Global Marketing Course

Is There Any Scenario Where Translation or Localization Wasn’t Needed for Global Marketing?

There doesn’t seem to be very many scenarios where a business has become successful without implementing a marketing and localization strategy first.

Where certain companies seem to speak every language, they didn’t get successful overnight. The Swedish company, IKEA for example is known throughout America and Europe and now slowly through Asia by using several marketing schemes. Even though the company is still advertising the same types of products, even IKEA, where it’s products are fundamentally simple- pieces of furniture, the catalogs it advertises localized to each country specifically depending on the country. Depending on how people are raised and what they are accustomed to will depend on how they will approach furniture. Furniture is very personal. It must be presented in a way that is welcoming to people with their political, cultural and ethical in mind. Or it needs to grab attention- like what IKEA does.

One thing IKEA has done to blur boundaries is advertising through public transportation, create a “complete” shopping experience and keep costs low. IKEA could not have sent out more than 190 million catalogues to the global households without 56 editions and in 27 languages without the help of a translation and localization company working full time for them.

Blurring The Lines Using Transportation Methods

Since transportation to some of the large IKEA stores involves a trek way outside of people’s normal 20 mile radius close to home, IKEA has developed some ingenious ways to get people to there store for free, optional incentive to buy “of course.” In Brooklyn, New York IKEA provided a free ferry that runs from Wall Street to Brooklyn everyday from June 9 th to June 30 th as well as constructing models of New York City landmarks of the Empire States Building and the Brooklyn Bridge out of IKEA boxes. In Japan, IKEA’s guerilla marketing team took over a Kobe Portliner Monorail train, that made one of it’s stops near an IKEA and coated the seats and walls in decorative IKEA fabric, similar to a room design in one of their catalogs.

The Complete Shopping Experience

Assuming that you will be shopping awhile at IKEA, they have provided a Swedish style restaurant inside each IKEA store that has created one reason to go to an IKEA store for some where there perhaps wasn’t a reason before. Smelling Swedish meatballs while shopping would make anyone want to stop into the restaurant, conveniently located at the checkout counter. Food will always be a universal selling point.

Keeping Costs Low Speak to Everyone

Of course if it’s a good product and it’s affordable or down right cheap, people will buy it. When it comes to similar designs, Japanese designs and Swedish designs are fairly similar, clean lines and simplicity. So IKEA wasn’t worried about that aspect of selling the products to Japan. If the products were made from high quality designs or would last, that is where IKEA could have trouble selling their brand.

When thinking about launching your product into the global market, think about ways you can appeal to people as individuals and their basic needs. Then, hire a localization and translation company to get the details across. When you speak the basics, you speak their language.

About the Author

About the author:Melissa Peterman is a Web Content Specialist for www.innuity.com for more information about localization services, go to MultiLing .

Masters International Marketing Management course

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