Being a global brand is an achievement and a goal for many organisations. With this, comes the responsibility of managing campaigns that are targeted across multiple markets. Successful businesses know that global markets differ from each other and should be targeted individually. Thus, localising content for your international marketing campaign is essential for achieving a successful campaign.
What is Content Localisation?
Localisation is an important aspect when it comes to attracting an overseas audience as it helps adjust the content to fit and relate to the specific audience. Whether they speak the same language or not, international markets differ. English markets may have differences when it comes to the spelling, grammar or meaning of certain words or phrases while non-English markets are differentiated by culture and, of course, language. However, localisation is much more than just mere translation.
Translation is obviously necessary but the choice of words used to develop the message must resonate with the overseas audience because sometimes the true meaning and intent of what you're trying to convey can get lost in translation. What seems like an amusing bit of fact in one country might not be as amusing or entertaining in another. It is important to consider and show respect for different cultures and languages as this can add value to your international marketing campaign as well as your brand.
Why should we localise content?
Most marketers are in a rush to get campaigns off the ground and localisation isn’t always top of the agenda or even on the agenda at all! We've seen many cases where brands do not pay attention to this simple but important aspect of communicating with their target audience. If the meaning of your intended message is not exactly the same in the target market, then this could result in a negative outcome. On the contrary, if performed well, localising content is very likely to increase the engagement rate of your campaign - when your audience can better relate to your content, engagement rates will obviously be higher.
As a tourism and travel specialist digital marketing agency, we’ve helped several clients with their travel campaigns. These campaigns aim to inspire travellers so it's of utmost importance to strike the right chord with the audience and make sure the message resonates well with them. As a minimum, marketing messages should be ‘transcreated’ rather than translated and should be backed by some level of research if navigating in new territories.
With all of this in mind, you need to make sure that you can be creative without losing your authenticity and your original voice. Certain facts and statements about your business do not need to change because they will be very specific to who you are and to your USP. However ensuring the essence of your message is preserved even after localising content for foreign markets is the key to getting localisation right.