Reaching new audiences is usually a difficult task for many companies. To appeal to the new market, you must change your marketing methods, invest in comprehensive research about the target demographics, and occasionally repackage your products and services. All of this becomes more difficult if your prospective audiences speak a different language and have a different culture than your current audience. This is particularly true for multinational corporations and small enterprises working in multilingual communities. This article looks at five basic strategies for reaching new audiences in new languages.
1. Enlist the help of a translation agency
To promote your products or services to new audiences in a language they understand, you’ll need to translate part of your social media and site material. Instead of employing online translation tools or untrained, low-cost translators, make sure you engage with reliable translation company.
Don’t make the mistake of entrusting the translation of your content to one of your staff who speaks two languages but isn’t a skilled translator. People with excellent linguistic skills, proper terminology, industry-specific training, and familiarity with the dominant culture of the target location would be ideal. You can visit Torjoman to get quality translation services.
The quality translation must also be written in a style and vernacular that the intended audience understands. Keep in mind that even though people speak the same language, they may have different slang and dialects (e.g., Saudi Arabia vs. UAE Arabic is different).
2. Make your material more localized
If the overall marketing plan isn’t translated for the target demographic, translation won’t help much. Your advertisements should focus on aspects of local culture, such as local holidays, standards, currencies, and customs. If you quote prices in US dollars instead of Yuans, for example, a Chinese audience may not be able to relate to your material. If you use imperial units instead of metric ones, your measurements will be misunderstood by a British audience.
Localization also entails adopting date formats that correspond to the preferences of the target audience, having local addresses and phone numbers, and adhering to any local legal marketing regulations. It entails locating the most popular keywords and optimizing them for your website’s content.
3. Make your images geo-targeted
If you’ve made it this far in business, you’re well aware of the importance of captivating pictures in attracting online traffic to your website. Visual features like photographs and videos can be shared on social media, bringing new visitors to your site. Other features like infographics, pie charts, and graphs help visitors understand your static information, increasing engagement and conversions. The colors and themes you employ on your website have an impact on how people in a particular location perceive your business.
Some images may appeal to one culture or location but be offensive to another, so be cautious about how you utilize them on your website. Even if your graphics are amazing, if they aren’t geo-targeted for the places where your audience lives, they won’t be able to relate to them. Include images of local flags, logos of local sports teams, and photos of satisfied local consumers on your website. When it comes to the infographics you utilize, make sure they cover all demographics in the target community.
4. Determine which platforms to target.
There is no generally acknowledged or popular social media network. It’s helpful if you do some research into the platforms your target audiences spend the most time on. That is the area where you should focus your efforts. On Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter, for example, you can easily reach American viewers, but you can’t rely on similar channels to reach Chinese audiences. You should concentrate your efforts on Chinese platforms like Sina Weibo, Youku, and Renren.
For a multilingual audience, you may need to post twice on the same platforms, but in different languages. If you have consumers in both France and the United States, you’ll need to make different Facebook and Twitter posts for each. Double posting might not be a good idea if you’re targeting a bilingual audience in Canada. Simply choose between French and English as your posting language.
5. Create Multiple accounts
It’s a good idea to establish separate accounts for each language on social media if you want to target specific cultures. If you don’t want the accounts to seem like carbon duplicates of each other, you’ll need to personalize each post. Alternatively, if you have followers on your pages who speak other languages, consider publishing in multiple languages. You must also avoid being repetitive to multilingual listeners.
6. Keep up with local news
Please pay attention to what is going on in the new market and take advantage of it. If your target group is involved in a political event, you’ll need to know how to develop a message that is politically neutral or friendly to them. When marketing to Japanese and South Korean customers, for example, you must be careful not to give the impression that you are warming up to one of the two geopolitical enemies.
7. Hire People Who Fit These Demographics.
It makes people happy to be able to communicate with you online in their own language. They, on the other hand, are considerably more likely to connect with you if you have a representative who speaks their language. They are able to ask inquiries and receive answers from someone they can relate to.
Consider having a representative who speaks the people’s language, preferably a native speaker, represent your company in each language you intend to target. It may appear frightening, especially if the new viewers are located all across the world. However, with the support of a professional employer organization like Global PEO, you can hire representatives without having to set up a formal business. You delegate the workers’ HR needs to them, ensuring that they are reimbursed in accordance with local tax and labor rules.
Localizing Your Content
Localization allows content to be understood by a target audience in their language. What is the significance of that work? According to research, 75% of buyers prefer to purchase items and services when they are presented in their native language.
How can we enable localization to assist put your content, with all of its subtleties, in front of your target audience?
The Fundamentals of Localization
As I previously stated, it’s critical to think about how information is created to optimize it for localization. When you take a closer look, you’ll notice that three primary pieces work together to give your content that local connection: language, visuals, and cultural characteristics.
1. Language encompasses all of the different ways in which your content is written.
Readers can be confused and alienated by regional variances such as humor, culturally particular references, and numerous meanings.
For example, while US English and UK English appear to be “the same,” do you believe a farmer in Texas will assimilate information, in the same manner, a Londoner would? I don’t think so.
2. Working Cross-Functionally as a Loc Manager
The Buy-In The apparent visual parts of your material include photos of locales, colors, and themes relating to a region’s culture.
If not done correctly, visuals might be a turnoff. Airbnb is a fantastic example of a brand with superb localized aesthetics and user experience. They leverage users’ geo-targeted locations to provide personalized content (such as restaurant, bar, and excursion recommendations) that appeals to the user in real-time.
Brands communicate with consumers in a voice that seems familiar by presenting enticing imagery of local possibilities and information for the audiences’ consideration (local flags, sports team logos, and more).
3. Culture is something we add to appeal to a new demographic section.
For example, culture varies greatly within the United States, much alone between countries. Soft drinks are referred to as “soda” in some parts of the United States, but as “pop” in others.
It is certainly possible to humanize your material while remaining cognizant of your audience’s views and traditions, and doing so will help your content feel more familiar. Timing is another part of the culture to consider. For example, launching your fresh new marketing campaign on a day of memory could be troublesome, putting your company in violation of a social expectation.
As a result, when creating localized content, it’s vital to know and embrace a region’s own culture.
The Stats Show That Successful Localization Pays Off in Dollars
We’ve seen a lot of happy customers who use all of the above to build excellent, distinctive campaigns for a variety of different audiences.
71.5 percent of customer service executives polled said that providing support in the user’s native language greatly improves their satisfaction with the service they received.
According to studies, businesses lose $62 billion per year due to bad customer service. Simply told, localization is a powerful tool for ensuring that content not only reaches a new audience but also engages and retains existing customers.
Conclusion
A well-thought-out corporate development strategy reduces the possibility of sloppy language usage, which can stifle your worldwide success. As a result, before you think about language, consider your expansion strategy and how you’ll please the new market once you’ve attracted it using language.