All marketing and advertising in the age of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube is global. As any PR rep or social media manager can tell you, even the most obscure of local brand campaigns are only a tweet away from global exposure. And as any global brand manager can tell you, there’s a fine balance to maintaining global consistency while still respecting cultural differences and local preferences. Coming up with individual campaigns for every local market is costly to both budgets and brand consistency. More and more brands are finding that the best approach is to go glocal: craft a global campaign and adapt it for local markets.
So your business plan is in place and you’re ready to enter new markets. But is your content ready? Developing and managing international content for multiple language markets isn’t something that happens overnight. From creating localization-ready source content to figuring out a content management strategy, there are a lot of factors to consider. But with some advance planning, you can set your international content up for multilingual success. Read on for some of our top tips for smoothing the international content creation and management process.
Social media has gone global and, in the process, redefined how companies approach market segmentation. A tried and trued approach to marketing, market segmentation has stood the test of time by evolving and expanding to include factors that go well beyond the traditional. Today, in addition to relatively demographic statistics, market segmentation also takes socialgraphics, psychographics and the critical role of influence into consideration, forcing global companies to dig deeper to find marketing gold.
Sunday, February 10th marked the beginning of the Year of the Snake for many people around the Asian world. And continuing a global business trend, international retailers took notice as snake-themed items hit the shelves (both digital and otherwise). Not only is this a timely move for marketing and advertising teams, but a smart one, as this is a major gift-giving season for millions of people.
Complex eCommerce platforms can present challenges when entering global markets. Each platform in a different market acts much like an independent entity, especially when you consider the market-specific customizations you may need. Today's post gives you five pointers to make the process easier and more cost efficient.
The next time you’re in your local 7-Eleven, ask the clerk if they stock fresh bags of Lay’s “Mint Mischief,” “Numb & Spicy Hot Pot,” or “Lychee” style chips (pictured above, along with some other tempting flavors). Assure him you’re serious. These aren’t the inventions of a practical joker, but careful flavor forays into Indian and Chinese markets.
What begins as a humble potato married to salt and fat quickly blossoms into a buffet of international taste engineering. While the long-term strategy of PepsiCo, the maker of Lay's, extends beyond the realm of these snacks, they’ve created an empire of crispy international options across almost every continent, perfecting the art of product localization.
We know that coming up with an English name for a brand or product can be hard enough, but if you’re thinking about taking it to international markets, your work isn’t done. Names aren’t easily translatable and may end up being offensive or inappropriate. We doubt that even the wordsmith Shakespeare, whose famous quote from Romeo and Juliet is adapted for this blog title, would have an easy time with international naming.
So how do you go about evaluating how your brand, product or service name sounds to ears accustomed to another language? It helps to know a few basic ideas behind naming. Let’s take a look at aspects of naming that are important for your international naming project.
Last month Facebook announced the launch of Global Pages, a new structure for brands on Facebook that engage with multiple countries. This social network is definitely a key part of many social media strategies and offers some new options for international companies. Here are our pros and cons on Global Pages and their impact on brand development and global marketing strategy.
Beauty is in the eye of beholder, which is why global cosmetics companies take care to adapt their products for a local gaze. Whether it’s a tweak to an existing product or a shift in marketing strategy to accommodate different beauty priorities, product localization in the beauty industry is nothing new. Now some major players are upping the ante in the beauty localization game for China’s ever-expanding market.
Global beauty giants like L’Oréal and Estée Lauder are competing with Japanese and Korean beauty companies like Shiseido, Kao, and Amorepacific for market share in China. How are these North American and European companies using localization to make themselves more attractive to Chinese consumers? Read on to find out.
In celebration of our tenth anniversary at Acclaro, we are taking a look back at how the translation and localization industry has changed over the past decade to accommodate technology and contemporary trends. Global marketing has changed dramatically in the past ten years and our clients’ needs have changed with them. Now, instead of localizing print campaigns, we’re more than likely to translate email and mobile advertising campaigns. Read on to learn more.
How do you explore new international markets for your business online when full translation and localization of your website is a significant commitment? An affordable alternative to global market research is the multilingual microsite. Done well, it not only positions you for greater success abroad, but might also open your eyes to unrealized opportunities.
A microsite can be a condensed version of your full website — whether it’s for eCommerce, customer support or marketing. Or it can be a minisite that delves deeply into your brand, a specific product or value proposition. No matter the microsite’s focus, it’s a concerted effort to introduce new audiences to your brand, gauge demand and meet product- or brand-specific objectives in a controlled environment online.
In this article we’ll suggest 10 ways to maximize impact while minimizing cost when thinking about international microsites.
International marketing is complex; just take a look at some major hotels you've likely stayed at while traveling for business or taking a vacation. Global businesses like Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt have to juggle staying true to their branding and corporate identity while also appealing to local markets, from Thailand to Germany. These brands are known for their consistency in terms of quality and services, but a stay at the Marriott in Hong Kong is not exactly the same as in São Paulo. Adapting to local markets, foods, and cultural expectations, these international global businesses have much to teach us about successful localization and translation in action.
Loyalty marketing is a crucial component of any sophisticated customer-retention program. The same is true when you bring your business to global markets. But how do you manage a loyalty program in new languages? Are there differences in the cultural understanding of loyalty marketing? How do you translate customer appreciation across borders?
In this post we’ll take a brief look at the ten core points you’ll want to keep in mind when you’re seeking loyalty in translation. It’s not as daunting as you might think. After all, the tenets of excellent customer service and buyer satisfaction tend toward the universal.
We're always learning here at Acclaro, whether it's the latest in developer applications or the correct way to give gifts to a client in Japan, Russia, or Germany. Recently we've been sharing what we've learned when it comes to retail and eCommerce, publishing five (count 'em, five) articles in a variety of industry publications over the last four months alone. Read on to learn the "secrets" of adapting to new markets worldwide with mobile retail websites, multilingual translation, and more.
Face it, America: Japan is tired of reading your movies. You move too fast and your convoluted plots are better said than read. And if you’re a Hollywood actor? Sorry, but unless you’re bilingual, don’t be surprised to hear your voice replaced by one of a cast of Japanese celebrities in the near future. The age of Japanese super dubbing is here.
What is super dubbing, you ask? Read on, intrepid international business leaders. While it may seem like a trend confined to the entertainment industry, it could have an impact on how you release and promote your own products in Japan.
Like a picture, a gesture is worth a thousand words. When travelling internationally or planning creative content for a global campaign, you may be compelled to use a seemingly innocuous gesture of approval, like a thumbs-up or OK sign. Watch out, though, as the thousand words you get might not be the ones you want. Here's a quick guide to common hand gestures and their various global perceptions.
Do you manage marketing translation and localization projects internally for your company? If your company is new to the concept of going global, you’ve probably encountered a few common problems with communication, project flow, and writing for translation. Don’t worry…with a little effort, you can reduce these hassles.
We’ve put together a few tips that will help you reduce the cost and improve the quality of your translation and localization projects. Integrating these initiatives with your teams can have a profound impact on the reputation of your brand in international markets. Even better, you should see your team’s stress level decrease with improved processes in place.
Opening up global markets online isn’t merely a matter of buying a domain name in other countries and translating product descriptions. To earn a return that truly justifies an investment in international eCommerce, you’ll want to go beyond the basics of translation.
In this blog post, we’ll take a look at ten key factors which have a direct impact on your ability to maximize the lucrative traffic of international buyers. Whether you’re thinking about Brazil, China, Turkey, or beyond, you’ll need to work with a partner who can help you cover these crucial aspects of localizing your shopping cart and customer experience.
Are you a retail company looking to go global? Acclaro President Michael Kriz provides some pointers to navigate international cross-channel marketing and create an optimal customer experience…no matter where (or how) your customers interact with you.
Kraft Foods created the name “Mondelez International” for a portion of their international snack business. Unfortunately, part of that name carries a, shall we say, decidedly NSFW meaning for Russian speakers. How did Kraft negotiate the slip-up? Read on to find out.
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