Even Unicorns Need to Localize Content
Kayleigh Gratton, Business Development Specialist
First, congratulations to you and your company for achieving the Unicorn moniker by your peers and the investment community! To get to this level is an extraordinary milestone and now that you’ve reached it you may be thinking about (more) international growth. And localization needs to be part of your strategy. Here’s why: the world is more global and mobile than ever and communicating with customers and prospects in the language they speak is just good business. So, whether you’re an international company looking to expand in the U.S. or a U.S. company broadening your scope, partnering with a language service provider could be the next best thing you do to continue on your growth path. But before we get to how we do this, first here’s a little history lesson.
Your website is your billboard to the world and one of the most important brand assets you own. Making the information about your company and its products and services available in multiple languages will go a long way toward creating an exceptional customer experience. For example, let’s say you’re a Japanese company with an amazing breakthrough technology in the skincare market. You’ve achieved a loyal following in Japan and are ready to bring it to the U.S. market. You have marketing materials and a website and you think you can simply translate to English and be done, but it’s not that simple. Yes, the way you’re positioning your product may resonate in the Japanese marketplace, but when you cut and paste to English, it’s not only doing a terrible disservice to your intended buyers, you’re shortchanging the actual value your product delivers for their customers and if you can’t help them understand this you’ve missed an opportunity to expand your reach in a new marketplace. Native speakers who understand the nuances of the languages your audience speaks and how they interpret information is key when localizing content for your website and your product marketing materials. Working with a language service provider partner that has the native speakers with the expertise to communicate your messaging in a way that will represent your brand successfully could make all the difference as you focus more on global inclusiveness. A partner like LinguaLinx can also help you save money on your localization efforts eliminating the need for you to hire an in-house localization team while helping with recruitment of new team members (product, sales, etc.) via localized recruitment materials in the different countries where you are building your brand presence. Another advantage of working with a language service provider is their use of technology platforms that expedite the localization of content, especially with regards to ensuring full compliance with various regulations and their ability to do it efficiently often automating many of the steps of the process. This helps you to stay focused on your main business objectives to build your unicorn into a decacorn or a hectocorn that is beloved around the world. Leave the localization to us and you’ll be “walking on clouds” before you know it!
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