It provides an advantage against competitors
A good way to help you decide whether your brand needs localizing or not is to take a look at the websites and social media pages of your competitors. If they have localized their digital content, it is about time for you to catch up with them.
If they haven’t beaten you to it, it is a great opportunity for you to take advantage of the international customer base that is available to try and love your products and services. Expanding your sales to other markets will help you increase your sales and build strong relationships with your international audience.
As a result, when your competitors do finally catch up with you on the localization aspect, you won’t have to worry about losing too many customers as they will stay loyal to the great quality services you are already providing them with.
#6. It improves your global SEO ranking
Each language you choose to localize to will help you to improve your SEO strategy and therefore allow you to rank better in the results of various global search engines. This happens because instead of translating a keyword from one language to another, localizing it will most likely help you end up with a different word which will rank better.
Translating a word from one language to another doesn’t always mean that the keyword will have the same value in both languages. Therefore, localization is the best option for you to increase your ranking in the search engines and therefore attract a bigger international audience to your brand.
#7. It helps you improve your products and services
Last but not least, localization is a great investment for any company because it allows it to know whether their products and services are truly successful with their customers. It is true that different people from different parts of the world will have different preferences when it comes to certain products.
These preferences can be used in order for you to either improve the products and services you provide each market you target. It is also a good idea to invest in developing different products which will better target a certain demographic. Having “special” products for different countries you cater to will help create hype around your new products and have people from other parts of the world want to try them as well.
An example to keep in mind is of the international fast-food chain McDonald’s, where they offer different and exclusive items in their different locations around the world, depending on the customs and preferences of the local customer base.
Building a stronger presence worldwide
There are many things that will help you win over an international audience and successfully market your brand to new parts of the world. Localization is one of them and it can truly help you transform the way you approach your customers and the way you promote and design your products and services.
Do you consider localization important for the success of a business in our day and time? Let us know in the comments below the post!
About the Author!
Elisa Abbot is a professional content creator and translator for PickWriters. She aims to become the best Vietnamese translator in her field and always wishes to provide excellent quality content to her readers and clients. In her free time, she loves watching movies in different languages and traveling to various destinations abroad.
Hey there from Germany, I fully agree that local / regional marketing is getting more and more important. I recoomend the service whitespark.ca which we use as an agency. It provides many citations, where you can inscribe your business. The more GOOD citations (local directorys) you got, the better you rank in locals SERPs. Prepare your companys profile first!