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Palexgroup - Brand Localization Tips and Strategies: How to Go Global?

Anna Zhuk

Chief Marketing Officer
5 April 2022

Brand Localization Tips and Strategies: How to Go Global?

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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.

TABLE OF CONTENT

(click to show)
  1. What is a Localization Strategy?
  2. Why Localize Your Brand?
  3. How to Localize Your Brand?
    1. Study Analytics
    2. Examine Competitors
    3. Understand Consumers
    4. Choose Target Geographies and Languages
    5. Find a Localization Partner
  4. Main Brand Localization Principles
    1. Start Small to Go Big
    2. Adapt Content
    3. Consider Cultural Barriers
  5. Trust Palex Localization Services

What is a Localization Strategy?

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.

Why Localize Your Brand?

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:

  • opportunities: localization is your chance to enter new markets and get new customers;
  • recognition: the more countries you cover, the more people know and choose your brand;
  • compatibility: your localized offer will be more compatible with local regulations, making it more attractive;
  • trust: customers will see that you understand and know them, so they will be more willing to interact with you.

How to Localize Your Brand?

Before hiring a localization company, decide on the new market you plan to enter. Undoubtedly, you want to immediately get numerous customers, but it’s better to test different small markets to understand how much the product is in demand and how to interact with the audience.

Study Analytics

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:

  • Google Analytics: provides data about Web traffic;
  • Spring Metrics: analyzes conversion, keywords, email performance;
  • Yahoo Web Analytics: gathers data in real-time and monitors user behavior;
  • 4Q by iPerceptions: helps conduct online surveys;
  • Facebook Insights: provides detailed information about your Facebook subscribers.

Examine Competitors

Whatever product you create, remember that you can always offer customers something unique, even if you have competitors. Here are some tips to help you learn more about other companies and get the most out of the translation process.
Avoiding the mistakes of others is a beneficial practice. Study the path of companies that have localized a product for your target market. How did they define the target audience? Which of their marketing campaigns didn’t work? Look for those negative moments and don’t repeat them.
Learn from Others’ Failures
The companies that have localized the product are in equal conditions with you but competing with initially local companies is much more challenging. They perfectly understand the market from the inside and offer the best customer experience. Study these companies closely and find out what makes them special.
Local Competitors are the Toughest Ones
Don’t forget that there are almost no entirely unique offers in the world. Probably, a product or service similar to yours already exists in the market you want to enter. Study the competitors so as not to create something identical to their offer.
Don’t Think you’re Starting off in a Vacuum

Understand Consumers

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.

 

 

 

Choose Target Geographies and Languages

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.

Find a Localization Partner

To fix a washing machine or hem pants, you can use the tips from the Internet and do everything yourself. However, you will most likely need to find a specialist so as not to make mistakes and waste too much time. Same for localization: specialized companies have significant experience in localizing content so you can trust them without worrying about the quality of work.

Main Brand Localization Principles

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.

Start Small to Go Big

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.

Adapt Content

When you start a business, you should right away think about how much expansion you are planning. Thus, you will be able to create content that will be easy to localize, rather than use only recipes for your local dishes and videos with your local music. This will make it much easier to adapt to new markets in the future.

Consider Cultural Barriers

The service or product you offer may be specific to a new market. An unusual marketing strategy can cause mixed reactions from the international audience. Be sure to study the local culture of the region and adapt the product to them.

Trust Palex Localization Services

Palex translation agency is a professional localization company. We provide a variety of localization services: from simple translation services to complete localization, including brand naming, multimedia materials, marketing campaigns, and more. We have broad experience working with clients from different countries, and our processes correspond to international standards. We have been a leader in the localization market for 20 years, gaining complete trust from our clients. Drop us a line at [email protected] to get a free consultation on your brand localization. We’ll gladly make the localization of your brand smooth and comfortable.

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