In 2018, more than 664,974 new businesses were registered in the United Kingdom, of these, around 50% will survive the first five years of trading with the number reducing to 33% by the time ten years has passed.
So, what is that makes the 33% successful over the long term?
Common factors often include:
• Innovative Idea
• Right Talent/Team
• Hard Work
• Sales
However, there is an underlying theme which links these factors, and without which, no business can be successful in the long term – brand.
A business’ brand should be synonymous with its products or services and should have all of the following points:
• Clear focus
• Understanding of target audience
• Knowledge of the competition
• Recognise the USP
• Have a ‘brand story’ with ‘core values’
• Be consistent
• Have a clearly defined brand voice
However, these points become difficult to achieve when engaging with a global market where customers have differing requirements or expectations, and you don’t speak their language.
Building your brand for international business, where your target audience may vary in age, culture, language and purchasing habits to your home market requires an approach as unique as your brand and an in-depth understanding of particular audiences and markets.
This is where Language Service Providers come to the fore with services such as, Translation and Localisation which offer precise, multilingual adaptions for marketing campaigns, packaging, websites, customer services, and so on, so that your business can target the intended audience in the right way.
Knowing how to build your brand for international business, and make the most of the global marketplace, requires the following:
1. Brand Authenticity
How can you appeal to foreign customers and display brand authenticity, if you don’t speak their language or understand their culture?
The answer, of course, is that you can’t.
A brand must remain true to its core values yet understand how to communicate and localise these values so that foreign customers can understand and appreciate them. This can only be done effectively when using a professional Language Services Provider.
This authenticity must be applied to branding across the board and used in marketing campaigns, product packaging, customer communications, websites and other customer-facing business areas.
Localisation services will ensure the correct tone for marketing purposes giving an accurate adaption, ensuring that not only the correct language is used, but that all cultural expectations are achieved while still maintaining the intent of the original message.
Localisation might include an adaption of:
• Colour – for instance, in logos, marketing or product labels so that it fits with cultural expectations regarding the use and meaning of particular colours
• Language – localisation adapts language to give the best cultural acceptance which includes regional dialect, colloquial language, humour, and so on
• Font – this is another aspect where culture plays a part in customer’s expectations. Localisation will ensure this is adapted accurately
• Company logo and taglines – while this might sound like a step too far for some – after all, what company wants to change their name? – even big brands have been known to adapt their name for regional audiences. Toyota, for instance, adapted their name for English-speaking audiences from the original Japanese, Toyoda
An authentic brand is one that customers recognise, understand and trust. They will return to it time after time if this is successful.
2. Brand Uniqueness
Having a strong brand is vital and in order to achieve this your business brand must be unique in some way, if it isn’t, then it will be forgotten or overlooked by potential customers.
Style, colour, brand voice, logos and taglines all need to be centred around your specific brand uniqueness.
Let’s take the supermarket giant, Asda as an example. Their tagline ‘Save Money, Live Better’ highlights their ethos of providing low cost, good quality food and products, and it does this all in four words!
Adapting this uniqueness and brand ethos for global audiences requires an in-depth knowledge of local audiences, their expectations and their language.
A professional localisation provider should offer native speakers with a strong sense of the region’s culture so that they give the most accurate and appropriate adaption for your brand.
3. Brand and Customer Relationships
Building and developing your brand requires building a relationship with your customers, no matter where they are located in the world.
This occurs through effective communication, excellent customer service, quality products or services, perceived value, and continued customer support so actively engaging and co-operating with customers in their native language is vital.
Ensure that your customer services are localised, that marketing materials and customer communications (including chatbots, social media, and so on) offer native-speaking support so customers gain faith in your brand.
This should go beyond the product or service you offer and include every aspect of your business.
Reaching, and retaining, customers in an overseas market is no different from attracting customers in your home territory.
All customers look for an emotional connection with brands from whom they purchase, and to achieve this your business will need to adapt for a local audience.
Language and cultural expectations play an integral part of our acceptance of a brand – get it right first time by using a professional localisation provider that offers native-speaking linguists and cultural expertise.
Recent Comments