When companies think about taking their brands international, a natural thought process is to translate all existing marketing materials for new markets. It’s certainly important to get in-language content in front of local audiences. But it’s quality (not quantity) – and relevance – that matters.

Going global doesn’t have to mean committing budget and resources to broadscale, multilingual content marketing efforts. By focusing on user experience and allocating budget to less (but more targeted), highly discoverable content, you can minimize the cost. And you’ll save time launching your international presence, while maximizing the return. 

Here’s how businesses can get the most from their budget while carrying out marketing + localization best practices.

USE DIGITAL TRENDS TO INFORM MARKETING LOCALIZATION STRATEGY

Work with your localization partner to gather data from your website analytics, social channels, and search reporting from the top in-market search engine(s). These sources can give you valuable information about local online trends. They can inform which content you should focus on localizing first – without overcommitting time and budget to localizing everything at once.

It’s much more effective (and budget friendly) to translate and localize the content most likely to resonate with your in-market audience. Then you can expand your marketing localization from there. Taking a strategic approach based on in-country marketing trends and data will help you make the case for localization. You’ll also save time and budget. 

DETERMINE WHAT – AND HOW – TO LOCALIZE

Not all translation services are equal, and language quality is subjective, particularly when it comes to marketing content. So it’s crucial to match linguistic approaches to the nature of your content while meeting the expectations of your target audience. 

Think about the type of content you’re localizing. What’s the purpose? Is it branded copy or product information? Is it high visibility or low profile? Does it have long-term or short-term value? What does quality mean to your target audience? 

When budgets are tight, translate smaller amounts of highly targeted, relevant content, and avoid one-size-fits-all translation solutions. Don’t overshoot on high-volume translation before you have the data to support its value and the strategy to promote that content.

Instead, determine the minimum you need to localize to provide a positive, relevant experience. And then guide users to take the desired action – make a purchase, request a demo, download an eBook, etc. 

Focus on delivering an authentic and competitive user experience. And allocate localization budgets to the most relevant content for your in-market audience. Doing so will help you get the most from your budget and develop a marketing localization strategy informed by in-country trends and data.

LOCALIZE + OPTIMIZE

Traditional website localization often overlooks the importance of SEO. Search trends differ from market to market. So you can’t assume that users will find your in-language content via local search engines. 

In-market keyword research determines which search terms are most relevant to your potential customers. Carrying out translation and on-page SEO concurrently means relevant keywords can be naturally incorporated into your multilingual content. By improving the discoverability of your localized content – based on locally relevant search trends – you’ll set your content up for success.

It’s the blend of marketing and localization best practice that gets results. Localization and SEO are often treated as separate tactics. But for effective online marketing localization, it’s critical to consider and execute them concurrently.

FINAL THOUGHT

By opting for highly targeted, in-language content and optimizing for search, you can minimize costs, improve user experience, and maximize results.

Avoid jumping into high-volume, one-size-fits-all translation solutions before you’ve established there’s value in it. When you make marketing localization investment decisions informed by in-country marketing trends, it’s much easier to define measurable goals and KPIs – and prove ROI.

EXPLORE THE OTHER STEPS IN OUR ROADMAP TO SUCCESS

Step 1: Know Your Markets

Step 3: Promote Your Content

Step 4: Measure, Iterate, Expand