The Importance of Localization and Translation in Affiliate Marketing

Whether you have an established affiliate marketing program or you’re just getting started, understanding the ins and outs of this superb marketing strategy is crucial to your success.

In this digital age of borderless business, not taking advantage of a potential customer base in foreign markets is a mistake you simply can't afford to make.

For both affiliates and merchants, localizing your affiliate marketing program offers benefits that are difficult to ignore. A big part of successful localization is ensuring accurate and precise translations. English-speaking internet users account for only one-quarter of the market, and a large percentage of those only speak English as a second language. Not catering to additional languages is the equivalent of saying no to a potential paycheck.

In this article, we'll dive deeper into the importance of localizing your affiliate marketing and look at the best ways to go about it. Let's get to it!

What is Localization?

Marketing localization is about adapting your campaign to show your ability to fully understand potential international customers. Successful localization ensures you deliver content relevant to the audience’s location. This means everything from language to visuals is adapted to target individuals from that area specifically.

Affiliate marketing localization can be considered an investment into your growth and can have a considerably impressive return on investment (ROI) for your business.

Benefits of Localizing Your Affiliate Marketing

Here are a few advantages you'll have when you incorporate localization strategies into your affiliate marketing campaigns.

Smoke the Competition

Localized affiliate marketing is gaining traction. Chances are most of your competitors have not started adapting their campaigns to international markets – but they will be doing so shortly. Localizing and translating your affiliate marketing immediately will give you a headstart on building your brand globally, leaving your competitors in your dust.

Consumers trust brands they are familiar with. Getting ahead of the game puts you in the position to become their go-to for their needs. By the time your competition gets up to speed, you could have already established a massive base of loyal customers.

Localization Honors Culture

Consumers appreciate a merchant’s ability to adapt their marketing. Showing your ability to change your affiliate marketing campaign based on the culture of your target audience is respectful and crucial to building trust with your new international audience.

You will benefit from a consumer’s appreciation of your culturally adapted marketing campaign as they are more likely to purchase when they feel a brand shares similar values to them.

Ease of Payment

Localizing your affiliate marketing campaigns means that consumers outside the US can easily purchase in their local currency. Research shows that eCommerce sites offering multiple currency options have a higher conversion.

Consumers are more likely to hit that check-out button when their order total is displayed in a local currency.

Improved SEO

Localized marketing campaigns are more likely to appear on international Google searches; this also rings true for local search engines. If you cannot be found via a search engine, the likelihood of you converting any sales from your international audience is drastically lowered.

Tips for Localizing Your Affiliate Marketing

Now that we've covered the benefits of localized marketing, let's go over a few tips on how to start translating your affiliate marketing content for a wider audience base.

Ensure Accurate Translation

Even the most prominent companies have failed dismally with their campaign translation. KFC experienced this when launching in China as their famous slogan, “finger-licking good”, translated into “eat your fingers off”. This, as you can imagine, did not make a good first impression.

Ensuring accurate translation through hiring a freelance translator or taking advantage of many affiliate marketing tools available in the market today can save you from making a bad impression that a smaller company could have trouble recovering from.

Be Sensitive to Cultural Differences

One audience’s culture may be less liberated than another, and it is essential to consider this when launching an international affiliate marketing campaign.

Successful localization means taking all possible cultural differences into account. For instance, marketing in the Middle East requires a far more conservative approach than most European countries. A campaign that includes models wearing short dresses or swimwear would be considered offensive in some parts of the world.

Including culturally sensitive material ensures you do not alienate a large portion of your potential clients.

Size Doesn’t Matter

You may think that your affiliate marketing business is too small to expand globally. This is a common concern, but we assure you, size doesn't matter. You would be surprised at how many successful products being sold on Amazon are from a tiny foreign-based company or merchant. The secret to their success is the time they spend learning how to write Amazon product descriptions in English.

This simple step can turn even the smallest business into a huge international success. No business or website is too small to start offering affiliate marketing if the localization is handled correctly.

Find the Right Channels

When launching your affiliate marketing campaign internationally, it is crucial to remember that no two markets are the same.

While Facebook marketing might be effective in most parts of the world, it wouldn’t have the same impact on audiences in places like Russia or China. And while Google is the most popular search engine in all markets, it could be wise to ensure that your search engine optimization (SEO) is effective for other popular search engines such as Baidu and Yandex.

Conclusion

You cannot underestimate the importance of localizing and translating affiliate marketing. An effective expansion of your affiliate marketing campaign in the global market may seem daunting, but following the tips outlined in this article will ensure that you start your journey on the right path.

If you liked this article, be sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn! And don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter.

Affiliate Link Disclosure