Localize your Global Brand

Introduction

Brands can plan all they want, but if they don’t take into account the different consumer habits in each country, they have footprints in, all their efforts will be in vain. To make customers pick your product, it is vital to be conscious of their cultures, political influences, consumption habits, etc.

Brand localization, also known as marketing localization, is adapting your company’s products, messaging, and content to new worldwide markets and nations. At its foundation, localization is intended to offer your brand the same appearance and feel, regardless of your target audience’s native language, local culture, or religion. In Japanese, a word in English may have a completely distinct meaning, and vice versa. Similarly, a company slogan beloved by American consumers may be considered insensitive in other parts of the world.

Localizing your brand for new markets is unavoidable if you want to realize its potential. Nevertheless, localization is a difficult task that necessitates professionals from diverse fields to collaborate in a team. How does it all work? A well-thought-out brand localization strategy ensures that every component of your company’s branding is acceptable to your worldwide market.

Some aspects to keep in mind-

There are various ways in which you can localize your brand, it can be through language, targeting the right audience, hiring the right brand ambassadors, sharing relevant content and so on. It is essential to find the right mix of techniques and tools to introduce your brand in a new territory the right way. A company’s localization strategy is determined by various factors such as industry, target geographies, budget, etc. This is precisely why you should carefully assess which localization method is ideal. Let’s discuss a few of these strategies.

1. Culture

A key consideration in the quest to localize your brand is culture, and it boasts a close affiliation to language. A culture-aware brand localization strategy is one that expresses personality without getting under the skin of the target audience. That means everything from your content to your logo needs to be neutral and non-alienating. Avoid being insensitive to local culture by all means.

Car brands are a good example of how brands adapt their approach to different cultures. In collectivist countries, such brands talk about responsibility and family. When they venture into more individualistic cultures, they communicate values such as freedom and adventure, changing the narrative altogether.

2. Incorporate the human factor into translation and localization.

Next, concentrate on the inclusion element. That simply means making certain that your new clients are not denied an amazing product experience due to a language barrier. Consider incorporating the human element into how you work, interact, and communicate.

Using website translation solutions may make the most sense for most brands. Others would choose to take a more traditional path. In any case, incorporating the “human” factor into your existing material can eventually help convert your potential consumers from doubters to loyal followers.

3. Maintain an eye on your multilingual SEO

Don’t forget about multilingual SEO once you’ve mastered content optimization. It’s pointless to translate all of this material and visuals if your brand won’t be found in your new target market.

The following points should assist you in optimizing your website content for many languages:

• Use dedicated URLs with a language indicator.
• Use tools like SEMRUSH to find keywords.
• Translate your metadata.
• Make sure your website loads quickly.

Brands who have done a brilliant job in this area

1. Coca Cola

As we Indians celebrate 75 years of Independence, Coca-Cola includes the same on their India website.

They have even gone one step further by introducing a new beverage that suits Indian taste buds. Sodas in India usually contain ingredients like mint, cumin, lemon for better digestion so that is what they brought to the market.

2. Bumble India

Bumble customizing its advertising approach in the Indian market

They incorporated Indian slangs, food, renowned locations into their campaigns- outdoor or social media.

3. Tesla

Tesla has adopted a somewhat different strategy for language customization on their website. Instead of just listing all accessible languages, the user can select individual regions (For example- Europe, Middle-East, Asia-Pacific, etc.). By clicking on the area, you can see the nations for which the website is available and the possible languages to choose from.

In Puerto Rico, for example, one can pick between English and Spanish. What distinguishes Tesla’s website is that it considers the language diversity of the countries – an aspect that many businesses miss.

Conclusion

Your company’s identity is a visual, impactful reflection of what it stands for and believes in. But do your products, statements, images, logo, taglines, and other brand aspects have the same impact in the other nations where you have a presence? It is critical to consider all brand characteristics while developing your localization marketing plan. So, how can you keep your stylish, glittering brand image from falling flat on the global stage?

Let us help you out, Granth has the resources and the skillset to carve out branding strategies for a wide range of industries. Given our experience, we are sure to hit the bull’s eye.