It’s simple – the better you know someone the easier it is to speak to them. An insight-driven approach to localisation helps global brands connect with local audiences, anywhere in the world.
What are local insights?
When we talk about local insights, we’re referring to the information marketers need in order to get to know their audience across different countries and regions. And it’s through localisation that marketers – and by extension brands – can develop an understanding of what makes consumers respond in a way that will help them to achieve their business objectives.
These days, it’s not enough to launch an eye-catching or impactful global campaign – careful consideration must be given to how that campaign will roll out in local markets. This means creative collateral should resonate within every region it appears, and audiences must feel the marketing messages they see speak specifically to them.
Achieving this takes more than simply translating taglines and adapting imagery. It requires an in-depth knowledge of socio-cultural differences, local sensitivities such as customs or religious beliefs, local values and attitudes, and cross-cultural aesthetics – for example, the meaning conveyed by colours can vary between countries.
Only when all these areas are researched and understood can a global brand position its products or services appropriately and deliver its marketing message successfully.
What are the benefits of localisation?
Localisation is the process of understanding consumer behaviour, cultural trends and values, plus how people engage with media platforms and marketing channels, in order to develop channel-specific messaging, targeting the right audience at the right time.
As well as enabling delivery of business objectives, localisation also helps preserve brand identity. It ensures visual playbooks and tone of voice documents are adhered to – therefore upholding that all-important consistency across global communications – while achieving impact in each local market.
In addition, cultural competence is the key to establishing brand empathy and credibility and can strengthen a brand’s ability to tell its story.
How do local insights inform strategy?
A creative concept may seem like a good idea at the pitch stage, but will the concept resonate with a brand’s local audience across multiple markets? Will they get that quirky joke or understand that cultural reference? Or worse, will they be offended?
Insight-driven localisation encourages brands to consider local insights at every stage of a global campaign process, so that cultural understanding informs all creative and media decisions.
However, this isn’t a set-and-forget approach. Constant gathering of local insights enables brands to deploy their marketing communications quickly, efficiently and flexibly – changing approach when needed in response to shifting market conditions.
Insights supported by expertise
Localisation is a vitally important aspect of global marketing. Whether a brand’s marketing is centralised, run locally, or in the hands of a third-party partner, a brand owner needs the right global-to-local model in order to reap the benefits of effective localisation.
Freedman recently launched a suite of four new local insight products – Explore, Belong, Communicate and Validate – which are designed to support global marketers at every stage of their brand’s localisation journey.
But it’s not just about having access to insights, global marketers can also tap into our production expertise in order to localise and deliver assets for all markets and channels, as well as our creative adaptation and transcreation services and extensive experience in brand guardianship – all of which combines to ensure more effective and impactful campaigns.