Impact HUB Scaling Program:

Ready To Go International?

How To Adapt Your Online Presence

presented by Steve Zitkovich

October 2015

Introduction

Purpose of this webinar

Inform an early-stage company on how to take first steps to localizing their online presence and do online marketing across country borders/languages

Intent is to inform, not overwhelm

Introduction

Webinar particulars– 5 mins introduction– 50 mins to cover the content– 25 mins for questions– 5 mins to wrap up

Presentation outline– Introduction– Definitions– Localization goals– Localization impacts in your company– Examples of localization– Best practices– UI– Content– E-commerce– Email marketing– Localization hassles– Action items

About Steve Zitkovich

• Seattle Impact HUB Member since 2012

• Originally from Seattle, have lived 12+ years in Europe: DE, UK, FR, NL, LU, CZ, SK, now ES

• 20+ years at e-commerce companies– Getty Images, Microsoft, Ofoto (now Shutterfly) + a number of

startups

– Job titles include International Product-, Program-, Project Manager

• 18+ years focused on localization– Localization interest from living abroad and studying German

– Inspired by the internet’s ability to distribute information worldwide in the blink of an eye

Pre-Localization + Definitions

• Before localizing you must “internationalize”– see webinar “How To Prepare for International *Before* Going

International” on the Impact HUB Scaling Program website

• What is the difference between internationalization, translation and localization?– Internationalization = the technical infrastructure behind the scenes

– Translation = taking text (marketing) in a source-language (ex. English) and translating it into another language; it does not necessarily mean tailoring the messaging for customers in another country

– Localization = the next step beyond translating; tailoring what a customer reads, sees and interacts with (interface, sales & marketing) for his/her language and sensibility• Often legal reasons drive localization

Localization Goals

• Your commercial goals – and metrics! – will inform localization priorities:

– Direct-to-consumer sales?

– Marketing for offline sales relationships?

– Marketing for sales through distributors?

– Customer support?

– Branding?

Align localization efforts with your commercial goals

Managing Localization

• Selling internationally is very important for most businesses. • Localization can be intimidating.• Localization can get complex.• Localization can run up costs internally and externally.

Therefore– Stay focused on ROI– Keep it as simple as possible

Preparing + launching a localized site(s) is the easy part – ongoing management is work

Localization Touches Your Entire Company

Inside your companyITProductMarketingSalesCustomer ServiceLegalFinanceBI/Reporting

Customer experienceUIContentPaymentDelivery

Localization Touches Entire CompanyIT Product Marketing Sales Customer

ServiceLegal

Databases Differentversions

Content creation

Pricing Support in languages

T&C’s

Website architecture

ShoppingCart/E-comm

Time to translate

Channel conflicts

Local phone numbers?

Privacy Policy

Website UI Payments Content + people coordination

Field offices Chat? Advising all groups

QA Email marketing

Emails in/out

Dev schedule Promotionsin-country

Time zones

Timing of updates

Social Media FAQs

SEO

+ Finance & Business

Intelligence

Basic International Business Decisions

• Do you have different web sites by country or just by language?

– Hosted all under .com or by country, ex: co.uk, .fr, .de?

• Do you sell directly in-market or have a distributor?

• Do you create your own packaging/customer-touch-points?

– leaving localization to distribution takes branding out of your hands

– many times your product is not your distributor’s highest priority

Example Of Localization: StarbucksUSA UK

GERMANY SPAIN

Example Of Localization: StarbucksJAPAN

Example Of Localization: Starbucks

Localization Best-Practices

• Put yourself in the shoes of your customer in the target country or language

• Make the customer experience complete, not a mish-mash– Consider micro-sites for other languages/markets

• If a link leads to content in another languages, indicate that change• Do not use Google Translate for your website

– Some people advocate it for FAQs or other non-critical text

• Do not translate user comments• Be careful of humor in marketing• Possibly offer a version of English for pan-Europe or global

• Use a cloud-service for internal collaboration + assets• Use a translation memory to keep translations in sync

Website UI Localization, part 1 of 2

• What does the customer see upon arrival?– If .com, the English-language site?

– Splash screen to choose language/country?

– Guess language/country and display (and inform of guess)?

• Geolocation services– Very user-friendly when done well

• Can be annoying if customer cannot override

• Allow customer to change language and/or locale

Website UI Localization, part 2 of 2

• Allow for expansion of labels and text on page

• Minimal text in graphics

• Always clear which context the customer is in

– Country versus language

• Pricing

• Shipping physical goods

• Distributor relationships

Country Flags

• Country flags are ok if a website is only for a country

• Do not use country flags to indicate language

Content: Translate vs Localize

Translate

• Advantage: simpler, quicker content creation + management

• Disadvantage: customers sense it is not tailored to them– The marketing tone

– The images

Maybe the disadvantages are fine for your branding and sales increase enough to make it worth it

Localize

• Advantage: customers feel engaged

• Disadvantage: higher cost in money + time– Keeping content/messaging/branding in alignment

– Images

Technology + processes will enable more localization at lower cost

Content: DIY or LSP?

• DIY– Central

– Field offices

• Distributors/partners

• Other resources (ex. Impact HUB Network)

• Localization Service Provider– This webinar is for startups; early-stage companies

don’t really have the money to pay for an Localization Service Provider.

Content Process Flow Of Localization

Create content

Approval Post Edit

Create content

Approval TranslateProof (in-country)

Upload Post Edit

Before localization

With localization

E-Commerce

• Set up your bank account to handle international transactions

• Show prices in local currency or you set prices in different currencies?– Exchange rates can be a hassle

• Different countries have different preferred payment methods

• Varying VAT– Also your reporting of VAT

• Shipping cost + time (and shipping options)• Product returns and order cancellations

Email Marketing

• Forms– Capture first name, last name separately– Capture country– Capture preferred language

• Database– Ensure can handle above – Characters – Variations by country how to handle

• Privacy Policy• (Double) Opt-in• Opt-out / Right To Be Forgotten

Which Languages/Countries?

• Align with your commercial goals• Start nearby geographically and linguistically.

– Consider time zones, support. – Spanish worldwide (Central/South America + USA)– French in EU + Africa– German in EU– Chinese, but doing business in China is hard; best with a partner

• Consider unique opportunities...– Strong interest from a particular country– A very strong partner in a country– Language skills very strong internally

... but beware of starting something that might fall to the side if circumstances change.

Some Localization Hassles

• As soon as you have a localized presence your in-country team will have a “unique, incredibly important marketing opportunity”– Conversely, stale localized sites are bad internal + external

• Keeping track of the many variations of lead-gen forms by country

• Keeping track of image and video assets– Especially embedded text– Also rights management

• Dynamic pricing from exchange rates• Content coming from in different formats/systems

Action-Items

• Make sure your technical team has internationalized– Especially online forms that gather customer information

for marketing and for the purchase path

• Make sure your international goals are clear so you can align your efforts for best ROI

• Assign a point person for localization issues, but make everyone responsible for their part

• Choose a content management system or process that handles multiple languages and authors efficiently

• Recommended: a lightweight cloud translation memory system

Closing Notes

• Company leadership must buy into the value of i18n & l10n; thinking it is easy often leads to frustration with the time + cost to be international

• l10n is a revenue generator; money spent on i18n is an investment

• Supporting i18n and l10n early will make it cheaper in the long-term

• Preparing + launching a localized site(s) is the easy part – ongoing management is much work

Ready To Go International? How To Adapt Your Online Presence

Q & A

For questions later, contact:

Steve Zitkovich

e: steve@zitkovich.com