Localization marketing made easy

Localization marketing is hard. Which is why most marketers hate doing it. 

Localization is not to be confused with translation. When you translate the language from an English ad to a Spanish one, this is translation. Localization is the added layer of also making sure that the ad is culturally and emotionally customized to that audience. 

Remember, the content that relates to your North American audience isn’t the same content that resonates with your South American audience, for example. It would be a lot easier if it did though. 

The process of localizing ads can take time, and ads start to get more expensive, which is another reason marketers back away from it. 

But there’s so much money to be had in reaching global audiences - and there's money to be had in showing your clients your agency is an expert at it. 

The trick is to figure out which location has the highest opportunity for your client and start there. 

Then instead of doing all the heavy lifting that localization research takes, we recommend using an Audience Intelligence tool to help things move more quickly and get your ads published faster. 

There are a couple more steps involved but you get the gist. 

If you or your agency wants to prove that you can make ad localization easy and successful, read along as we show you how. 

Location, location, location 

This is a slogan that shouldn’t only be used as it relates to real estate. It is also the first thing to decide when creating a localization strategy. Your client might be convinced that they want to target one geographic location, but the data might show that they’ll have more success going after another. 

Data is the keyword here. Choosing a location to target shouldn’t be based on a theory that the people in said location are looking for your client’s product or service. Choosing a location should be decided based on these two factors:

• Which global audiences are showing an interest in your client’s brand 
• Which locations are your close competitors seeing success in 

Step one is to figure out which global audiences already have a strong interest in your brand, that you aren’t targeting with localized ads yet. And no, this doesn’t count: 

The easiest way to do that is to use a tool like SOPRISM: 

Acne Studios, a luxury fashion brand that originated in Stockholm Sweden, has major audience appeal in France. You can see this by looking at the SOPRISM audience map above.

 This “France” audience has a very high interest in the brand (as determined by the high selectivity score) and therefore poses a major opportunity for Acne to push for localized ads there. 

Jil Sander is a known competitor of Acne Studios, and the data also shows that they have a major audience presence in France. 

These are two strong signals (backed by data), to invest in France, in terms of ad localization. 

Emotional customization 

What an audience in France relates to is not going to be the same as what resonates with an American audience for example. 

So it can be interesting to start exploring the similarities and differences between the two audiences, that way you can start to understand how you will “treat” them differently. It’s also impressive to be able to articulate this type of insight (audience differences based on location) to your client. 

Acne Studios France Audience overview: 

Acne Studios American Audience overview: 

Translation 

This part goes without saying. You’ve got to alter the ads linguistically. You might be tempted to use Google Translate, but we strongly recommend using a tool more robust. Don’t be like American Airlines, who translated their slogan “Fly in Leather”, to “Fly Naked” when they created their Spanish ads. 

Sometimes the translation part is correct but the ad is still a fail - like when IKEA named this workbench FARTFULL which in Swedish means “FULL SPEED”, but to English readers, it looks pretty crude. 

Phrase is a great tool that is available to help you translate your ad copy the right way.  

But when in doubt, leave it to the professionals who speak the native language, as they will know the context a lot better. 

Cultural correction 

Different cultures respond to ads differently, because things like humor and our shared understandings are very culture-based. 

What might make someone laugh in America, might turn off someone from Germany. In fact, Americans look at jokes as something that unifies them, but Germans believe jokes have no place at work. 

British people love to be sarcastic or self-deprecating for the sake of the joke, they also enjoy jokes that are ironic or that push social boundaries: 

Satire is appreciated in countries like France and Spain. 

People from Poland love subtle sarcastic jokes that would probably be lost on someone from another culture. 

The Japanese tend to love puns and comedic storytelling, which they refer to as “Rakugo”. 

This is all to say that if you are using humor in your ads, you’ve got to tailor it to the culture that the ad is displayed in, for it to be effective. A good practice is to get the reactions of people from that culture, before finalizing anything.  

Humor isn’t the only thing to tailor culturally, you should do extensive research on cultural norms or taboos, and you should know what that culture values. The last thing you want to do is offend your audience. 

Cultural norms 

Cultural Norms are the standards a country lives by, like the standards of conduct. 

For example, the Japanese have high respect for their elders and for authority. They value punctuality, politeness and modesty. They strive to achieve “group harmony” in everyday life and they have a “we” not a “me” mindset. 

Culture values 

Cultural values are what a country believes is “good or right”, and they should play a part in the ads you create. 

The Japanese highly value education and self-improvement. They believe in hard work and dedication, and they strive to live in harmony with nature. 

Cultural taboos 

Cultural taboos are things you can’t (or shouldn’t) say or do within a culture, they aren’t “written rules”, but rather they are learned by living within that culture. 

Examples of Japanese taboos would be disrespecting authority, PDA, wearing shoes inside, or pointing at someone. 

These might seem like minor details but each is important to note, so that for example you don’t display a couple kissing in a Japanese ad. 

You can find guides to cultural norms here, for over 80+ countries. Like most of the advice we’ve given, we suggest also supplementing it with the expertise of someone from that country, in case what you’ve found in your research is outdated. 

And beyond…

Even beyond humor and cultural norms, there are different elements to ads that countries respond best to. Just take a look at this American VS Japanese McDonald's ad: 

The USA ad only features shots of the product (the burgers) up close and personal, and there aren’t any actors within the scenes. You then see them make an even bigger burger by combining both burgers (how very American). 

The Japanese ad, however, is less focused on displaying the burgers and more focused on featuring the two well-known actresses they’ve hired, who are singing and dancing to give viewers a positive feeling about the brand. 

Elements like these aren’t going to be immediately apparent to you (from one culture) as you create an ad for another culture. Luckily YouTube is an obvious, but amazing resource to look at the other companies that have come before you, and the ads they have created for different cultures. 

Going a step further, you can use Audiense to get a look at the ads that perform the best on certain audiences, so you really get a feel for what will work as you enter a new foreign market. It also allows you to present these ad ideas with data behind them, reassuring your client. 

Additionally, if for example, you learned that it's more persuasive in Japanese cultures to feature a well-known actress vs product shots, Audiese can also highlight which actresses/celebrities/influencers the audience is most interested in, and which ones you should work with.  

Thou must comply 

The final, and most boring part, for any marketer, is making sure your ad complies with local regulations. 

Data privacy, advertising standards, and content regulations differ from country to country, and if you’re in violation it could mean fines or damage to the brand's reputation. 

Further complicating things, these regulations are always changing and updating, so making sure you work with a legal expert is essential. 

Here is a global guide to advertising regulations by DLA Piper, to help you review these regulations ahead of time, and save you from having to scrap an ad because it doesn’t comply. 

Localization doesn’t have to be daunting, and tools like Audiense can make designing content for different regions easy. 

Translated Western ads won’t work, so come culturally corrected and impress your clients with each localized campaign you produce. 

Sign up to work with Audiense on your next localization marketing campaign.