In a fast-growing and globally active industry or one that is about to become global, you need to prepare the Content Strategy of your company (and products). The language and style of the site should be adapted to the language and culture of the country where the market you want to operate is located. To avoid that you act too quickly by skipping the necessary steps, we have some suggestions for you.
Choosing a template can be a winning choice when building content on any significant scale. Using a template or model, you can reduce the time it takes to build a web page, email marketing campaign, and product descriptions. However, it is essential to be careful not to make excessive use of these elements, as there may be some communication problems, particularly at the international level.
It may happen that your template or website template is not suitable for all regions or countries of the people you want to do business with. A web page for a Japanese company, for example, in terms of UX preferences, would be very different from the one we are used to in the West. The way and sequence of products or services presented in these websites are entirely different from that of a European site.
When text and content preferences change dramatically, it may be necessary to develop different web page templates for different countries. An excellent solution to this problem could be to program a website with entirely different texts and interfaces for each region where you decide to publish it.
In other cases, it will be sufficient to make some changes to the template of your global website once you have used it. At least make sure that your master template is ready for localization, making it as organized and straightforward as possible.
With a global view of customer journey and programs built around the content of your domestic territory, you need to have a global perspective when you think about localization. In other words, you should not ignore other elements of global digital marketing, such as email campaigns, landing pages, social posts, etc. These elements should be positioned as carefully as your content is located in your local market. By optimizing promotion campaigns for different geographic regions, you can get more consensus and positive feedback from customers of different countries in which you operate.
Things seem simple to do, but you’d be surprised at the number of brands that come across the trap of thinking that a target language is a single entity. Most words are, in fact, much fuzzier than English.
Let’s take Spanish as an example as this language has many variations and dialects, also inside the Spanish-speaking regions. Only Latin America is a melting pot of cultures that gains its linguistic influence from various indigenous and European languages. Other languages are also spoken in some Spanish-speaking countries: Catalan in Spain, for example. If you assume that Spanish is the lingua franca in all parts of Spain or the same in all regions, you could end up putting potential customers at risk.
For marketing or highly branded content, a single approach for all countries is too risky: you have to recognize the dialectal differences of your customers to connect with them at a deeper level.
You need a smarter, more strategic approach if you don’t want to fall into the traps we’ve been investigating in this article. When you become global, of course, tests and errors come with the marketing of your territory. We’ve barely scratched the surface with these problems, and you might come across others you’re not prepared for. But a global approach will reduce this risk to a minimum. Let’s talk about this topic in a 30-minute free appointment that you can book here.
MT Web Languages
Am Haselnußstrauch 12
80935 Munich, Germany
Tel: +49 157 52958568
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