What is Brand Localization? How Does It Boost Audience Reach?
If you’re considering expanding your product into global markets you’ve likely ticked off the practical factors like distribution, import and export laws, and your sales strategy. You’ve also hopefully done your market research to understand consumer needs and the market dynamics in your target country.
However, if you want to be truly successful in a global market it can take more than just translating your packaging and marketing assets. You need to also think about nuances like cultural norms, societal values, legal regulations, and consumer behaviors in that market. That’s where brand localization comes into play.
What Is Brand Localization?
Brand localization takes things a step further than just translation into the local language. It means rethinking how your brand’s identity can integrate the cultural values, preferences, and consumer expectations of the local market.
While you want to keep your core brand essence, you also need to ensure that your product resonates with the target audience and, therefore, creates a deeper connection – leading to a better likelihood of successful market penetration.
With brand localization, companies can also dramatically boost other core aspects of their operations, such as customer service. If you are a contact center growing internationally and wondering how to improve first call resolution, then localization can be a fantastic way to achieve that.
Language Adaptation
A key part of localization is adapting the language. This isn’t always as straightforward as just translating words into the local language. You also need to consider that idioms, humor, and cultural references might need to be changed or replaced, or you risk your message quite literally being “lost in translation.”
For example, when KFC first entered the Chinese market, they quickly discovered that their famous slogan,”Finger-lickin’ good,” was translated to “Eat your fingers off” in Chinese. This literal translation didn’t quite have the same delicious appeal!
Cultural Relevance
You’ll also want to consider the cultural relevance of your brand and marketing campaigns. It’s important to be sensitive to local traditions, values, and customs when planning your global marketing. Otherwise, you could find your campaign that works well in one country is confusing, ineffective, or even inadvertently offensive to your audience in another.
Legal and Regulatory Compliance
Every market has its own set of laws and regulations. Localizing a brand involves ensuring that all marketing materials, product labels, and business practices comply with local regulations. This prevents legal issues and builds trust with local consumers.
Boosting Audience Reach Through Localization
While effective brand localization can take some thought and due diligence, it can significantly increase a brand’s reach when tapping into a new market. Here’s how.
1. Improved Brand Perception
By taking the time to localize your brand, you’re showing your customers that you care about them.
This improves how consumers view your brand, as they can see that you understand their individual needs and preferences. It gives consumers a good first impression of your brand and can be a fast track to building all-important trust and brand loyalty.
2. Stronger Competitive Advantage
In markets where the local competition is fierce, localization can give you a competitive edge. Instead of relying on generic global branding and marketing campaigns, a localized strategy means you’re playing on an even field.
By speaking the local language and aligning with cultural norms, you’ve got a better chance of competing effectively with any established local brands and businesses.
Additionally, effective customer segmentation is crucial in this process, as it allows the brand to categorize consumers into groups with similar needs and preferences, ensuring marketing strategies are precisely tailored to resonate deeply with each segment.
3. Better SEO Performance
Search engines are one of the first places many of us turn to when looking for a new product or brand. If you’ve invested time and effort into your SEO performance, don’t let it flop in other countries by failing to localize your content.
Popular keywords and phrases will vary between regions, and making sure your brand ranks higher in local search results will make it easier for new customers to come across you online.
4. Higher Conversion Rates
The ultimate goal of any brand and marketing campaign is to convert consumers. When a brand is localized, it helps to prevent any stumbling blocks in turning curious consumers into loyal customers.
How? Well, familiarity generally makes consumers feel more at ease, so when they see elements of a brand that they recognize and can relate to, they are more likely to trust that brand and feel confident buying from them.
5. More Responsive Marketing Strategies
Global marketing strategies take months of planning and execution, and making changes to them can sometimes be like altering the course of a freight liner – it’s not going to happen overnight.
When you hone in on more localized marketing campaigns it allows you to be more reactive to any changes in trends or consumer behavior.
Instead of having a myriad of touchpoints and marketing materials to update across different audiences, you can make faster changes within local markets to keep your campaigns relevant.
6. Enhanced Regulatory Compliance and Risk Reduction
Local laws and regulations can vary massively from one country/region to the other. If you’re not clued up on these you can risk fines, penalties, or even legal action.
For instance, GDPR non-compliance in the EU can attract colossal fines for a business, and the failure to comply with laws on consumer protection can quickly turn into a costly recall.
Having a brand localization strategy helps you avoid running into trouble with local rules. For example, a tech company advertising a new business text messaging app (think apps like Google Voice) may need to ensure that its service adheres to local communication regulations and data protection laws when launching into a new country.
7. Increased Engagement on Social Media
When you use brand localization, you can concentrate on the social media platforms that are most popular in that region rather than potentially wasting your time creating content for a channel that doesn’t get much traffic.
You can also make sure you’re putting your posts out at times when locals are most active, considering things like time differences and work schedules so that more people are likely to see them.
Instead of repurposing the same generic global content, you can post things that reflect the interests of your local target audience. Plus, if you use influencer marketing, you can consider partnering with local influencers who are culturally relevant to give your reach a huge boost.
Examples of Successful Brand Localization
Let’s look at some brands that have got brand localization right and how it has helped them succeed in global markets.
McDonald’s
When McDonalds set out to enter the Indian market in 1996, they faced some unique challenges.
For a start, McDonald’s was best known for their burgers, but in India, they were faced with a large portion of the population who were either vegetarian or didn’t eat beef. This meant if they tried to launch into India with their existing menu and strategy, it was going to be an uphill battle to resonate with consumers.
So they ditched their famous beefburgers and instead introduced the ‘Aloo Tikki Burger’ for the Indian market, a vegetarian patty flavored with familiar Indian spices. They also removed all beef products from their menu, showing that they understood and respected the local culture.
McDonald’s didn’t stop there, though. Since many Indians are vegetarian, they ramped up the vegetarian options on their menu and created a system for separate vegetarian and non-vegetarian cooking to cater to their audience. They also made other adaptions to their menu like adding spicy sauces and local favorites like masala fries.
The result? Mcdonald’s became a roaring success in India and is now the second largest player in the fast food sector.
Nike
Nike approached brand localization a little differently. While their products were globally relevant, they relied a lot on connecting with consumers on an emotional level in order to sell their sportswear. We’re all familiar with the empowering adverts and notorious “Just do it” brand message, but they knew they couldn’t rely on this brand equity immediately carrying over into international markets.
To bridge this gap, they tailored their marketing campaigns to take into account local cultures and sports preferences. Let’s take a look at China as an example.
In China, basketball and running are some of the most popular fitness activities. So Nike decided to focus their marketing efforts on these sports and opted to feature well-known Chinese athletes in their adverts, which their target audience could relate to and feel inspired by.
They worked with basketball player Yi Jianlian and marathon runner Wang Junxia, two athletes who had back stories of hard work and success, which tied in well with Nike’s core message of “Just Do It,” but in a way that connected with Chinese values of perseverance and ambition.
Nike’s localization efforts certainly weren’t wasted. They are currently ranked number one in the sportswear market in China, outselling local competitor ANTA.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is perhaps one of the most globally recognized brands around, enjoying success pretty much worldwide. It’s not just consistency in their branding and the famous Coca-Cola logo that has led to this, but also their strategic approach to local marketing.
For example, in Japan, they introduced a green tea-flavored Coke, recognizing that green tea was a staple flavor embedded in Japanese culture. In a similar vein, during Ramadan in Muslim-majority countries, they tailor their advertising campaigns to reflect the important symbolism of that holy month.
Coca-Cola’s localized approach extends beyond just marketing campaigns. For a huge global enterprise, they stay impressively reactive to local trends, festivals, and holidays through their products and packaging as well. In many regions, they update their packaging to represent local festivals and holidays. For example, during the Chinese New Year, Coca-Cola bottles often feature traditional Chinese art and festive greetings.
Coca-Cola is a prime example of how even the most well-known brands appreciate that one size rarely fits all. By localizing the brand to resonate with local traditions and consumer preferences, they successfully ingrain their product into the social fabric of a diverse range of regions and cultures.
The Importance of Brand Localization in Global Market Expansion
If you’re eyeing up the global market, brand localization should be essential to your strategy.
Adapting the language, culture, and operations of your brand for local markets can make a big difference in how effectively you penetrate new markets.
The process can initially be resource-intensive and has its own challenges, but the rewards of successful localization are worth it. Brands that focus on localization are consistently better positioned to relate to diverse markets and achieve sustained growth in the global marketplace.