6 Tips for Making A Global Brand Locally Relevant

As we learned in our recent webinar on the importance of data in today’s communications rulebook, PR pros need to put as much effort into reaching the right audience as they do in crafting a brand’s story – wherever that audience might be. We tapped Asia Mernissi, the director of business development in North America at Datawords Group, for her insights on how brands can best connect with region-specific audiences in the most personalized way. Read on for her insights.

Datawords Group

1. First and foremost, make sure that every touchpoint – from product descriptions to Instagram posts – is translated and transcreated into the local language. Next, make sure to invest in a quality translation. This seems obvious, but often in the rush to get into a new market, quality is overlooked. We all know when we see a poor translation: a word used incorrectly or an idiomatic phrase that falls flat. While these linguistic errors can sometimes be endearing, they actually can do real damage to a brand, making it appear amateurish, careless or even cheap to a shopper.
   • A quick note: Translation is the literal act of translating. Transcreation is making sure that the words accurately convey the intended meaning in a way that makes sense to your local audience. Localization (commonly incorrectly used interchangeably with transcreation) is actually the step before transcreation. It’s the process of understanding how your product, industry and offering are perceived in a given market; it’s knowing what is culturally appropriate and what isn’t.
2. Be sure that whomever you choose to do the translation really understands your brand voice. Effective, standout copy – especially for ads and social posts – needs to be both locally appropriate and consistent with your brand. We all know how hard it is to develop a strong brand identity! The best way to do this is to share your visual and voice guidelines, glossaries and any product or company info you have. It helps your content partners in forgeign markets really understand what your brand is about and create top-notch copy.
3. Confirm that your brand is present where it matters. This means your products are available in the online marketplaces people shop most and that you’re optimizing for the right search engines. Google isn’t the top search engine everywhere.
4. Don’t forget social! Instagram, TikTok, etc. are among the top ways people find (and decide to try) new brands. Help them shop your product by speaking their language.
5. People search differently in every market, so invest in a robust keyword analysis for both your paid and organic strategies. Certain terms, i.e. “blue mascara,” may be a highly searched term in one market, but not even in the top 100 in another market. Using the right keywords will help people find you. Doing this from day one is critical to get the traction and sales your brand needs.
6. Country > language. Identify the specific countries you want to target first and then group by language. For example, this means targeting France, Canada and Belgium, not French. Focusing on the language can actually cause more work down the road because the French in each country could vary, meaning you will need to adapt content accordingly.