Bridging The Gap

Localization is the one factor that is bridging the gap between you and an international audience, and if you have yet to localize your projects, you may be walking on a rickety bridge, so to speak.

Breaking down language barriers can help bring your customers to your business, simply because your products, services, and messages are much more simple to comprehend when they come to the audience in their own language.

With that in mind, how can you know whether or not you need to bridge that gap between you and your audience? There are 3 basic signs.

1. Customer Service Is Flagging

This may seem like common knowledge and, for the most part, it is. If you work in the e-commerce field, it can be nearly impossible to do business if you don’t understand your clientele. Let’s say you sell handmade jewelry online and a customer wants to place an order for several very expensive rings in a certain size. Think of the difficulty of this request, not just for you but also for your customer, if there are language barriers in the way. Do some research, find out what language your customers are speaking and localize your systems for them.

2. Outdated Material Is Questionable

Think about your company’s website. Perhaps the company indeed has made the strides to have the content translated, but when was the last time it was updated? Is there anyone that can make routine checks just in case of outdated materials? These are all questions you have to pose. Outdated information, materials and content are damaging to businesses, even if only indirectly.

3. Word-Of-Mouth Is Waning

Are people talking about your business? If you’re unsure or not seeing the proof of this, then you may need to start solidifying that bridge we talked about. If people don’t value your brand, they aren’t going to talk about it. If people don’t talk about your brand, you aren’t going to gain as many new sources of revenue. Talk is good and you definitely need it. What may be lacking if you’re not hearing talks about your brand is your linguistic approach. What language are they communicating in? What forums? What platforms? Via what international mediums? Find out and remedy this.