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Willi Brandt, the former chancellor of West Germany, was once quoted as saying: “If I’m selling to you, I speak your language. If I’m buying from you, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen.” Although this quotation provides a useful broad framework for the language side of selling to foreign language speakers, it only tells a fraction of the story when it comes to marketing effectively in foreign language markets.
Of course, marketing localization is a must if you are serious about maximizing your international revenue. With over 70% of web users not speaking English (over 1.4 million web users), it is paramount that companies engage fruitfully with marketing localization in order to speak to customers on the local language level, and so drive revenue.
Yet marketing localization is a much bigger beast than the discipline of technical localization. Do you remember the series of adverts from HSBC (or the world’s local bank) in which they humorously emphasize the point of how idioms, body language and gesture, colours, and general imagery do not have a universally standardized cultural meaning?
The point made by this series of ads is a very serious one, especially when considering some infamous examples of how poorly translated content which essentially ignores the various cultural nuances of target markets can either draw ridicule, or offend cultural sensibilities. A prominent example would be General Motor’s release of the “Buick LaCrosse” in Canada, in spite of the fact that “LaCrosse” is Quebecoise slang for self-gratification. Oops!
So what should companies be mindful of when considering marketing localization for foreign language markets? Here are three tips:
*Marketing localization cannot be seen as purely translation work.
Sending your translation vendor the source text is a good start, but it is more
constructive to draw up a creative brief for linguists, so that they understand
the philosophy of your campaign, and understand how this can be best
communicated in the relevant target market. Make it absolutely clear how you would
like your company’s style and tone to be projected. As a general rule, you should be
looking for agencies with a pool of bilingual copywriters, rather than assuming that
technical translators can do the job.
* Start with the adaptation of taglines across languages and take it from there…
If your marketing campaign makes use of taglines, it would make most sense to have
these adapted into the local language at the beginning. Linguists should offer you
a cultural commentary explaining why they have chosen a particular tagline. Once this
has been selected, it makes it far easier to enforce this across accompanying marketing
collateral i.e. datasheets, white papers etc.
*Pay attention to details!
Believe it or not, imagery and colours play a significant role when marketing in foreign
language markets. Whereas in China, the colour red is associated with good luck and
celebrations, in Russia it is associated with Bolsheviks and Communism, and in South
Africa it is the colour of mourning. Make sure that any material released into foreign
language markets pays attention to subtle details such as these.
