The Benefits of Investing in Marketing Localization in 2024

The significance of marketing localization has reached new heights as marketers are investing more than ever before in this global trend, and it shows no signs of fading away. This goes beyond mere translation of content, as marketers are now optimizing all aspects of their brand image to resonate with their target audiences.

In this comprehensive exploration, we will delve into the latest emerging trends in localization over the past few years. We will also highlight the three major benefits you can reap by implementing your own localization strategy in 2024 and beyond. Stay with us to discover the most significant challenge faced by marketers in localization this year and learn how to overcome it.

Marketers are prioritizing translation and localization in 2024, and the investment is paying off

According to a 2022 marketing survey with 1,667 participants from eight different geographies and companies of various sizes, 89% of respondents plan to invest in translation and localization throughout 2024. While more than 50% of the participants aim to translate and localize their content in 1-4 languages, others have even greater language targets, with some exceeding nine languages.

The expenditure on translation and localization by companies has consistently increased in recent years, and the best part is that these investments have yielded positive results for the majority of businesses. In the survey, 83% of respondents reported that localization had a beneficial impact on their revenue growth.

Businesses are no longer approaching localization as a one-time investment; instead, they are focused on developing effective marketing localization strategies. This entails adapting various elements of their brand to suit their target international audiences, including specific brand terminology, SEO, brand tone of voice, and imagery.

Translation vs. Localization

To understand why marketers are embracing marketing localization, it’s important to differentiate it from regular translation. While translation involves conveying the meaning of content from one language to one or more other languages, localization goes a step further by adapting the translated content to the cultural nuances of the intended audience. This includes considering aspects such as humor, which may differ between cultures and require different approaches to effectively communicate with specific audiences.

Localization is Important for your Business

Localization is crucial for your business to thrive in today’s era. There is a significant disparity between what most internet users desire and what they are actually receiving. Research indicates that the majority of online consumers prefer content in their native language, yet English dominates approximately 60% of all available online content, despite representing only 25.9% of internet users worldwide. This leaves about 75% of users underserved.

Marketers have recognized this growing global demand and shifted their focus from English to multilingual content. However, building genuine trust with your customer base is essential but challenging. It goes beyond merely making information available online; the goal is to create a seamless brand-to-consumer interaction. This is where localization plays a vital role. While translation allows businesses to make information about their brand accessible to non-native speakers, localization takes the brand experience to a whole new level by tailoring it to the cultural perceptions of consumers.

By localizing your brand’s tone of voice, an integral component of conveying your brand’s essence, you can avoid losing potential leads. Failing to adjust your tone of voice to the target market can undermine your copy’s effectiveness and be deemed culturally inappropriate by the audience. For instance, when localizing your tone of voice in French, a slightly more formal language should be used, as French is generally more formal compared to English. Phraseology like “Article created, you did it!” would be better phrased as “Article created, you magnificent wizard!” to resonate with a French audience.

Investing in marketing localization brings three significant benefits:

1. Increase in SEO traffic: A strong trend for 2024 is the localization of SEO, with 41% of marketers implementing a multilingual SEO strategy for each target market. Since most internet users navigate the web in their native language, making content available in multiple languages is essential. Localization plays a crucial role in multilingual SEO by tailoring keywords to each market, ensuring the content is discoverable and attracting new leads to your brand.
2. Building trust with your audience: Attracting people to your website is only the first step; nurturing those leads and building long-term trust and rapport is crucial. A CSA Research survey found that 65% of internet users prefer content in their native language, regardless of its quality. By combining translated content with quality and showing a commitment to understanding and respecting your customers’ cultures, you can quickly and effectively build trust.
3. Increase in sales: If there is a lack of information about your product or service in your target market’s native language, it’s likely that they won’t make a purchase. Another finding from the CSA Research survey revealed that 76% of global consumers prefer to buy products with information in their mother tongue. Additionally, up to 40% of participants stated they would never buy from non-localized websites. Effective localization of your sales message, adjusting the tone according to your target audience’s preferred communication style, will make your copy more compelling, culturally appropriate, and persuasive, ultimately driving sales.

The biggest challenge facing marketers in 2024 is translation quality

Up to 67% of marketers expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of their translations, largely due to manual or partially manual localization processes. Manual processes are prone to human error and have slower turnaround times, especially when dealing with large volumes of content and multiple languages. To overcome this challenge, it is crucial to have the right processes and tools in place to ensure optimal translation and localization quality.

To tackle the quality issue effectively, it is recommended to rely on professional language service providers equipped with the latest translation technologies and automations. Ar-Loc, for example, utilizes cutting-edge technologies to guarantee outstanding translation quality, stylistic consistency, and fast turnaround times for projects of any complexity. With a team of subject-expert professional translators, copywriters, and trans-creators, Ar-Loc can help you meet the demands of the translation economy for the Arab markets, whether you need to localize your website, paid ads, blog posts, product pages, or other marketing materials.

Credits: Anastasia Dimitriadou