For many centuries, wheat has been known as a food staple in many UK homes in the form of baked goods and beverages.

But what is most likely obscure to many people is the level of planning and preparation it takes to get this crop and its end products ready for consumption, from the initial land preparation stage to harvest and subsequent processing.

Just like with wheat, launching a successful global product from scratch requires similar levels of planning and preparations, with localization stationed at the centre of it all.

The thought process behind adapting a brand to specific markets needs to be ingrained from the ideation stage up to the final product release and beyond, in order to get the best outcomes. It therefore should come as no surprise why developing a content localization strategy becomes a significant process in the entire adaptation journey.

A localization strategy basically creates a pathway for brands to follow in order to navigate the murkiness associated with expansion into foreign markets.

What does a localization strategy entail?

A content localization strategy refers to a framework that involves actionable information about adapting your brand to new markets. But a good strategy goes beyond the plan itself and covers how your brand can execute the strategy for maximum effect and even ways to measure the strategy to improve its outcome.

There is no standard approach to developing a localization strategy. Rather, the plan should anchor on your business’s long and short-term goals, which can either be developed in-house or with the help of a language service provider.

Translationsinlondon’s localization strategy developmental process takes a deep dive into your brand’s core mandate and self-image to create a plan that adopts industry-best practices when adapting all the touchpoints of your brand to new markets.

Creating a localization strategy in 5 simple steps

Contrary to popular belief, a robust localization strategy does not necessarily need to be a library and a half. In fact, we argue that a good localization strategy instead of being filled with too much technical jargon should rather be user-focused so that the brand’s product/service delivers a memorable experience to its audience and subsequent consumers.

Any brand can develop a well-rounded localization strategy by adopting these five easy steps;

Establish your brands’ needs

A key component to developing a well-defined content localization strategy requires performing a thorough degree of self-introspection. That way, brands can tailor their vision to the desired business outcomes.

To do that, businesses would have to answer questions like; what regions do they want to enter into? why they are expanding into said regions? and even the languages they would be localizing. Senior Project Manager at TranslationsinLondon, Valentina Vignolo-Love goes further to explain this.

“It is important to focus on the country and not only on the language. For instance, something that has a specific meaning in the UK might not necessarily convey the same meaning in the US, like in the case of chips and crisps”

These questions are only the tip of the iceberg. Other crucial considerations like ;the finances at the disposal of your brand and how you want your brand to be perceived by your target audience must be looked into as they set the tone for the localization strategy.

Market research

A good localization strategy reflects the realities of your target market and only adequate research can manage to pull that off. Market research needs to thoroughly decipher your target audience to create a plan that aligns with their values, interests, cultural norms, and even purchasing behavior.

The research also needs to cater to the political and regulatory requirements of the target market in order to navigate inbound sanctions and potential negative publicity.

Deficient market research can have negative implications and the case of Microsoft’s Age of Empire comes to mind. The game which was released way back in 1997 was banned in South Korea for political reasons due to different historical interpretations of events embedded in its storyline.

Assemble the right team

Nothing could be further away from the truth than the assertion that a localization strategy is an LSP-only affair. Part of what makes a localization strategy complete is the inclusion of the various actors that work together to adapt your brand, message, and product to new markets.

Assigning the right blend of translators, developers, product designers, marketers, legal reps, and every other relevant stakeholder who know their roles and what to expect from other team members needs to be at the forefront of your localization strategy.

Develop a practicable workflow

But as crucial as putting together a team for your localization process, so is establishing their respective workflows and your plan must reflect this component. A good localization strategy should adopt a workflow that puts automation at its core and said automation must utilize automation tools and other software that ease up the localization process.

Brand should also consider developing a translation management system (TMS) and making it a part of their localization strategy as it goes a long way in helping forge a practicable workflow to actualize localization plans.

Localize and translate

Perhaps the most actionable part and the reason behind creating the strategy is the localization itself. Having identified all the relevant touchpoints based on your brand’s goals and objectives and implemented due diligence on the previous steps, the next step is to actually put the localization process in motion.

But it is important to note the following;

1. That every team member is aware and meeting up with their responsibilities
2. Your brand has key performance indicators to measure the performance of your localization plan
3. Your localization strategy has room for a quality assurance process that checks the integrity of all deliverables

Measure your localization strategy

A localization strategy, no matter how robust is not guaranteed to deliver the best outcomes, and that is why brands need to measure the effectiveness of their localization efforts.

Performance indicators (KPI’s) are some of the best ways to gauge your localization strategy, especially those that relate to sales since they are the rewards for most expansion efforts.

Other KPI’s — Social media following and engagement, email signups, web traffic are relevant metrics brands can use to measure their localization strategy.

Case Study of a well-executed content localization strategy

Executing a localization strategy goes beyond lip service and fancy documents. In this scenario, the devil is truly in the details and brands must know how to implement their localization for the best effect.

Familio is a perfect case study of localization done right. For starters;

1. They were able to identify their long and short-term growth plans alongside their ideal target audience.
2. Engaged the services of a language service provider to help with their localization efforts.
3. Their success hinged on automating their workflow and file sharing, making it easier to share information with all relevant stakeholders.

The results of Familio’s strategy and efforts were the successful localization of their mobile app to 12 languages and user growth of over 400 percent with a short period.

Conclusion

The process of nurturing an idea from its seed phase to a fully developed global product requires a localization strategy that places your brand’s objective and potential deliverables at the core.

But it is not enough to only develop a good-looking plan, execution of the localization strategy needs to be achievable and most importantly, measuring your localization plan’s performance for improvements through testing, re-testing and iterations needs to be factored in order to get better outcomes.