LOCALIZATION
5 Amazing Stepping stones to Get Your Brand Localized
The amazing experience is what keeps customers coming back. But we often forget how that experience relates to the culture. Localization is very important for every brand, especially for a global one in a diverse place like earth.
So, what makes a successful brand in a new far-from-home country? It all boils down to the localization strategy.
What does it mean to “get localized”, exactly?
A localization strategy is basically a content plan for translating content in order to connect with a new audience. It refers to the overall plan for how all the offerings, messaging, and content is moderated to best suit new markets in a way that both aligns with your brand and resonates with the local audience.
A successful localization strategy, however, is not that simple. It demands something from every department: marketing, design, developer, customer services,… because your customer’s experience begins when they see your company for the first time and spans across following interactions.
Why is it so important?
With a proper localization strategy, your brand can have the foundation of a tactical plan to execute to successfully enter new markets and make sure to deliver a remarkable customer experience.
Even if your company is a much smaller organization than some famous one such as Coca-Cola, KFC, Adidas, localization is needed to be approached thoroughly. So, how do we do that (the right way)?
4 significant influences on your business
Cultures and traditions matter, period. The language translation is a core element in any localization strategy, but the brand must consider other aspects to be well-rounded.
For a truly successful localization strategy, your company must work to adapt its business to the culture of each of its individual target markets.
A good example is Airbnb. Right at the starting point, their website is available in 62 languages. Airbnb took a step further by translating the user-generated content including listing information and user reviews. It doesn’t end just that. When you book your trip or when you arrive at your Airbnb, the company will provide localized guides, highlighting interesting attractions and activities -- like a truly personal tour guide.
Apparently, knowing your local market is a must for a company like Airbnb, but the same lesson can apply to any other business. What are the pain points of the market? What is the local subculture that your brand fits in? This knowledge is critical for your localization strategy.
For a truly successful localization strategy, a company must work to adapt its business to the culture of its targeted market. However, this is, sometimes, a challenging task. That led us to the idea of utilizing dedicated teams of linguists and marketers for each market, to achieve the goal in the shortest time and lowest cost.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has developed enormously for the last century, and now there are tools that can translate every language in a matter of seconds with decent quality.
However, you should not rely totally on these translation tools. They can never be as effective as a top-quality translation management system. If you want to truly connect with your audience, you need to employ local talents. These folks know local catchphrases that can make your business content resonate with your audience.
Another thing that is noteworthy is: Take in-country feedback seriously. Make sure that you understand the local market dynamics, preferences, competitors, channels, etc. Sometimes, the tactics that are perfect for one country won’t work in another.
Looking around for local freelancers, trying, failing then starting over is exhausting. Instead, you may want to seek a professional team that has had experience and a network of qualified language experts.
Brand identity is created by incorporating fonts, designs, and colors consistently across all its physical and virtual promotional activities. It helps the brand stand out in the hearts and eyes of customers.
Although it’s smart to stay consistent with your brand identity, a better localization strategy should have some flexibility.
Certain elements of your brand identity that work well in your local environment may not work once you go global. Consider adding some flexibility to the brand identity such as brand name, colors, font, design, etc. to fit the market and be globally consistent at the same time.
Don’t look any further because a professional translation enterprise often provides the consulting service to help your brand optimize the visual for the local market.
Localization is a long-term strategy, all teams should take part in, including:
- Business leaders, obviously they are the ones who come up with a tactical perspective.
- Marketers, so they can build promotions that work globally and locally
- Developers, so they fathom the code implications for the local language.
- Product managers, so they can moderate the process to make the best output in time.
- Designers, so they can pick culturally relevant images and never spark a controversy
Your brand’s social network should be localized too, choose 1-2 most popular platforms in the country and build your local fanpage there.
Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are popular on a global scale, but local networks should be considered, too. For example, Twitter does not make it to the Top 5 most popular social networks in Vietnam.
When hiring a local translation company, it’s a big plus if they are able to assist your brand with social media. Don’t hesitate to ask!
What makes VTLocalize different?
We are not the market dominance, we are not the pioneer of the industry, but we enjoy an amazing growth rate current years. For us, Localization and language services is all about you and your targeted audience experience, which are fast and seamless localization workflow, managed by strict industry standards, and flawless translation at the end of production process.
WHAT WE LOCALIZE?
YOU MAY NOT KNOW
- Most brands localized their name for China market, such as 阿迪达斯 for Adidas, 可口可乐 for Coca Cola, but Apple stays “Apple”.
- Netflix’s available movies/shows differ even in the same country for users with different language settings.
- Languages used in Nintendo America and Nintendo Europe are both English, but not the same English.
Now you know all the tricks. Learn more about how VTLocalization can help pave the way to your growth in Vietnam by taking a tour of our localization solutions. Find out Now!
WHAT SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT
Yes! We offer proofreading service solely for all types of documents in more than 50 different languages.
We take many factors into consideration:
- The number of pages of the document to be translated, in which specified page is 300 words or 300 characters depending on the language.
- Language pairs: Some pairs are less common, so the service charge might be a little bit higher
- Service required: Translation Only (TO) or Translation and Editing (TE), or Translation + Editing + Proofreading (TEP)
- Industry expertise: The complexity of the required domain affects service charge also
Please contact us for a detail quotation.
Yes.! Not only supporting subtitling and dubbing, but we also provide the service of typing verbal documents such as audio or video files.
Yes! We support translating documents from all PNG, JPG image files, and all types of documents from all files: pdf, docx, pptx, xlsx, etc. Applying optical character recognition technology in combination with latest CAT Tools, the image translation process has never been that easy.
For purpose of printing or publishing you may need, we provide DTP and Layout restoration services for documents using varied tools such as Adobe Framemaker, Indesign, Illustrator, Autocad to Powerpoint, Excel, etc. Under our post translation recovery process, we provide a translation with “as is” layout and be ready for high quality printing or online publishing.
It depends on the your need for soft or hard copy documents. For the soft copy, we will email it to you. As for the hard copy, we will send express delivery to the correct address provided by the customer.
According to current regulations, notarized translations are not allowed to be copied, all version must be originals. So when you need additional originals, the cost will increase.
It depends on the volume, content types, required services, and other project-specific factors. But above all, your required deadline is the most important and we will rely on that to adjust the translation process and management schedule in order to keep up with preset deadline without any compromise upon quality.
Yes! We do offer urgent translation services. Depending on specialization or length of the document, we will adjust our production team accordingly.
We accept ATM transfers, e-banking, cash, or online payment via VISA/ MASTERCARD card, international payment services such as PAYPAL, PAYONEER, SKRILL, VEEM, etc.