The 2 Main Reasons Why Companies Do Not Have Good Foreign Language Content

By Cindy King  ·  17 Comments
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Culturally Customized Content

international content marketingThis continues on from last week’s article on the best person you should get to write your foreign content.

Why Foreign Content Is Not Good

There are two main reasons companies do not have good foreign content.

1 – Need Time To Find The Right Person

Companies do not take the time to look for the right person to do the job.
The person writing your foreign content needs to fulfill several criteria:

  • You must be able to work well with him.
  • He must be mother tongue in the foreign language.
  • He should preferably still live in the country concerned, or at least until very recently.
  • He must be competent in your industry in his country.
  • He must have the professional background needed to write your content in its original language.

Finding someone who meets all of these criteria is often a difficult task to accomplish.

If you settle to work with someone who does not meet all of these criteria you may not have the best content possible.

But your budget or time constraints should not necessarily stop your foreign content project. Schedule revisions after some initial market reviews as soon as you can.

If you want good sales copy, do your best to find the right person for your sales content.

2 – Not Adapted Enough For Foreign Markets

Companies often make the mistake of not giving enough room to create the right text for their foreign markets.

They want to keep too much control in the mother country. This kills everything.

Foreign content that is too close to its original version often does not work. And it is always weak. It will not speak to your foreign audience as well as content crafted specifically for them.

I have seen this time and time again with American companies of all different sizes with a European presence. They often refuse to listen to their hired European staff, insisting on global communication.

The result is that the company continues to have a very strong foreign branding. This distances it from their local competitors.

The local European offices are often left with little marketing and sales collateral adapted to their markets. They are forced to compensate this is other ways, using the phone and emails to transmit more market appropriate messages to their clients.

This limits the penetration of any local marketing efforts.

Use The Right International Marketing Methods

It is interesting to look at the various definitions of international marketing.

There is a time for global marketing. It comes after the stages of International Marketing.

You cannot bulldoze your way into global marketing unannounced.

You need to create a relationship with your foreign market. Your foreign market needs to get to know you on their own territory first.

More on Culturally Customized Content:

More in the Get International Clients Business Guides

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Cindy King