The
localization is defined, in marketing, as the process of making a product or
service more suitable for a particular region or country.
It's
important to know that there's more to localization than just the translation
of the content and information about the company and its products.
Depending on
the target market, localization can go as far as using a whole different marketing mix, e.g. having different positioning of the products.
There is an
entire industry developed around the localization need of multi-national
companies, ranging from translators, to go-to-market /
marketing strategy consultants and market research companies - the latter because the real localization comes
from understanding and becoming familiar with the new segments and markets the
company is addressing and for which it prepares the whole localization process.
There are
aspects which only need (proper*) translation as localization effort: the
entire corporate communication - the messages issued by the headquarters, the
group certifications or awards, the press releases, the annual financial reports, the company's
brand values.
On the other
hand, there are marketing functions which need a high degree of localization:
- Marketing
collaterals: brochures, presentations, white papers
- Online
presence / website / content selection
- MarCom:
press releases, case studies
- Channels:
post, fax, email, phone, face-to-face
- Direct
marketing: all direct communication such as mailing, emailing, telemarketing
- Events: own or participation in third-party conferences with presentations.
In these
functions, having the content / communication available in the targeted
country's language is not sufficient. The content created, selected, published,
sent, has to be different in order to be interesting for the target market. The
press releases sent to the publications must be relevant for the local readers,
the case studies must refer to local clients, or, if not, they should be related
to well-known international companies. The website should only mention the
products / services available to the targeted country and so on.
*I'll
passingly state the obvious about translation: the quality of the text should
be very high from both language and technical / industry jargon point of view.
In order to reach this level, it's recommended to work with native translators
and to have a local specialist from your company to review the texts before
publishing them.
According to a 2012 survey by the CMO Council, 86% of marketers intend to look for ways to better localize their marketing content
The main
findings of this study, quoted by the CMS Wire, showed that:
- 49% of
survey respondents said that localized marketing is essential to business
growth and profitability.
- 41% of
respondents said they devote 30% or more of their marketing budget to field or
localized marketing and merchandising programs.
- Nearly 50%
of respondents said that they are underperforming or need new strategic
thinking and capability development in the area of localized marketing.
How do you
deal with the localization need?
You might
also want to read:
- lost in migration
- clearly misunderstood, or who speaks what
- translation, let's not get lost in it
- standard, simple, global
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