The Who, What, When, Where and Why of International Banner Ads

You’ve localized your website for foreign markets. You’ve begun to develop your international customer base. How can you continue to build on these efforts and attract the right international customers to your website?

Localized banner ads can get your message out there in the right language and with the right cultural nuances, expanding your international brand awareness and boosting traffic to your local websites.

Here’s how to do it: the Who, What, When, Where and Why of successful international banner ad campaigns.

Who

The first question to ask yourself in marketing, whether you’re selling porcelain coffee filters, computer chips or high-level consulting services, is, “who?” Who wants what you’ve got? In the context of international advertising, “who” has extra layers of complexity — it’s embedded in foreign market demographics, language and culture.

To hone in on the “who” and what will effectively persuade international buyers to visit your website and become customers, conduct some market research. Foreign language surveys, user-experience tests and multicultural personas will help you get a feel for your target audience in each locale.  

What

Next decide on your international ad content and format.

Content 

Creating memorable, eye-catching ads for the domestic market is hard enough. Add 10 disparate international audiences to the picture and you may begin to feel a bit faint. But wait — can’t you simply translate a successful English ad for your target Spanish, Russian and Hindi-speakers? Yes and no. What tends to make an ad effective in English is the very thing that renders it so difficult to translate: a combination of cultural resonance and crafty wordsmithing. If you’ve watched a poorly translated film, you can appreciate the challenge of effectively translating ad copy. Rhymes, jingles, slang, jokes and allusions to popular culture and local trends make ads “sticky” and influential at home, but irrelevant and/or ineffective when translated literally into other languages. Simple translation will fall short of making your ad as funny, clever, or brilliant in China as it is in the U.S.

Transcreation to the rescue. Transcreation is what enables smart advertisers to create multilingual renditions of even the most slang-infused English ads. Without starting completely from scratch, professional linguists extract the core idea from the ad. Then, using their wordsmith skills and local pop culture knowledge, they recreate the ad copy for their language market.

This technique of rebuilding ads works extremely well for taglines, slogans, catch-phrases and marketing copy in general. Not all translators are talented transcreators, however; you’ll want to choose a language partner that specializes in marketing translation. They should have certain processes in place, such as the creation of a creative brief, style guide and glossary of your brand’s keywords and phrases. These tools will be translated for each language market so your branding is always consistent.

In parallel with your copy adaption, it's a good idea to ask your language partner to vet your graphics. If you’d prefer to reuse the same images and artwork for each language market, you’ll need their expertise to select globally-neutral (but not innocuous) images. As a rule of thumb, avoid photography and illustrations with hand gestures, American cultural icons, clichés, sports metaphors, religious symbols and other inappropriate or culturally irrelevant images. Whenever possible, choose images that are emotion-evoking and world-friendly, such as a smiling human face.

Format 

The optimal file type and format for your particular ad campaign will depend on your target markets, hosting websites and budget. From a simple jpg or png image to rotating ads to rich media with embedded video and customized, real-time headlines, you have no shortage of options. Dynamic advertising technology and geo-location expand the creative possibilities and enable ultra-targeted international marketing campaigns. When making these technological decisions, consider factors such as:

• Average download speed in each locale, in order to determine the best frame rates for animations, etc.
• Standard practices for major content and advertising sites (some may only allow static images)
• Local search engine and browser specificities
• Local media preferences. The Chinese, for example, are known for loving video.

As you begin the creative process, involve your localization partner so you can decide what concepts will work across your markets. Then keep these tips in mind for a smoother localization process:

• Go micro. Prepare to target each cultural market separately; for example, don’t assume you can bundle all Spanish audiences together, as there are many differences even within Latin America. If your budget constraints absolutely require you to combine markets, then make sure to develop creative that plays to common cultural themes across the region.
• Externalize. Think international from the start as you build your artwork — this will reduce localization costs and streamline translation processes down the road. Concretely, ask your engineers and designers to externalize all copy in an XML file so that it can be translated across multiple languages. This is especially critical if you work with Flash.
• Help your language partner help you. Provide a brand style guide and a context for understanding your products or services. This will help translators write like your in-house marketers.  

Where

Next, consider where your ad should be positioned online for maximum impact. Your previous market research and customer profiling will direct your ad placement, but you can also develop and translate more specific surveys at this stage to answer the following questions:

• Where are your potential customers spending time in digital space?
• Which search engines are they using for research?
• Which online news publications and trade journals do they read?
• What other types of products and services to they tend to purchase?
• Are they active in social media space? If so, what are their favorite sites?

In China, domestic social media such as Sina’s Weibo and popular video sharing sites may be your best channel for advertising whereas in Italy, mainstream, traditional media like Il Corriere della Sera could offer a better context for your target audience. Ask your ad network or advertising agency representative for concrete data before making these strategic decisions.

Once you have a list of popular content sites for your customer base in each language market, work with your agency to determine the best placement options for your ads, both in terms of website selection and physical position on their webpages.

When

Now devise a strategy around when your ads are displayed. At what time of day and which day of the week are your potential customers most likely to visit your ad hosting sites?

Online habits are particular to each culture. Local customs around vacation time, holidays and typical workweeks and hours are important aspects to consider. For example, in China, the period around Chinese Lunar New Year may or may not be a good time to advertise for your business since millions of people head home for the holidays.

Standard business hours also vary — in Austria, for example, Fridays are usually a half-day, whereas in India, many private companies have a five-and-a-half day work week, with Sundays off. Afternoon siesta in Spain is still respected and typical business hours are nine o’clock a.m. to two p.m. and five o’clock p.m. to eight o’clock p.m.

Religious traditions also influence online habits in certain countries. In Nepal, Saturday is a day of rest and Sunday is the start of the workweek. In Muslim-dominant countries such as Saudi Arabia, Oman and Yemen, the weekend runs Thursday through Friday, a Muslim holy day.

Other societal norms such as school hours can affect online browsing; in France, for example, elementary schools typically close on Wednesday but are in session Saturday morning. If French mothers with young children are one of your target demographics, Saturday morning may be a great time to advertise.

Why

Remember that the ultimate purpose of your banner ad is not just to get a great click-through rate (CTR); it’s also (and mainly) to drive viewers to take an action on your website. To get this right, you’ll want to design a matching landing page for each language version of your banner ad. Give equal care to these pages when it comes to the quality and cultural-appropriateness of the copy/graphics and remember to keep them focused. Even the best ads in the world won’t be effective if your landing pages fail to speak to the customer.

Finally, track your results with the help of your ad agency and language partner. Compare your website analytics for each language to those your ad hosting sites provide and monitor feedback from your new international customers.

Now that you’ve mastered the five Ws of international banner ads, contact Acclaro to learn how we can make your campaigns resonate for customers across language markets and cultures. Plus, read up on the latest tips and trends on international marketing and localization on our Acclaro blog.