Localization and globalization strategies pave the way for business growth, expanding to new markets, and reaching new audiences. However, what is the difference between these two tactics? Let us clarify things a little.
In short, localization (l10n) is the process of adjusting a product or service to respond to a specific locale’s needs and preferences.
The process involves an adaptation of your product to the cultural nuances of a target audience, including language, currency, payment preferences, measurement units, humor, etiquette, preferred colors, and even ‘reading gravity’ (the way a person’s eye scrolls through a page).
Localization takes a product, content, or service and makes it feel ‘native’ for the local population, as if locals created it. Adapting your business to the culture of a target market should involve the following.
Adapting the content to a target language is a must, with 76% of customers preferring to navigate the page in their native language and 40% of those never buying from a web in a foreign language. However, it’s not just a word-by-word translation, as it should take into account slang, idiomatic expressions, and local linguistic subtleties to appeal to a specific audience.
Choosing colors, fonts, layouts, images, graphics, etc., based on cultural preferences. Data analytics help to define which visuals work better in a certain locale and bring the most traffic and conversions.
Customers are more likely to buy a product if they see their local currency. Plus, adapting payment methods to a locale, for example, some countries have Paypal, and some don’t.
It’s crucial to consider cultural ‘taboos’ to launch successful marketing campaigns. The Coca-Cola campaign ‘Share a coke with + first name’ could have failed in China if a company hadn’t localized it with ‘Share a coke with + a close friend/classmate/etc.’, as it is impolite to address a person by the first name in this country.
A perfect way to foster a strong connection with customers by creating products tailored to their culture and values.
Localizing your product makes your marketing feel native to a target audience and brings a range of long-lasting effects, including:
Continuous localization expands business opportunities for growth and increases efficiency in new markets.
HubSpot is a CRM platform that has been localized for multiple regions and languages.
They have localized their website, help center, as well as their app. Furthermore, if you take a minute to browse through languages, you'll notice it's not just the language that differs, but also the messaging, targeting, and imagery.
This is a common localization practice with the aim of making the targeted locale feel more at home, which is proven to increase conversion rates and, thus, ROI.
Simply put, globalization refers to expanding your product or service to global markets, instead of a specific audience. Globalization and localization go together, with the former including the latter.
Globalization takes a business strategy focused on a single-country product or service and develops it into a multinational one by entailing the following factors:
Promoting your product or service to global markets can have a large impact on brand reputation, customer experience, and business profits. Among the top benefits of entering multiple markets are:
McDonald’s, Netflix, Shopify, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Nike, and Starbucks are among the top influential companies that take globalization seriously. What’s the thing that these brands have in common? A feeling that you are a part of something big and known worldwide, but as if created exclusively for you — this is globalization and localization in action.
Netflix reached 190 countries within 7 years. First of all, their globalization strategy was consistent, focusing on shared cultural similarities and the global need for personalized content. Secondly, the company focused on optimizing the content of the locale's language by adding it to a user interface, subtitles, and dubbing to improve customer experience.
However, an unprecedented move was to partner with local companies to create local content with a global Netflix image in mind. The company saw such content production not only for local audiences but rather as local content for global audiences. Having a deep understanding of customers, Netflix manages to create content appealing to a wide range of viewers globally.
Localization's scope of action is adapting a product or service to the different needs of one specific audience, while globalization is about making a brand appealing to multiple audiences. The former focuses on differences, while the latter pays attention to similarities.
Here are some fundamental differences between localization vs globalization:
Localization and globalization have their differences when it comes to tactics needed for expanding a business. However, the thing they have in common is that both strategies work better together and complement each other.