The Ultimate Roadmap for Crafting a Successful Localization Strategy

Imagine trying to communicate with a friend from a different country without understanding their language or culture. It would be like speaking in tongues, wouldn’t it? This is the challenge businesses face when expanding into global markets.  

Companies that want to thrive in a competitive global market must adapt their products and services to resonate with diverse cultures and languages. For this, a well-crafted localization strategy is essential for expanding your reach, building brand trust, and driving sales in new markets.

However, developing a successful localization strategy can be complex, requiring careful planning, cultural understanding, and resource allocation.

We’ve put together a roadmap to help you navigate these challenges and develop a winning localization strategy for your company, which you can download below.

What is a Localization Strategy?

A localization strategy is a comprehensive plan that helps businesses adapt their products, services, or content to meet the language, cultural, and regulatory needs of different target markets. It goes beyond translation by tailoring the entire user experience, ensuring the content resonates with local customs, preferences, and expectations.

Think of it like this: Localization is about making your brand feel like it’s part of the local community. It’s about understanding the nuances of different cultures, speaking the language fluently, and adapting your offerings to meet local preferences to ensure your brand remains authentic and relatable in each region.

For example, potato chip brand Frito-Lay goes by the name ‘Lays’ in most countries, but ‘Walkers’ in the UK and Ireland. Furthermore the brand offers unique local flavors around the world such Salted Egg in Thailand or Magic Masala in India.  

Ready to take your localization strategy from planning to execution?
Let Milengo’s experts handle the intricate details of the localization process, and optimize your translations for maximum impact, so you can focus on expanding your business globally with confidence.

Book a call now!  

Why Do You Need a Localization Strategy? 

A localization strategy is crucial for businesses to expand to overseas markets with a sustainable and scalable approach by: 

• Increasing market share: By tailoring your offerings to local preferences and nuances, you can capture a larger share of the target market. 
• Enhancing brand reputation: A localized approach demonstrates respect for cultural differences and builds trust amongst your audience. 
• Improving customer experience: When products and services are localized, customers feel more understood and valued, and your company can provide better customer support. 
• Boosting sales: Localization can drive significant increases in sales by making your brand more relevant and appealing to local consumers. 

Localization Strategy Roadmap

Coming up with a strategy for localization can seem like a daunting task, but this step-by-step roadmap covers best practices and tips to help you create a winning strategy. Keep it on hand to ensure you’ve set up all your foundations right! 

I. Planning and preparation 

• Define target markets: Identify specific regions or countries you want to expand into to ensure you know their needs and expectations. You should also research cultural preferences, language nuances, and local customs.
• Choose target languages: Prioritize languages based on audience size, market potential, and business strategy. While deciding on this part, also consider language proficiency levels and translation resources availability.
• Set localization goals: Determine specific objectives, such as increasing market share, improving customer satisfaction, or boosting brand awareness. Using these objectives, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success and make sure you start tracking them before localization begins!
• Create a localization team: Assemble a team with localization champions, language experts, translators, and cultural consultants. You might want to consider outsourcing certain parts to professional localization agencies so your internal team can focus on more strategic tasks.
• Select localization tools and technologies: Explore translation management systems and machine translation tools to streamline and automate your localization process. 

II. Product localization 

• Product names and branding: Adapt product names and branding to resonate with local cultures and preferences, where necessary. This is an important step to protect your brand reputation. For instance, Mitsubishi Pajero is known as Mitsubishi Montero in some Spanish-speaking countries as the word ‘pajero’ has a negative meaning in Spanish. You will also need to consider legal and trademark requirements across countries to avoid potential legal issues.
• Packaging and labeling: Design packaging and labeling that is culturally appropriate and easy to understand, and complies with local regulations.
• Features and functionality: Modify product features and functionality to meet local needs and preferences. Another point to consider are cultural differences and regulatory requirements that need to be adhered to.

McDonald’s is famous for their local and regional menu variations which plays on popular local flavors, nuances, and trends. For example, their entire menu in India excludes beef due to religious dietary restrictions. Have a look at some of the country-specific menu items that can be found across the world!

III. Content localization 

• Content audit: Review existing content for cultural sensitivity, relevance, and potential barriers. At the same time, identify areas that require adaptation or translation. This can be anything from product documentation and user manuals to software interfaces and sales and marketing materials.
• Translation process: Choose a suitable translation method (e.g. machine translation with human post-editing, human translation, transcreation, SEO translation, etc.) based on the type of content you need to translate. To achieve high-quality outputs, it’s recommended to mix-and-match translation processes depending on the type of content you are translating. You can further ensure consistency in terminology and style across different languages through the use of style guides, glossaries and term bases.
• Cultural adaptation: Modify content to align with local customs, preferences, and values. In addition to language and formality, also consider factors like humor, idioms, and references.
• Proofreading and editing: Have native speakers review translated content for accuracy, fluency, and cultural appropriateness. Any errors or inconsistencies raised should then be addressed before you move to the next step.

Online homestay marketplace, Airbnb, continuously refine their global offering to provide better user experiences to hosts and travelers around the world. As part of their localization efforts, they launched ‘Translation Engine’ to automatically translate all app content, making communication between hosts and guests easier.

IV. Testing and deployment 

• Quality assurance: Thoroughly test the localized content, products, and marketing materials across different devices and browsers. During this step you should check for any technical issues, usability issues, or display errors.
• User testing: Gather feedback from native speakers to ensure the content, products, and marketing materials are culturally appropriate and understandable.
• Deployment: Launch the localized content, products, and marketing materials in your target markets. Once done, remember to monitor performance and make necessary adjustments to improve your localization!

V. Ongoing management and optimization 

• Content updates: Regularly update and refresh your localized content to keep it relevant.
• Product updates: Continuously review and update product specifications, features, and packaging to meet local needs.
• Monitor KPIs: Track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of your localization efforts. This may include website traffic, user engagement, sales, customer satisfaction, and other relevant metrics.
• Continuous improvement: Stay updated on industry trends and best practices, and learn from your experiences to adapt your localization strategy as needed.

By planning your strategy according to this roadmap, you can effectively localize your global company’s content, products, and marketing efforts to reach a wider audience and achieve your business goals.  

Download this roadmap for free (yes, that’s right, it’s completely ungated!).

Common Pitfalls and Solutions 

Having a strategy in place provides clear direction for your localization process. However here are some common pitfalls to look out for when developing localization strategies, and how you can overcome them: 

• Insufficient research: Failing to understand a market’s cultural context can lead to alienating users. Avoid cultural faux pas by conducting thorough research and working with local native-speaking translators. This is important because while some countries speak the same language, they are often many cultural differences.
  
  For example Swiss Standard German replaces the ß (sharp s) with ‘ss’. This is seen in words like ‘Straße,’ which becomes ‘Strasse’ in Swiss German. Therefore although it might cost less to work with a German linguist in Germany instead of one in Switzerland, local consumers will likely notice if your translations were not done by a local linguist due to such regional differences.
• Poor-quality translations: Following on the previous point, it is important to invest in professional translators with native-language proficiency and domain expertise. At Milengo, we hand-pick dedicated linguists to ensure they fit your project’s attributes and deliver only high-quality translations.
• Poor tool selection: Effective localization processes depend heavily on translation tools to automate and streamline workflows. Relying on inadequate tools can slow down localization. When developing your localization strategy, be sure to choose technology that suits your project’s scope (translation management system (TMS), Machine Translation, etc.). 
• Ignoring user experience: Focusing solely on translation without adapting user interfaces or product design can lead to a confusing experience. Don’t forget to ensure the UX of your software or the functions of your product are adapted for local users. 
• Inconsistent messaging: Ensure consistency across all localized content by using style guides, glossaries, and translation memories. This is especially helpful for technical document translations, ensuring accurate company- and industry-specific terminology.

Benefits of Partnering with a Translation Agency

Working with a professional translation agency (or language service provider (LSP)) can offer several advantages that directly contribute to the success of your localization strategy: 

1. Expertise and experience: Translation companies have teams of skilled linguists and project managers who can handle complex localization projects, ensuring that your content is accurately translated and culturally adapted. 
2. Global reach: They have networks of translators worldwide, allowing them to support a wide range of languages and regions. This is beneficial for businesses expanding into multiple markets within a short amount of time. 
3. Scalability: Whether you’re launching a new product or expanding into multiple new markets, translation agencies can quickly scale their resources to meet your project demands. This flexibility is crucial for businesses with fluctuating localization needs. 
4. Cost-efficiency: You can often get competitive pricing and economies of scale, especially for large-scale projects. By outsourcing localization, you can reduce internal costs and optimize your resource allocation. 
5. Quality assurance: Translation agencies implement rigorous quality control measures to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and cultural appropriateness of your translations. This helps to maintain your brand’s reputation and avoid costly mistakes. 
6. Streamlined processes: LSPs often use advanced technology and project management tools to streamline the localization process, reducing turnaround times and improving efficiency. This can help you achieve your localization goals more quickly and cost-effectively. 
7. One-stop shop: Many professional translation companies offer a comprehensive range of language services, including translation, localization, desktop publishing, media editing, and transcription. Getting these supporting services through one vendor can simplify your localization efforts and reduce the need to coordinate with multiple vendors. 

By partnering with a reputable LSP, you can leverage their expertise, resources, and technology to develop and execute a successful localization strategy. This can help you achieve your global expansion goals, improve customer satisfaction, and drive business growth. 

Related reading: Learn how Milengo and Lokalise developed a seamless localization process for Orbus Software.

Take the Right Steps to Going Global

A well-executed localization strategy is essential for businesses that want to succeed in the global marketplace. By following these guidelines and partnering with a reputable LSP, such as Milengo, you can effectively adapt your products and services to resonate with diverse audiences and drive sustainable growth.