How localization can double your revenues
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The document discusses the importance of localization for businesses looking to expand into international markets, emphasizing a strategic approach that includes thorough planning and gradual investment. Citing case studies like Rocket Internet, it highlights how effective localization can lead to increased sales and competitive advantages by communicating in local languages and understanding market specifics. Key recommendations include fostering executive buy-in, establishing clear workflows and metrics, and treating localization as a crucial growth engine.
How localization can double your revenues
- 1. How Localization Can Double Your Revenues
- 4. Let’s face it: You won’t get there in Year 1. You cannot build first-class localization infrastructure overnight.* * Rome wasn’t built in a day either
- 5. On the flip side: You CAN still compete effectively with entrenched local competitors, and global brands even without their major local presence, or their budgets. You can leapfrog many of them with the right approach taken from the start — no extra baggage.
- 6. How? • Take a staggered approach • Invest smartly • Avoid unnecessary mistakes in the early stages • Get the basics right, and grow from there
- 7. Building a Business Case for Localization1
- 8. Top Companies Grow Globally Among S&P500 companies, an average of 46.6% of all sales are generated outside the United States. The largest sector is Information Technology, with more than 56% of its declared sales crossing international boundaries. 28 of Germany’s top 30 companies on the German stock index (DAX) generate 75% of their sales outside the country.
- 9. • The value of communicating in your prospect’s local language begins at the first encounter and gets more pronounced throughout the sales cycle. • Conversions are more likely in the prospect’s local language. People don’t buy what they don’t understand. • Start by localizing pre-sale information. Quality of after- sale support will not close the sale. Can’t Read, Won’t Buy
- 10. Case Study: Rocket Internet • Rocket Internet has replicated the strategies of successful ecommerce businesses in start-ups launched around the world, in niches ranging from mobile payment to food delivery. • Goal is to make Rocket the biggest internet group outside the US and China. It operates in more than 100 countries using proprietary technology. “We are focused on markets outside the US and China because these are underserved.” Source: FT.com
- 11. Example: Indonesia “Facebook, Twitter and Uber are all opening offices in Jakarta, but only a handful of international companies have made sizeable investments in the Indonesian tech sector. These include Japan’s Rakuten and Sumitomo, and German ecommerce conglomerate Rocket Internet.” (FT.com)
- 13. How Do You Compare?
- 15. Your Audience Tips for a market-specific buyer profile: • Research market demographics and your industry • Identify your local competition and its strategies • Learn local purchasing behavior • Identify the tools and channels that your buyers are using to get product information & support
- 16. • Conduct focus groups in-country to understand local preferences and sentiments • Create locale-specific customer profiles • Shape local brand and positioning
- 17. Evaluate Languages & Markets and Prioritize Content for Localization4
- 18. Key Considerations • What is the number of languages that you target? • Are they among the world’s top common languages or rare ones? • How large is the project’s volume? • Does your company’s industry involve such specialized terminology that it calls for industry subject matter experts? • Do you have tight time-to-market requirements that require around-the-clock localization teams? • Does the content call for regulatory review and approval?
- 19. • Focus on the major markets • Hand-pick promising, ripe, high-growth markets where you can build competitive advantage • Keep full long-tail languages for later • Attractive markets for entry – Hard and soft data on potential markets – Language preferences — must vs. customer delight, segmentation Prioritize Your Geographies
- 20. Marketing and demand generation Sales tools and collateral Public relations Local social media Product User Interface User Assistance Website and online presence Multilingual SEO Customer and product support Training Legal
- 21. Set Your International Brand & Content Strategy Right5
- 22. Set your brand, style and terminology carefully from the start… …because changing this later is going to be like trying to turn an oil tanker.
- 24. Where to Invest and How to Build and Grow Your Team6
- 25. • Get executive buy-in • Establish cross-functional visibility & approach to localization • Be strategic • Staff • Educate • Engage your in-country staff, if they exist, in a managed way • Work to establish a clear budget (ideally centralized) and tracking Take It Step by Step
- 26. Translation Technologies You Need — and Don’t Need — Early On7
- 27. Tools & Technologies Are NOT the Solution • Establish your core workflows first • Start by using essential tools • Add more advanced technology and automation over time • Integrate with upstream processes • Don’t reinvent the wheel • Involve hands-on localization staff and use their experience
- 28. Sequence of Implementing Translation- Related Technologies (Simplified) Translation & localization tools Translation Memory (TM) Terminology Management System Content Management System (CMS, WCMS) Content Authoring System Translation Management System (TMS) & Workflow automation Content Optimization Machine Translation Community translation platform Quality Assurance checking tools
- 30. • Document and implement core processes – As company-wide business processes • Inventory your content. Look for building a centralized content repository • Learn to analyze root causes of issues • Establish a way of collecting and analyzing local market feedback Key Process Considerations
- 31. • Localization workflow for individual content types • Terminology management • Query management • Style guide development • Quality metrics • Linguistic quality review, including arbitration Essential Processes to Get Right
- 32. Set Metrics and Start Tracking Actual Performance Early On9
- 33. You can’t measure everything in the early stages of your localization program… …but if you don’t start measuring the right KPIs, you can’t improve over time.
- 34. • On-time deliveries • Project extension requests • Average turnaround time Project Management Metrics
- 35. • Trending volumes (recycling effectivity) • Average cost per word • Localization budget and your contribution to new language- related revenue Financial Metrics
- 36. Downstream • Satisfaction & user experience of your in-country users Upstream • Language quality passes/fails • Review rejection rates & arbitrations raised • Terminology queries Quality Metrics
- 37. • Bugs by category & product language • Bug turnaround time • Reactivated bugs • Technical accuracy of deliveries Engineering Metrics
- 38. • Net Promoter Score (NPS) with your key internal customers – Product development – Marketing & demand generation – Sales – Local offices – Support – Executive sponsor Internal Satisfaction
- 40. • Think long-term • Get the essentials right • Move from operational to strategic • Think upstream • Think new markets • Treat localization as the engine of your growth • Make yourself indispensable