Mastering Global Markets With Content Localization

At the start of the North American Industrial Revolution, Henry Ford famously declared, "You can have any color Model T you want, as long as it’s black.”

Fast forward 100 years and that kind of old-school, assembly-line conformity won't get you very far. As brands reach out to multiple audiences around the world, every audience demands a personalized experience. A fair expectation, but…

Content localization, adapting marketing materials for geographic, cultural, language, legal and other factors, adds yet another time- and resource-intensive layer to the scaling-your-creative onion.

And, as the universal cliché says, “Time is money.” With competitive advantages at stake, you can’t afford to burn through cash or hours finding an efficient and reliable solution either. So, let’s talk about how to localize content and creative on a global scale.

What is Content Localization and Why Does it Matter?

The era of standardization is ending. Consumer communities are growing more diverse—in ethnicity, wealth, lifestyle and values.

—The Harvard Business Review

Content localization is more than simply translating text from one language into another. The entire concept—the wording, the visuals and the overall message—all have to make sense to the intended audience.

Backing up a few steps, the reason why I’m talking about content and creative localization is the fact that localization is an increasingly crucial business strategy that results in greater customer engagement, market share and revenue growth.

No wonder Apple has over 100 different localized versions of its website and 84% of global brands say localization has a positive impact on growth. The most common types of content and creative being localized include websites, paid ads and content marketing materials. 

Why Is Content Localization So Hard?

To put it simply, every market is different. And, when you’re localizing marketing and advertising campaigns at scale, things get even more complex.

Here are just a few of the requirements that have to be taken into consideration when you’re localizing content and creative:

• Language and cultural differences. Ever noticed how many versions of English there are? And while English plays a bit of a prima donna, only 7.6% of internet users live in North America—more than 50% live in Asia. Combine this with the fact that every country, region, ethnic and social group has its own unique history. Beyond language, colors, symbols and images all have very distinct meanings.
• Industry and market segmentation. B2C campaigns don’t immediately translate to B2B audiences or vice versa. You don’t talk to fintech customers the same way you’d talk to edtech. Every vertical and persona has its own needs. Oh, and don’t forget lifecycle and funnel stages.
• Legal and regulatory compliance. Every country and region has its own laws, down to the level of distinct disclaimers for various products and services.
• Brand consistency. As you adapt your content and campaigns, they still have to clearly read as your brand.
• Technical elements. As you localize, you have to consider character limits, asset sizing, file size, legibility, accessibility, SEO and more.

With all these moving parts, it’s easy to see where a problem with any of the gears can break the entire machine.

Not to mention, when you localize marketing materials like ad campaigns, you also have to localize the landing page, workflow emails and more.

And like any good marketer or creative, you’re always going to be conducting market research, fine-tuning to audience needs and responding to change.

Phew, that’s a lot to keep track of for one locale, let alone globally.

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Why Content Localization Is More Than Avoiding Embarrassing Mistakes

Everyone’s heard the famous or more appropriately infamous stories of Pepsi’s “Come alive, you’re the Pepsi Generation!” translating as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead.” in Chinese. Or Chevy’s Nova meaning “No go” in Spanish.

But for a fast-growing business scaling in multiple markets, mastering content localization is about more than avoiding embarrassing mistakes. The real crux of the problem is making the localization of high quantities of content and creative as streamlined and turnkey as possible.

Whether it’s display ads, social media or fully integrated omnichannel campaigns, you need to localize these creative assets quickly and effectively without reinventing the wheel. 

You could try to do it all in-house, but you’d have to hire accordingly and/or deprioritize other work to focus on these processes.

On the other side of the coin, piecing together partial outsourced solutions, all of which you have to individually source and manage, winds up creating more complexity, inconsistency and inefficiency.

The Simple Answer: Scale Content Localization With Superside

Built to meet the needs of high-growth brands, Superside brings you the talent, tools and processes that help your teams turn mountainous projects like localization back into manageable molehills.

I could go on and on about our world-class global talent and comprehensive range of creative services, but I think you’ll get more out of real-world examples of how our teams plug into and empower your teams. 

La Costeña says "Hola!" to global Hispanic markets

La Costeña’s Mexico Rico campaign aims to make cooking with authentic Hispanic ingredients easier. Their team came to Superside to produce a campaign for National Hispanic Month in the United States.

When the results showed a 60% increase in engagement, La Costeña decided to test the creative in other markets. What made this easier? Superside’s global network of creative experts and designers allowed for instant access to talent with an inherent understanding of Hispanic audiences and cultures.

Did La Costeña’s team have to reach out to each of these designers? No, their dedicated Superside project manager took care of it all. Plus, Superside handled the versioning of assets from start to finish, syncing with the La Costeña team for feedback and approvals.

What did it cost? With Superside’s transparent subscription pricing, La Costeña enjoyed a fixed monthly rate, along with full visibility into how many hours each project would take, as well as which hours were being allocated to each service at any given time.

Workwise works smarter

An extension of a rebranding project, Superside helped recruitment marketplace Workwise build design systems, brand guidelines, image and icon libraries, and ad templates that simplify scaling creative and localizing content.

Using Figma to build and house the design systems kept all the creative in one place, let stakeholders approve feedback directly on the page, and made versioning and downloading much faster.

Superside also identified ways Workwise could add motion to its campaigns and use AI to generate brand images. Another solution that was all in a day's work for a partner committed to continuous improvement and innovation.

Imperfect Foods perfects scaling into new US markets

When US-based grocery retailer Imperfect Foods was rapidly expanding its reach into several new states, Superside built flexible ad templates that allowed for lightning-fast iteration and turnarounds in as little as 12 hours.

State-by-state localization? You've got it, along with a little something we like to call a constant state of efficiency.

The common thread in these examples

Superside can help you build the systems you need to scale creative, bringing in experts from around the world who understand local markets. Paired with your translation service of choice, consider your content and creative localization needs covered.

Localize and Optimize

When it comes to marketing and advertising creative, all high-growth brands struggle with balancing capacity, expertise and efficiency.

With Superside, you can navigate these waters and seize the growth opportunities content localization offers.

Our global design teams act as extensions of your teams, supporting you on everything from concept development and iteration to market research, process optimization and creative execution.

Fact: When you need localized creative at scale, you need a nimble partner like Superside.

Conquer Global Markets

Streamline the way you localize your content and creative. Partner with Superside to amp up your processes, production and creative performance.

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