- March 24, 2020
- Posted by: Eva
- Category: Blog
Global businesses are all around us, tapping into every single industry and knocking on the door of every potential market. It is no longer a far-fetched dream that you have your small or medium project crossing borders and growing on a global scale in a matter of few years or even months. It is, however, a very challenging and complicated process to build and develop a successful international brand.
The booming success stories of Coca Cola and McDonald’s would not have been complete without well-done targeting strategies and comprehensive expansion plans. It can be seen that there is a certain criteria for global brands to succeed and sustain their success, while there are a couple of givens that must be carefully mulled before considering a business expansion. You need to see to it that you have what it takes to establish a globally recognized brand that achieves similar successes across distant parts of the world and different cultures.
Here is what it takes!
Despite the unprecedented interconnectivity witnessed in the current digital age, brand localization still marks a challenging multivariable dilemma for aspirant companies. Here are a number of things you should bear in mind if you opted for going beyond your geographic boundaries.
First
Widening the market of your products or services requires them to be flexible and adaptive. If your brand is not preliminarily designed to be globally introduced and distributed, building a strong international brand will be impossible. For that matter, chances are products that fulfill a prime wide-scale human need or add real value will manage to scale up smoothly.
Secondly
Your product viability depends on how sustainable your business model is. A growth-hacking mindset is always capable of figuring out new means of growth and expansion and this, undoubtedly, entails the ability to penetrate untouched markets with dynamic approaches.
Thirdly
The availability of adequate financial and human resources is one more condition that has to be met when going global. You might have killer business and marketing plans but limited logistics and manpower stand in the way of your international expansion.
The golden recipe!
It lies far beyond translation! An expansion into a new market means the recreation of all your messages to cater to a whole new target segment. To avoid being lost in translation, you are highly advised to refer to a local branding consultant that has demonstrated experience in brand localization.
Brand and design consultancy firms are among the most trusted and beneficial local sources you can resort to when entering a new locale. This also applies to the full spectrum of your company’s stakeholders. Signing a deal with a local partner, for instance, might help out, while seeking the help of in-country native translators is sufficient to produce tailored marketing messages for your newly-targeted markets.
With the help of these local players, you will be capable of addressing the entire set of variables in the equation. This begins with a deliberate study of the market needs and competition in order to validate your move into this market.
Tackling the feasibility of running your business into a remote location is also of vital importance. There might be a dire need and unparalleled opportunity in the market, but you suddenly find out that delivering your products or services to this location is very costly. Same goes with the manufacturing specs and marketing practices that might be inapplicable in some areas due to various reasons.
Needless to say, you must check on the local laws and legislative systems so as to make sure you do not violate any of the market regulations. This includes the manufacturing process of your products (ex. banned food ingredients in some places), the language used in your promotional messages, and even the process of packaging and delivery.
Additionally, you will have to devote special attention to the legal procedures necessary to register your company and trademark. If you are doing business in Europe, for example, filing for a Community Trade Mark (CTM) will protect your business with an official patent.
Talking marketing, you should keep an eye on some other business fundamentals such as product and service names, logos and designs. Names might carry negative or offensive connotations when copied or literally translated into a different language. Logos also might include symbols or designs that are not compatible with the culture of the target market, which will definitely result in reverse implications.
Last but not least, your promotional efforts and advertorial messages must be culture-sensitive and customized for their target audience. This ranges from choosing the right communication channels to using appealing content that resonates with the local culture.
Missed chances!
Against the remarkable success achieved by the famous multinational giants, many successful local models have failed to notch up similar success in other areas and returned empty-handed. There is a multitude of companies that missed out on the opportunity to grow because of tiny foolish blunders.
Automobile manufacturer Chevrolet released their car named Nova in Spanish speaking areas without noticing that the word translates as “no go” in Spanish, while famous baby diaper brand Pampers used an image of a stork in its advertisement in Japan, which aroused misconceptions and failed to meet its promotional objectives.
Similarly, a full list of products could not make it to new markets because their names or logos aroused gross, disgusting, or inappropriate sexual meanings in the local language of the target market.
In summary, businesses are expanding like never before and the journey to design a locally fitting product identity is filled with road bumps. Partnering with a professional localization service provider will help you reach out effectively to the new audience and avoid any misunderstandings.
With offices based in Poland, Czech, and Romania, ISO-certified Eurolingo offers unrivaled localization and translation services in every Eastern European Languages and across multiple sectors. Contact us now and skyrocket your brand influence and success in the european markets.
