Are you a global brand? And you use local creative content, right?
The process of localization is crucial. That’s what will make your content usable for a new local audience.
And why do you need to adapt your message? Because ca. 75% of the CONSUMERS prefer to buy products in their native language.
Let’s see an example. Imagine that you are a beer producer, from the EUA, one of the TOP 5 beer producing countries.
Nowadays, to be in this competitive market, you must have a WEBSITE and/or an online shop. There’s no argument about it.
You made a market research and you realized that beer is a beverage that sells really well in Portugal. So you want to EXPORT to Portugal.
Do you think it’s enough to have your website/ ECOMMERCE with the English version? Please understand that it’s not mandatory to all Portuguese speakers to understand English.
If a Portuguese beer merchant is searching for the best beers around the world, most likely he would also search for “cerveja” at Google. If your website is only in English, it would not appear on this SEARCH. So your amazing beer may never be sold in Portugal, due to the lack of a translated website.
Another important issue is the QUALITY of the TRANSLATION & LOCALIZATION of the CONTENT. As a professional, you will need a professional translator & local content creative and not a machine/ automatic translation! Here’s a random example of what Google Translator does:
Original text: “…know exactly how to make a hoppy pale ale and…”
Google Translation: “…sabe exatamente como fazer um hoppy pale ale e…”
Hum… It seems to me that any customer that is not an English speaker would never understand the meaning of this sentence automatically translated, with half Portuguese and half English. And this is really bad for BUSINESS.
Aside translating the source content to the local culture, currencies are another important factor. You should take into consideration to convert dollars to euros, for instance. Even colors may have different impacts in different countries.
Think about what you want! Do you want to be seen as PROFESSIONAL and sell your product/ service worldwide? So don’t waste time: write a professional web content and let it be translated by a professional translator, who will also adapt your content locally.
A customer that understand your message, is a HAPPY CUSTOMER.
