It is a common issue that most companies that are doing really well in domestic markets fail to make it through foreign marketplaces.
Why does it happen? What possibly gets wrong when companies take their businesses to the global marketplace?
It is mostly the poor localization strategy that is unable to comprehend and cater to the actual needs of target customers. A country’s culture has a huge impact on how its people would perceive a product or service.
Getting your localization right is the only logical way to navigate your way through foreign cultures and languages. Learn about the best ways to approach your localization that will help you drive maximum results and reach out to more customers.
Practice Guidelines to Approach Your Localization Strategy the Right Way?
Closely Observe Local Customers’ Behavior
A good localization strategy is all about how well you know your customers and understand their needs. No matter how good your products and services are, it’s more about what stories you tell and what values your brand reflects. Because in the end, customers would always buy a product for what it stands for and what problems it may solve. So, to nail your localization strategy, you first need to truly understand what your target customers want from you, and what they are desperately looking for. You should know their buying behaviors and what triggers purchase decisions in them. Because most of the time, your product does solve their problems, but the way it is approaching foreign customers is not right.
Hire Local LSPs and Linguist
To design a culturally appropriate localization strategy and avoid causing offense to local culture, you better partner with native language service providers and translators. Local LSPs have a better cultural understanding and they can help you effectively adapt your brand to local needs. You can also hire a professional localization consultant for developing culturally resonating strategies. Moreover, making your foreign brand operations legally compliant with local regulations is also important and your local consultants can help you with that as well.
Use a Professional Localization Platform
Having a professional localization platform by your side can significantly relieve your localization burden and help you achieve better results. Traditional localization operations are time-consuming and lead to more manual errors. By using an advanced localization platform, you can avoid manual chaos and automate your overall localization processes and translation operations. You can also use a web-based translation management system to support your translators in effectively managing their everyday tasks. Based on your unique localization needs, you can also customize the specifications of your localization platform accordingly.
Tap into Customer’s Emotions
To get maximum results from your localization efforts, you must have a customer-focused approach. Know how your customers think, what things they care about, and what is significant to them. Especially while doing marketing for foreign regions, you should know how to effectively tap into your target customers’ emotions and connect with them on a deeper level. This way your product can appeal to more customers, and you can provide them with a more personalized brand experience.
Partner with Influencers
It is also a great way to smoothly penetrate a foreign marketplace. Social media influencers have a huge influence on buying decisions of their followers. Leveraging influencer marketing, you can reach out to a large customer base in less time. Find influencers who talk about relevant topics and reflect your brand’s core values. So, you can shake hands with local influencers and ask them to use your product and give their honest review to their viewers. Influencers’ words of the month can give your product good exposure in a foreign market and get higher ROI for your localization efforts.
Wrapping Up!
How you design your localization strategy, and the methods you use to execute that strategy have a huge impact on your global growth plan. Make sure you consider the guidelines provided in this article to get desirable results from your localization efforts. Invest in professional localization platforms and tools to ease your overall localization journey and speed up the globalization process. Moreover, do your research to gather as much data as you can regarding market demographics and customers’ buying behaviors. It will help you create a more personalized localization strategy for each target market.
