The frailty of first impressions emphasizes how important it is for organizations (big or small) to get it right upon first execution when localizing website content for a global product, message of brand – better known as glocalizing. A survey by Common Sense Advisory revealed 75 percent of consumers prefer to purchase in their native tongue. In a recent Skift via Google survey, almost 50 percent of consumers answer “No, and never will” when asked whether they would book a hotel or flight from a website they could not understand. Though not a new topic in marketing, localizing content is a process which global brands must continue to innovate as digital evolves and content is produced on a higher scale across multiple channels and devices – websites, search engines, email, social media, mobile, and apps.
Here are three points for brands to always keep in mind when glocalizing an agile content strategy:
1 | Machine translation is costly
Time-to-market is a pain-point which many companies face when dealing with human translations. However, these delays can be minimized by efficient roll-out strategies. While some brands might consider the benefits of saving costs and time by machine translations, this could end up being costlier in the long run. In our last blog post, Digital Power: Airlines’ New Key to Marketing, User Experience is listed as one of the key components that airlines need to address in order to maximize the lifetime value (LTV) of their customers. The human element of a brand can be easily found in the quality of translations and the overall experience your international audience has on any given digital platform. It behooves companies to perform a content audit during the planning stages, and prioritize what types of content should be translated first in order to effectively manage time-to-market and seize specific launch opportunities. The benefits of human translations go far beyond the obvious checklist – consistent brand voice, understanding of context and linguistic nuances, engaging tone, modifications to currencies, number formats, and measurement symbols. The big picture: All of these points contribute to sustaining your brand equity in each language market.
Human translation is invaluable for a “glocalized” feel
When following a customer-centric business model, investing in authentic human translations which sound natural in the target market demonstrates loyalty to the community. In turn they are more likely to trust the quality of the service or product, which can contribute to higher conversion rates.
Key Takeaway:
Human translations will improve lifetime value, through preserving the connection between the brand and your customers.
2 | Translation quality can be measured
Depending on the objective of the content, how a company tests the quality of the translated texts will vary. In February 2016, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported that air travel is at its highest level in 5 years. Travel brands are focused on maximizing conversion rates and a large part of achieving this is being aware of the consumer journey by delivering flawless and engaging content in all languages and at all touch points. Just as the original content should be evergreen and engaging – in order to lower bounce rates and increase search ranking – travel brands should be aware that translations should serve the same purpose. SDL, a company providing language translation and content management solutions to brands, surveyed 2,784 participants from 115 countries. The results are clear: the three main factors that influence the translation process are quality, speed, and cost. Quality was discovered to be the most valued of the three and six times more important than cost. Decide what your main objectives are for each page, channel or device and develop a translation quality assurance process in order to see a quicker return-on-investment.
Key Takeaway:
Don’t forget to receive feedback or perform a quality assurance check on all translated content before publishing.
3 | Trends are different in each market
Google. Baidu. Yandex. What do all of these have in common? Each are the most popular search engine of leading consumer markets around the globe (USA, China, and Russia, respectively). While considering your global content strategy, it is important to understand the geographical distribution of your audience and the key search trends for each market. When producing a creative brief for the given language launch, make sure that your strategy includes the varying keywords which are most commonly used when individuals in that particular market search topics related to your brand. Translators can offer insight to common keyword variations they come across every day.
Key Takeaway:
Tap into all your resources to help build your global content strategy, from researching popular search engines to new keyword opportunities around the globe.
Glocalizing is the key to quality
As companies continue to increase their digital footprints, they will be better able to take advantage of the endless opportunities to engage with loyal customers around the world. By being mindful of the three points outlined above, you can successfully transition your content strategy global to “glocal”. How will your team continue to innovate the process of producing quality translations for your global audience?
To learn more about EveryMundo’s content management solutions that help drive digital power for your brand, contact us now.