Content marketing represents a strategic approach that supports the entire customer journey, from raising awareness to driving sales. However, only 1.5 billion individuals worldwide speak English either natively or as a second language, constituting roughly 19% of the global population. If you're a multinational brand or a local business planning to expand into new territories, embracing multilingual content marketing becomes paramount.
A staggering 65% of consumers express a preference for content in their own language. Consequently, sticking solely to English-based marketing content leaves substantial portions of your potential markets untapped. This underscores the need for a well-thought-out content localization strategy.
So, What Exactly Is Content Localization?
Content localization entails the adaptation of content to cater to the linguistic, cultural, and other specific requirements of a particular country or region. It extends beyond mere translation, encompassing aspects such as ensuring culturally relevant references, employing appropriate numerical formats, and adjusting images and graphics.
Localization is the linchpin of multilingual content marketing, involving the creation, translation, and dissemination of marketing content in multiple languages to engage a broader global audience. The primary objective is to communicate effectively with potential customers and cultivate brand awareness in diverse markets. Multilingual content marketing empowers your brand to extend its reach and connect with customers in regions where language preferences and cultural backgrounds may differ.
Which Marketing Content Warrants Localization?
Importantly, marketing content transcends websites alone. In fact, numerous types of marketing content can, and should, be localized to resonate with target audiences, including:
Websites: Encompassing product descriptions, blog posts, landing pages, photos, graphics, and user interfaces.
Social Media: Covering text, images, and user-generated content in social media posts.
Email: Encompassing email marketing campaigns and transactional emails, such as automated welcome messages or order confirmations.
Downloadable Materials: Including e-books, case studies, guides, checklists, and whitepapers.
Interactive Content: Comprising quizzes, calculators, surveys, contests, and games.
Videos: Encompassing product demonstrations, promotional videos, explainer and how-to videos, customer testimonials, and expert interviews.
Podcasts and Webinars: Spanning marketing podcasts and webinars, complete with transcriptions and subtitles.
Print Marketing: Covering brochures, posters, flyers, catalogs, direct mail, and billboards.
Advertising Materials: Including TV and radio commercials and banner ads.
How Can a Multilingual Content Strategy Fuel Business Growth?
The benefits of content localization are plentiful. A localized content marketing approach can drive brand expansion in several significant ways:
Reaching New Markets: Content localization helps surmount language barriers, facilitating market entry into diverse regions. By crafting content in local languages and adapting it to regional cultural norms, your brand can form more profound connections with customers who prefer content in their language.
Enhancing Customer Experience: Localized marketing content engages customers in various markets more effectively by showcasing your company's understanding and respect for their culture, language, and preferences. The objective is to make them feel as if the content was crafted exclusively for them.
Building Brand Credibility and Loyalty: When customers in new markets encounter content in their language, it bolsters credibility and trust by demonstrating your commitment to the local market and comprehension of its unique needs. This, in turn, fosters customer loyalty once you deliver on your brand promise.
Enhancing Search Engine Visibility: Through website content translation and optimization for different languages and markets, you can bolster your search engine visibility. This results in higher rankings for target keywords and attracts more qualified traffic to your site.
Elevating Conversion Rates: It's a fact that 4 out of 10 consumers would refrain from purchasing from websites in languages other than their own, with over three-quarters favoring products with information in their local language. Therefore, localized content contributes to increased conversions by delivering a more personalized customer experience and enhancing the relevance of marketing messages.
Content localization requires a significant investment in time, money, and talent. The process becomes even more complex for multilingual content marketing as you add languages.
However, you don’t need to do everything in-house. Work with a reputable language service provider to help you with your localization projects. And work with a multilingual digital marketing agency for your performance marketing requirements. Loki Solutions localization team is dedicated to help you with content marketing localization in any adventure.