Ewom Marketing

Just because your website has had great success in your domestic market, it does not guarantee the same success internationally!

At the beginning of the computing era, programs were written only in English, the problem being that at this time only people who spoke English as their mother tongue, or who had studied the language to a high degree at school could access these resources. Therefore millions of potentially lucrative customers were lost as they could not understand the programs.

If you are looking to enter international markets it is crucial to translate your website into the language of your target market. A product or service on your website will appear much more attractive if it is presented in the language of your target customer, whilst also allowing you to compete with locally produced products or services. Research has shown that web contact time is doubled on sites which have been correctly translated. But it is not all about language, knowledge of the cultural and business norms is necessary for successful localisation and international marketing.

Problems can occur with the design of internet forms designed to gather data from customers. In the English speaking world there is often no field on such forms for academic titles such as Professor or Doctor, but research shows that customers from European countries such as Germany and Italy respond more to direct e-marketing when they are addressed as Professor or Dr....

Another common problem with international internet forms is the postal code field, as postal codes come in various forms in different countries. The American field “State” also causes problems in Europe, as many countries are not split up into states. There have also been cases, where in order to proceed with an order the customer has to choose a state from a predetermined list! Confusing or unclear fields in an online form not only irritate the customer but they can also lead to inaccurate or incorrect information, meaning that the entire reason for the form is invalid.

The internet offers a great advantage in that you can go and check out how local competitors construct their sites before implementing any changes to your own, so get researching.......

After attending a conference in London last week, I was lucky enough to meet a "Localisation Outsourcer Consultant" A type of consultant I hadn't heard of before, therefore I was eager to learn more, with my notebook at the ready I began to "network"..

With companies competing on international markets now realising that if they are going to maximise the value from their company websites, they need the capability to localise the content to suit the language and cultural sensitivities of the markets they are targeting. Therefore this allows the opportunity for "localisation outsourcers consultants" to offer to help companies do this. Usually they combine a mixture/combination of humans translators and machine translation technologies to translate and edit text in a culturally sensitive way.

But that's not all, Specialists claim that they can help clients protect the company brand by providing control over web based marketing strategies on a global basis. This is simply done by following a basic concept consisting of the following: Centralise the message, translate it, and colloquialise it.

Of course these specialists will also examine design concerns, such as looking at the cultural implications of color in advertisements. For those thinking now, hold on a second what does it matter what colours do I use around the world.....Well did you know that in some parts of Asia white is the color of death..........hence why Ronald MacDonald doesn't exist in Asia!

Another useful element these consultants can offer is to ensure you follow all legal and regulations set in different countries. I was shocked to find out following facts:

In France - Consumers can enjoy a one week grace period after they receive an online purchase.

In Germany - Comparative advertising is banned on the web.

In China - Company's may become unnerved when they find out that encrypted websites are regulated by the Chinese government.