Plan Your Foreign Language Content

Culture customized content builds stronger connections in your international markets.

But, what do you do when you want to use culture customized content for stronger international presence, and...

...your international development budget is small?
...your company wants to be cautious?

How do you reconcile this with everything you think you need:

A full foreign language website
Complete selection of foreign language marketing materials
An international sales force

Well, instead of looking at how your current business communicates with your domestic market...

How about starting at the other end?

Let's look at what happens when you start with your culture customized content.

Plan The Content You Need To Translate

When you plan the content you need to translate, you usually realize that you will need to update your content within a relatively short period of time.

Why is this?

Simply because...

When you first start to communicate with a foreign market, you do not know it well enough to write your most effective communication.

Even if you hire outside companies to tell you what your message should be, you will only really find out what your market needs once you start direct communication yourself.

Now, if you know you will need to change your communication in a short period of time, how do you start?

One Product In One Language

It is standard practice in international business development to start off with one product to one country. This is the easiest way for companies to learn how to adapt to new markets specifically and international business in general.

This also makes it a lot easier for you to plan:

The content you need to translate
Time lines and guidelines for future strategy
Future actions to extend your reach
Other key parameters you need

Plan For Your Future Content

Your first foreign language content will probably be based on some of your existing content.

You will want to use this to develop culture customized content. This culture customized content creates stronger connections in your new foreign markets. And...

Because you need to have your own market feedback from your new target country, you will need to modify your first translations.

Many companies do not plan for this change in content. After all the translations were an investment, and they want a return on it before sinking more money into translations.

Some companies will change their international message later on. If they realize their message is not effective.

Many larger companies simply let their international sales team pick up the extra responsibility of correcting the "wrong" messages in their written communication.

This mistake is very common in large American companies, eager to keep control on their brand while selling abroad.

There is a very simple solution to getting your message right for your international markets:

Start small.
Plan for change.
Stimulate feedback to learn more about YOUR foreign markets
Adapt your message to the culture you are communicating with

Planning for your future content right from the start will both save you extra translation costs and give you a foreign sales message with a bang.

Evaluate The Best Marketing Channels

Imagine you know:

Precisely what you want to communicate now,
What information you want to get back from your foreign markets,
And what you want to communicate later?

Well then...

Now you can determine the right international marketing channel to use to communicate this content.

Of course, you will also need to get feedback from your target markets to verify the marketing channels they want you to use to communicate with them.

This means adding a few more criteria for you to get feedback on.

When you get

The right message,
Sent to your foreign markets on the right marketing channel,

...you have the base of a good international marketing strategy.

Choose The Communication Platforms You Need

Now you know:

What you want to communicate.
How you want to communicate your message.

Your communication platform needs are usually very easy to identify now.

In addition, the content planning you did earlier will tell you what you need to plan for in the future.

Added Bonus

And one of the other questions most companies struggle with:

Which communication platform should you use for your foreign language content?

Your domestic website with country-specific sub categories or sub domains
An international website
Localized websites

Well, you now have something to go on to answer this question. Of course, there are other criteria to look at, but this gives you the criteria covering your foreign content needs.

Read the whole story

This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 3
Design Your International Visibility
Be sure to check out the other useful tips to design your international visibility.