Mail
Pocket
If you go to KitKat’s US website, you’ll see quite a lot of oversized photography, while the brand’s UK site contains way more subdued graphics. You might ask: why does the company make such an effort? It’s just a website! We answer: it’s all about brand localization. This method helps to gain international success and increase brand awareness. Sounds tempting? Read on to find out how to localize your brand.
A localization strategy is your idea of how you plan to “conquer” a new market with your product. It may include market research, examples of other localized brands, communication with potential customers, and other aspects. You will also need to localize the website, social media, marketing messages, and all other parts of your business. Having a strategy allows you to create a step-by-step plan for reaching a new local audience without losing your brand identity.
Facebook analysts claim that 41% of major global brands have at least one local country page. These pages have grown at twice the rate of global communities and get 50% higher engagement. Thus, it’s easier and more interesting for people to interact with local or localized brands.
Remember: localization is not just about translating texts on your website or your product packaging. It’s necessary to consider all the cultural and legislative features of the new market and harmoniously fit them into your product. This way you will be able to create a quality offer and compete with local brands.
Brand localization is your path to international recognition. If you correctly strategize and closely monitor plan implementation, clients from different countries will accept you as “one of them”. Here are the key aspects of brand development that await you in case of successful localization:
Many services provide statistics and analytics. Some contain data about user search queries, others forecast the popularity of different products and services among a local or global audience. Before you start localizing, be sure to analyze all the data you can find. First, study your actual audience to know the current state of the business. Second, study your new audience to understand what adjustments you will have to make.
Here are the most popular and affordable services that will help you conduct analytics:
Start communicating to potential clients right from the start. Good tools for this are social networks or a blog. There you can directly ask questions about clients’ needs and track their reactions to different types of content and offers.
Marketing specialists from Shutterstock argue that 60% of global consumers almost never buy from “English-only” websites. However, taking over the whole world at once is quite difficult, if not impossible. Start by exploring different regions and find a place where your product can be in demand. If you get off to a good start here, then you can apply best practices for different languages and countries.
Keep in mind that the same language can be used in different regions, for example, Spanish in Spain and South America, and French in France and Canada. Think about whether you can immediately enter all possible markets, or if it’s better to choose small ones to start with.
Although there is no standard way to go global, a few more principles will help you accurately handle localization and make the process smooth and fast.
Don’t try to localize everything you have right away. For example, some sections of the app you want to adapt to a new local market may not be necessary. Keep only the essential parts of the product and test their performance in the target culture. This will allow you to adjust your strategy and continue the localization process more effectively.
