Localization Marketing Strategy | Ultimate Guide

Localization is the process of tailoring the company’s value proposition or marketing message to a specific country or culture. Really you can think of localization as a form of “personalisation” but at a country or culture level. 

The Problem

If people don’t understand or connect with your brand and it’s value proposition they are less likely to buy, it’s that simple.

Goal

• Translate or tailor a brand’s Global Marketing plan to specific countries or regions.
• Connect and resonate with those in the local market, helping them to see value in your product/service.

People have a tendency to connect easier with people who speak the same language, have the same accent, use similar words and have a similar culture. In addition, every countries culture has different buying habits and even the technology used can be different. For example, in China Mobile internet usage dominates desktop and their are various local restrictions on content.  

Visual Matching

In advertising, it’s good practice to match the ideal customer persona with an actor of similar demographics for ad creative images or video . For example if your target audience is senior citizens, then people who “look” and “speak” like them should be in the advert. This is obvious for that example, but if your product is targeted at “Busy moms” , “Young Working Professionals” or “Young Busy Families” it may be less obvious. A great example is in the adverts for meal prep service “Hello Fresh”. Their images show a clear “Young Busy Family Demographic” while their Youtube adverts show a “Young working professionals” which uses the word “family time” which could simple her family, partner or relatives covering all bases. We at Social Genie call this “visual matching” as according to multiple Psychology Studies People like those like them or how they would like to be.

Five Part Localized Marketing Strategy

1. Language 

This is the first and most important factor to address as although English is the world’s most popular spoken language with 1.5 billion people speaking English globally. This is 24% of the world population of 7.9 billion people, which means 76% of people don’t speak English according to data from Statista. It should also be noted that a large portion of these people only speak English as a 2nd language and thus may “think” in their own native language. This is important to know for marketers as if the target audience is having to “translate” in their head the message it may lose impact and context. The 2nd most popular language globally is Mandarin (1.1 billion people), followed by Hindu (602 million people) and Spanish (548 million people). 

Source: Statista

Lost in Translation?

With many auto translating software’s available it may seem simple to just translate your marketing messages and value propositions. However be warned,  “word by word” translation often leads to wrong context and meaning. Some languages have different sentence order, while other Romance languages use masculine and feminine nouns such as French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. Now although translation software is much better and more accurate than it used to be, there still could be minor issues. For example, there are certain words which cannot be translated into English directly. For example, in Norway they use the word “utepils’  to describe an ideal chilled moment. For example, sitting outside, with the sun shining and beer in your hand.  Whereas in Italian the word “abbiocco” is used to describe that satisfied but drowsy feeling after you’ve just eaten a big meal. In English slang this could be translated to a “food coma” but a nicer version.

2. Vocabulary & Accent

I’ve put this section separate from language as I believe language is the first and most obvious hurdle. But the less obvious and possibly more impactful localisation technique is to think deeply about accents and specific vocabulary. For example, In the UK people speak English and in the US people speak English (US). The two peoples understand the majority of what each other say but certain words & phrases are different.

For example:

• Torch (UK) – Flashlight (US)
• Bonnet (UK) – Hood (US) 

Here are a few more examples below:

If we go even more granular, even the same words have different spelling, with US English often replacing an “e” for an “a” as in Grey (UK) and Gray (US). While even the word “Localisation” (UK) has the spelling “Localization” in US English. You can see on the image below:

Pro Tip: US English if unsure.

For our content marketing clients, we tend to write English articles in English (US) as opposed to British English if they are not aiming at a specific country’s audience. This is done for two reasons: 

1. USA has a larger population & more Web Traffic

The US has a population of 329 million, vs the UK at 69 million. Thus it’s no surprise US web traffic tends to make up a large portion of many english worded websites (unless locally aimed). We have seen this pattern on many of our clients’ Google analytics. 

2. US English has more global appeal

Hollywood Movies and US music has caused vast penetration of the US language internationally. I have many friends internationally who often tell me they learn English through US movies. Also because of this it’s much easier for someone from the UK to understand US English than vice versa as we are more exposed to their language and culture. They also have the world’s biggest economy which makes the US the home of global business.

Fun Fact: When Ricky Gervais the writer of the popular comedy show “The Office” was asked which is better the UK or US office. Gervais in a tongue and cheek manner stated his “accountant told him the US office is better”. As a British guy, I see the charm of the original but as US office has many more seasons it does have more opportunities for comedy gold.

Pro Tip. Use the same words as your customers 

Using the same words as your customers is not just about translating the language or even the spelling. For instance with many of our clients we also do this for those who speak the same language. For many of our past clients we have analyzed customer service call transcripts and messages to find out how the customer describes the product.

Ex. Do they use expressive language and words like “Amazing!” or are they more reserved and say “It suited my requirements”. 

This is the same as meeting someone in real life, there are people who speak like us and we tend to connect better with those people. This can be regional accents (US), for example Tony Robbins does a great skit of New Yorkers vs those from Alabama. New Yorkers are often fast talking, where those in Alabama or Texas tend to speak in a more relaxed tone, think Matthew McConaughey “Alright, Alright or Alright”. Of course this is a sweeping generalization but there is some truth in it.

Real World example: Google Pixel Youtube adverts are unique and “Localized” for each country with a local voice over and recorded in each country to appeal maximally to their target audience. This would be obvious for very different countries such as Japan but they also do this in the UK where we speak the same language, I like to call this “Hyper Localization”. 

Bonus Fact for Sales: You can also “match” another person’s energy to build rapport. For example, they may be relaxed and softly spoken or high energy and loud. But that is more for sales, which is beyond the scope of this post. 

3. Culture 

Culture is defined as the “ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society.” Every culture has different norms and customs which are specific to them, some of these can be used to help build rapport while others should be known so that you don’t offend people. Here are some interesting examples:

Ethiopia  – “Let People Feed You”

In Ethiopia a common sign of affection is when someone tries to feed you food. Now although in western cultures this may be done in a different context with a partner in Ethiopia it is done with friends. Ethiopia’s also tend to use their hands to eat which is very different to western culture.

Iceland – “Nudity”

In Iceland people are very relaxed about public nudity, in fact women have the right to wear no top in public if they wish with no issue.  From a marketing standpoint this is good to know, for example a client we used to work with had a “riskay” TV commercial based on nudity which was meant to “Shock” people in the UK. However, if they ran the same advert in Iceland it wouldn’t have worked as well. 

Middle East – Conservative Dress

At the opposite end of the spectrum we have the middle east and places such as Saudi Arabia, where the culture says women must dress conservative, covering knees and shoulders. In a few places they may also be encouraged to wear a headscarf.  In the Middle East it is also very rude to show people the soles of your feet, so it makes sense to be careful when sitting with legs crossed. 

4. Purchasing Habits/Behaviors

Every country has different purchasing habits and behaviors to address these. I will go through a few examples. 

Localization Marketing in the Middle East

i. Simpler Customer Segmentation

In general, sources suggest that customer segmentation is more simple for Arab consumers and surveys are effectively useless as people don’t tend to give honest opinions. A better tactic is to focus more on social media engagement and online trends. Mass campaigns such as TV ads or “blanket” campaigns also tend to do well for big brands whereas western consumers demand very personal experiences. 

ii. Less Product Review Focused

There is also a story of P&G in Egypt (which is north Africa but considered middle eastern in culture by many). They were planning to run a marketing campaign and would only allow adverts with music, as opposed to being heavily product focused. In general people in the middle east tend to take product reviews and specifications less into account and prefer to buy something out of love, according to sources.  This is very different to somewhere like Germany, where the people tend to be very feature and product specification focused. 

Localization Marketing in Europe 

Europe is an extremely fragmented continent with multiple countries, different languages and cultures in such a small area. For example, the map below shows you can fit 30 European countries inside the entire USA.  Now although the English language is taught in school and understood by the majority of Europeans, the abilities do range immensely. For example, the great map below which was created from a  2012 Eurobarometer report shows the range of possibilities from a surprising just 22% in Spain to Sweden with 86%. However, from personal experience traveling these countries extensively that figure feels much higher in Spain especially in major cities. 

In Spain, Spanish is the most popular language (go figure) but we also have other languages such as Galician, Catalan and Basque which are spoken widely in some regions. I was in Barcelona at the time of the Catalonian political riots, where a large number of protestors were trying to encourage the separation of Spain and Catalonia. Thus it’s clear many Spainish citizens don’t consider themselves to be “Spanish”, they may say “I’m Catalonian”. In terms of purchasing preferences each countries culture makes buying decisions based upon different criteria. For example, in Germany the people have a tendency to focus more on logical specifications, as opposed to purely emotional buying decisions. 

In Italy, people have a strong focus on heritage and classic design. Thus when Starbucks opened their store in Milan, they updated an historic landmark building as opposed to putting up a modern looking corporate store. This has proven to be very popular for both locals and tourists. 

Localization Marketing in Asia

Asia is a vast continent which comprises multiple countries with very different cultures and thus localization is essential. In general westerners tend to be more individualistic and Asian countries tend to be more about the “whole”. Eastern cultures also tend to have a more hierarchical structure and authority is respected much more.  This is called “High-context communication” and is common in Asian cultures. People often communicate  through non-verbal elements such as body language and a person’s age or status.  Whereas in US culture, information tends to be primarily communicated via spoken language and rules are spelled out explicitly, which reflects a low-context communication.  In cultures such as Japan, people tend to speak in terms of stories, analogies and history which is very different to many western cultures which tend to get “straight to the point”.  This is useful to know in advertising, given a long storyline in a US advert may lose viewers but in Japan this would be preferred. History, age and tradition is also respected immensely in Japan, whereas many western cultures value new and fresh more so. 

Localization Marketing in Africa 

Africa is a huge continent with 54 countries of various cultures, languages and economies. As a marketer you will likely be focused upon the most developed regions. I personally think it’s best to start with the largest economies and then move down the list.  For example: Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa etc. From their you will need to create a Localization strategy for each specific country based on languages, demographics etc. 

5. Localize Marketing Channels

Once you have defined your target audience, as “Where is their attention?” and “What is the best way to get infront of them?” every country and culture has a different medium which may be best. From Facebook to Instagram, Local Language Blogs, Industry Influencers etc. For example, Radio Advertising is still a fantastic way to spread a message in Africa and may be overlooked if you’re purely focused online. 

Top 6 Localization Marketing Strategy Tips:

1. More Visual Content

The more visual content you can use the better your chances of getting the message across. Just make sure the visual content represents your target local audience and complies with all cultural norms. Gif’s, Videos, Images are all great ways to connect. 

2.  Use Local Experts 

It’s always a good idea to have friends from many cultures. I personally love to build these connections and have an insatiable curiosity toward cultural differences. The power to be able to ask a friend if this “sounds right” in your native language or translated is very powerful. I have also used this tactic for initial contract negotiations, before consulting a local professional expert. 

3. Simple Messaging 

Simple effective messaging removes possible ambiguity. For example, between 2009 and 2013, Coca Cola’s slogan was “ Open Happiness” Happiness is an emotion which can be easily translated globally. 

4. Tailored Content

Do cultural research then use that awareness to tailor messaging. You can also thread culture norms into marketing to show the audience you “get them”. An example of this is Starbucks Japanese store which includes traditional elements of Japanese culture, this aligns with their heritage. Just be careful not to come across as stereotypical and that is why it makes sense to connect with a local expert to help. At Social Genie, we have a range of experts internationally we consult with on issues such as this.

5. Focus Groups 

Focus Groups and “soft launches” can be a great way to test how your local audience responds to your product or new feature. You can also ask them questions such as “How would you recommend this product to a friend?

6. Web Marketing & Local SEO

Think about local SEO and local domains such as (.co.uk and .es). You can also set up dynamic web pages with cookies to tailor the content to the region, Investing websites we work with such as Motely Fool do this. Whereas companies such as Amazon have a unique landing page and recommendations for every user logged in, although this is difficult for most websites, especially those without user accounts. In addition, Dynamic Content can be implemented on email with software such as (Marketo). This enables the same email to be sent to an audience segment but the content of a section be adjusted by industry or cultural norm.

Final Thoughts

Localization is a key element, for translating any global marketing strategy into a more impactful and connected version. This is essential to not offend people, while also generating more engagement, more happy customers and a lower cost per click. 

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About the Author: Ben Alaimo 

This post was created by Ben Alaimo, Director of Digital Marketing at Social Genie. Ben has vast experience in the online travel industry and manages the account for our major online travel brand clients (see homepage for case study).