Not every business is large but there are smaller businesses that want to make an international presence so they can become known internationally. Start-ups can set aside localisation as part of their marketing budget and strategy just as much as larger corporations who have larger cash allocations for such marketing projects.

90% of purchasers conduct online product research before buying anything and this is especially true of those in the B2B area and software technology. If you are marketing offshore as a start-up it’s crucial that your product is translated into the targeted local language but it should not be done through a basic word for word translation. It should be localised to fit your international clients so it has to be created in a familiar and engaging manner so that it can be fully understood and does not sound like a translation.

Why website localisation is a necessity

The last count showed that every day 3.5 billion people used the internet. That equates to nearly 50 per cent of the world population, many of whom are looking for products to buy.  That is why it is so important to localise your product in key languages otherwise you have little or no chance of building a firm customer base. That does not just apply to the product pages, but also key things like payment methods. A mistake a start-up owner often makes is assuming that buyers are happy to use American providers like PayPal for making payments but in Europe, Wirecard is preferred by many online buyers.

Ensure the localisation sounds real

If French buyers are being targeted the translation should sound like genuine French not some more poor translation into French. The Euro is the currency used in France, so prices should be in Euros, not U.S. dollars. This applies to the Chinese market too. The Chinese increasingly have more money in their pockets and look outside their own markets to purchase but only if the product is in a language that they can understand.

Basically, it is important to conduct an in-depth analysis of potential markets based on purchasing power and how useful the product is likely to be for a certain market. This is the stepping stone for beginning a start-up’s localisation strategy.

Localisation need not be expensive

Many start-up businesses might think that localisation is expensive because it could involve several languages in order to be effective and draw in a new customer base. Despite this, if the start-up business sticks to certain guidelines it can gain as much as a more established business from localisation tactics.

Keep up your agile processes for both content and product

Start-ups and businesses that like to move at a fast pace have to be able to keep up with the ever-changing requirements of their customers in particular new innovations which drew in more customers.  To keep agile, start-ups should construct the right processes to ensure their products get to their customers a.s.a.p. If this strategy is already in place, then no localisation will ever affect these agile strategies. The product will be ready for shipment despite engagement with localisation.

Start-ups should keep their translation methods creative

Localisation may seem to be a bit of a challenge especially from the financial point of view but what many start-ups are doing is looking for crowdfunding so that their localisation tactic does not break the bank. Crowdfunding for translations for localisation purposes is used when a business, by being creative, gets translators from the global translation network. It concentrates on accessing translators who reside in the countries it wants to target. This not only gets locally based translators who are far more accurate because of their knowledge of local aspects of the language but it does not cost a lot because of the crowdfunding that is used.

Keep an eye on global traffic

If a start-up is not sure where the localisation should take place, looking at the location of global traffic is a good guide to use. There may be some unexpected leads that just turn up which offer new prospects. This is a good way of getting more sales and a reliable group of customers. It is possible to leverage tools such as Google analytics which show you what in the content is drawing people to the project.  With any start-up, there could always be a surprise just around the corner and a little known sector of the international community might latch onto your product in any of the languages you have targeted. What most of the online community does know is that rarely do buyers make purchasing decisions about products if the information about them is not in their language.

The decision about global expansion should come early

No business wants to wait in the sidelines waiting for a competition to roll up. It is important for a start-up to make and initiate business localisation plans as soon as possible. The product of a start-up may be relatively novel so penetrating the overseas market is the best step forward to ensuring a global presence. If the start-up works quickly then the product marketing localisation strategy only needs to be maintained for a while to see how well it works. The important thing is to make sure that your localisation strategy can be expanded, reduced or altered at any time. It does not matter what industry the start-up is in, as the strategy of localisation is much the same.