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Localization Benefits when Entering a New Market

Author: Andreea Balaoiu

Localization Benefits when Entering a New Market

For any business, regardless of size, profile, or industry, entering a new market is always a challenging endeavor, which, without a clearly defined strategy and implementation plan, could backfire as swiftly as it began.

A recent article published in the Harvard Business Review quotes Stephen Wunker, a thought leader who has empowered many businesses to grow and innovate, and who stated that “if you have no advantage in an adjacent market except for what you consider to be in-house expertise, that’s a sign you may be in for some surprises.”

Inherently, this highlights the need to expand know-how and expertise and internationalize content outreach in order to appeal to broader audiences and go through as many new gates of opportunity as possible. And that is where content comes into play within the Translation, Localization and Internationalization framework (read more in our dedicated article on GILT.

In this article, we will explore the Top 5 Benefits that Translation and Localization offer for businesses exploring new frontiers, showcasing a step-by-step review of each advantage from a multitude of relevant standpoints.

Translation & Localization Benefit #1: Better Marketing

Translation & Localization Benefit #1: Better Marketing

Often, businesses are plagued with a thorny dilemma: to localize or not to localize? That is the question.

While the cost-savvy would argue that it is cheaper to standardize and move forward with a generalized content approach, businesses cannot exist outside of the international market vortex, and the advantage of well-executed Translation and Localization is the successful linguistic, conceptual, and material adaptation and customization of products or services within the relevant boundaries of the specific markets targeted.

One main advantage of Translation and Localization is overall better branding and marketing, by appealing in the right way to the right audience. Penetrating new markets entails finding the right voice that speaks to the audience, involving equally thorough market and cultural research and appropriation to avoid a clash of interests or blatant contextual disarray.

Let's explore one of [Inc.com]’s most epic global branding blunders, which reaffirm the benefits of Translation and Localization when trying to go global. One of the world's famous brands, Pepsi, debuted in China with the tagline “Pepsi Brings You Back to Life”, literally mistranslated and interpreted in Chinese with a taboo negative connotation “Pepsi Brings you Back from the Grave”, a self-explanatory example of the competitive advantage of a thorough, well-researched brand Localization within a very specific new target market such as China.

Translation & Localization Benefit #2: International SEO brand relevancy

Gone are the days in which businesses would fear the admin overhead when implementing a thorough Localization strategy to penetrate new markets, seeking instead to monopolize the huge advantage good localization has in building an international SEO foothold.

From digital application infrastructure to customer-fronted content, good SEO is instrumental to an even greater business development momentum for any brand, tying in with a seamless ASO strategy.

The IT engineers and data storytellers from Storemaven define ASO in their 5 Components of a Winning ASO Strategy (storemaven.com) blog post as “a strategy which is a subset of a broader app marketing and growth strategy, aiming to work together to increase an app's visibility in the app stores as well as improving its ability to convert app store visitors to installs and users.”

As a lot of potential customers absolutely love to consume content in their own language, specifically tailored to their wants and needs, the benefit of localizing a brand’s website is not only an increase in the overall SERP ranking, but also helping the brand hit the right target keywords and become increasingly more relevant than their competitors in the eyes of the consumer.

Translation & Localization Benefit #3: Faster Business Development in Niche Markets

Referencing Smartcat ’s podcast on the topics of “Niche Markets and Specialization as a Strategy for Growth” (Niche Markets and Specialization as a Strategy for Growth (smartcat.com)) with Renato Beninnato, the Chairman and Co-Founder at Nimdzi (Nimdzi Insights ≡ Market Research and Consulting for the Language Services Industry), the post-Covid 19 status quo outlines three main Localization verticals:

Life Sciences, Legal, Finance and Patents with 18.9%, Media and Entertainment falling right behind with 17.8% and last, but certainly not least, IT and Software with 13.2%.

As healthcare, clinical trials, and research rise, so do the demand and benefits of Healthcare Localization, aiming to disseminate knowledge on safety measures, as well as professional solutions on a global scale.

At the same time, the ripples of quarantine and isolation have dictated a rise in digital media and IT venues, where more and more technological advances and product innovations require fast-forward solutions, most notably in e-commerce, e-learning, and video voice over localization. 

According to the “Global e-Commerce Market Size, Trends and Forecast with Impact Analysis of COVID-19 (2021-2025)” released earlier this year, “the e-Commerce market is expected to increase, due to increasing internet connectivity, surging gen z and millennial population, rising penetration of smartphones, increasing adoption of m-commerce, rapid urbanization, growing acceptance of digital transactions, expansion in regional localization of internet content, elevating shopping experience.” (Global e-Commerce Market Trends and Forecast 2021-2025: (globenewswire.com))

And, as Slator.com also highlights in their “Localization: the Future of e-commerce” webinar (Localization: The Future of E-Commerce | Slator), the benefits of thorough localization within the e-commerce framework are absolutely paramount for businesses seeking to penetrate new markets and drive online revenue internationally, as 40% of any potential global customers bounce if not provided with solutions in their respective languages.

Translation & Localization Benefit #3: Faster Business Development in Niche Markets

Translation & Localization Benefit #4: Better customer experience

There are two underlining questions brands and businesses ask when entering new markets:

  1. How will my product or service solve that [country/target audience]’s specific issue?
  2. Does that [country/target international audience] need my product or service?

 Inherently, beyond any contextual landscape, the success in breaking the boundaries of business growth is inextricably linked to customer satisfaction in terms of content consumption and appropriation. A thorough localization that ticks all the boxes will certainly elevate any business in the eyes of their international beholders, serving as a reflection of accurate and relevant service execution, as well as consideration towards the specifics of the targeted markets.

 In their dedicated blog post on “Localization in Business: Providing the best Customer Experience for Global Customers” (Localization in Business: Providing the best Customer Experience for Global Customers (helpcrunch.com)), HelpCrunch, a leading customer communication platform, highlights that Translation and Localization can prove a powerful competitive advantage for brands actively seeking to internationalize their business, with 81% of consumers saying that they want businesses to get acquainted and understand them better.

 Multilingual customer support and Localization for worldwide customers thus mitigates cross-cultural sensitivity, enabling a seamless and authentic communication.

Translation & Localization Benefit #5: Cultural Trust & Appropriation

Translation & Localization Benefit #5: Cultural Trust & Appropriation

In their paper on “Globalisation vs. localisation in e-commerce: cultural-aware interaction design” (Globalisation vs. localisation in e-commerce: cultural-aware interaction design (researchgate.net)), the authors exemplify just how important “cross-cultural validity” is for e-commerce brands penetrating new markets. They exemplify the case of UK and Cyprus, characterized by different cultural values such as individualism/collectivism in relation to their business-consumer approaches.

Participants in their study survey were shown two screenshots of two major national airlines in both the UK and Cyprus, being asked which one they preferred on a 5-point scale (1 = Cyprus Airways; 5 = British Airline), while the price remained identical in both scenarios.

On average, consumers from both countries inclined towards traveling with their local airlines and the different results emerged only when participants had to choose which one of two e-mail addresses (www.shopping–online.co.uk and www.shopping–online.com.cy) they would prefer to buy from.

53% of the Cypriot sample preferred the .co.uk address, while 47% the .com.cy address. Contrastively, 98% of the participants from the UK reported preferring the .co.uk address, indicating a strong proclivity towards consuming content localized within their respective languages.

And as Sun Yifeng states in her article “Cultural Translation in the Context of Glocalization” (Cultural Translation in the Context of Glocalization | (researchgate.net)), the performative benefit of thorough Translation and Localization “implies a degree of transformation with local customs, particularities, and details contributing to it. Appropriation is part of localization to convey meaning or to make it relevant to the target culture.”

The Bottom Line

At AD VERBUM, we provide a dedicated and customizable variety of ISO-certified translation and localization services, with standardized processes and efficient usage and management of translation memories (TMs), glossaries, and CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) tools, ensuring efficient turnaround times and high-quality linguistic output.

Through this solution arsenal, we ensure streamlined, accurate, consistent, and cost-effective translation processes, helping you to break boundaries, adapt your content to international audiences, and gain global momentum for your business.

For more insight into AD VERBUM’s Translation and Localization solutions, check out the services and industries dedicated pages, as well as our Translation Industry Insights Blog, and let us shape your business goals, give you the voice to speak globally, and help you to achieve them.

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