Your brand voice speaks louder than any logo – especially when entering new markets. It communicates your brand’s distinct personality cohesively across all new markets, and fosters incredible recall and trustworthiness with target customers. However, pursuing a strong brand voice when localizing content can be challenging; you’ll want your brand voice and tone to be consistent across borders, but with content that appeals to cultural sensitivities, ways of communicating, and preferences.

Before we get ahead of ourselves – what exactly is brand voice? It’s the unique personality and style that defines how a brand communicates with its audience. It’s particularly necessary when expanding globally, because it’ll help you build trust and recognition across diverse markets. Amazon sellers that are expanding to new regions will find a brand voice will help to create a memorable presence, fostering familiarity and loyalty with new audiences. By implementing a compelling brand voice, you can reach your audience all over the world, in an effective and authentic way, regardless of location, cultural nuances, and so forth.

This guide will give you tips and tactics on how to develop a brand voice that’s consistent and works well across cultures, while still adapting to market needs.

Interested in learning more about e-Commerce branding? Understand all about e-Commerce localization and brand trust.

Understanding the Core Components of a Strong Brand Voice

A survey conducted by Hubspot shows that brand language is important to business success, while brand language is a crucial part of brand strategy.

American entrepreneur Lisa Gansky puts brand voice into stark perspective. Your company’s brand voice embodies your brand’s identity, values, and how you connect with your target market on an emotional level. It’s the way you communicate, not just in words but in actions, values, and overall experience you create for customers. Products are tangible, but they only hold meaning because of the brand behind them. They’re keepsakes of the brand experience – a reminder of what your brand represents and the emotional connection it creates. So, in other words, products can be memorable, but the real loyalty comes from your brand’s voice and character, and the experience you offer.

What does this mean for you? It’s crucial to craft a consistent brand voice that resonates with customers. The voice is the essence of your brand, while your product serves as a symbol of that relationship. It’s a reminder that strong branding goes beyond the product itself. A good brand relies on creating a memorable, valuable connection with customers.

So, what are the core components of a strong brand voice?

Let’s keep it quick and simple. Here are the important elements that you can use to define your brand voice:

• Personality: The distinctive traits and style that shape your brand’s ‘character’ (e.g., playful, empowering, authoritative).
• Values: The core principles or beliefs your brand upholds, which should resonate through all messaging.
• Tone: The emotional expression of your brand’s personality, flexible enough to adapt to different contexts while maintaining consistency.
• Vocabulary: Specific language and phrases that reinforce your brand’s identity.

Now that you understand why a brand voice is important, let’s get into how to develop one.

Steps on Developing Your Brand Voice

Here’s how you can build your brand voice:

• Step 1: Define Your Brand’s Core Identity
  • Review your brand’s mission, values, and target audience.
  • These core elements are crucial, so you develop a distinct brand voice that stays sound even when you expand. When your brand voice is clear, localization efforts won’t dilute the message.
• Step 2: Identify Target Audiences and Create Global Personas
  • Create personas for each target market you expand to. Understand and respect local cultural nuances, while maintaining brand consistency.
  • Your brand voice is the personality that comes across in all content, regardless of the region. For example, you can adapt a friendly personality and tone, but adapt vocabulary and references for US and Japanese markets. That’s how to create a brand voice tailored for different audiences – with a localized approach.
• Step 3: Establish Brand Voice Guidelines
  • Develop a brand guide or style guide. Document voice characteristics, preferred vocabulary (for example, will you be formal or casual when addressing your audience? This will come in helpful in languages like German, where there are different pronouns depending on who you’re speaking to – more about this in Tone of Voice for German Listings)
  • Include Do’s and Don’ts in your style guide. This way, you’ll ensure uniformity when collaborating with translators, local marketers, and influencers, helping them stay true to your brand guidelines.
• Step 4: Adapt Tone for Localized Content Without Compromising Core Voice
  • Adapt a flexible tone. A defined voice isn’t set in stone; you can adjust the tone for specific audiences or contexts while preserving the brand personality.
  • For example, an eco-friendly brand can keep its voice consistent by discussing sustainability globally, but tailor messaging to address region-specific environmental issues. Put it this way – Germany is the world’s biggest recycler, recycling an incredible 60%+ of its waste! So, definitely mention recycling in your content. But you might want to reword this content for Mexico, which only has a 5% recycling rate (although to be fair, waste collection is high – disposal just needs improvement). So, you’re sticking to the same brand voice across all regions, just tailoring the content for a localized approach.
• Step 5: Use a “Sounds Like / Doesn’t Sound Like” Chart
  • You’ll clarify your brand personality this way. A “sounds like/doesn’t sound like” chart will help global teams and stakeholders understand what the brand voice should and shouldn’t sound like, ensuring that core voice consistency is maintained across markets.
  • For example, your “do” can be to stay casual, fun, and playful, and your “don’t” can be never to use “yeet,” “gyatt,” “fanum tax,” or “skibidi!” (We’re only bringing these words up because we don’t understand them, but if your customers do, then by all means, use them in your content. Your brand voice should align with how your customers communicate; that’s the best way to develop a relationship with them!)

A Great Brand Voice is Consistent Even with Localized Marketing

The best way to build brand recognition across many different markets is a consistent brand voice. A solid brand voice can help you connect with your audience – and when you add localization to your content, you’ll resonate with audiences in each country as well, while keeping your brand messaging intact across all markets.

A unified brand voice ensures that customers recognize and connect with your brand, no matter where in the world they may encounter it.

Perhaps this analogy is best – your favorite brand is the same whether you’re in Asia, Europe, or the USA. Perhaps there are nuances to the content that differ per country, because of adept localization, but essentially you’ll recognize a consistent voice no matter where in the world you may be.

The best way we can illustrate this is by bringing up YLT Translations’ own fearless leader, Jana. A polyglot, mother, and business owner, Jana travels all over the world to speak about localization for eCommerce. We assure you, whether you meet her at a conference in Hong Kong, or at Prosper Show in Vegas, or in London for a meet-and-greet, you’ll encounter the exact same wonderful, passionate, and knowledgeable person – whether she speaks to you in English, Serbian, German, or any of the other languages she’s proficient in! If anyone’s a good example of a brand voice, it’s our dear Jana, with her consistent, approachable, professional, and knowledgeable “brand presence!”

Case in point – read all about her impressions of the Land of the Rising Sun, a country she’d never been to before, on Jana Meets Japan!

Now, you’ll need to balance your global brand voice with localized content. Take Nike for instance – it has an inspirational and motivational tone worldwide, but it might address runners in the US and soccer fans in Brazil. Fenty Beauty’s voice is bold and inclusive, and celebrates self-expression and diversity, but adapts its messaging to local cultures while staying true to its core values.

A defined brand voice makes a huge difference in connecting you with your customers. The right brand voice remains consistent no matter where in the world you may be – but it will adapt language, infographics, color scheme, and more to suit each region.

Maintaining and Evolving a Defined Brand Voice Over Time

Although your company’s voice should remain consistent, solid, and dependable no matter where you are, it’s not set in stone. Refine your brand voice as often as you need to, while sticking to your core values.

Conduct regular audits across different markets and channels to ensure brand voice consistency. This exercise will see if any market adapts a different tone that doesn’t concur with the overall brand voice. Every brand needs to do this regularly to maintain consistency, and achieve the final benefit of a good brand voice, meaning customer trust and the establishment of a recognizable brand identity. So, let’s say you’re dealing with influencers in a new country – make sure you furnish them with a brand voice template that delineates your current voice, and Do’s and Don’ts they can follow.

Next, it’s crucial to adapt and refine the voice of your brand often. The voice might change to suit evolving needs, new regions, and so forth. But it’s important that you change into a brand voice that aligns with your core brand values. So, be flexible, but don’t lose your brand identity.

For example, let’s say you’re selling toys and games, and you want to come across as trustworthy, approachable, and fun. You might adapt your brand voice to meet consumer expectations in Germany to suit the fact-driven stoic German customer, and more emotive in the USA, but still maintain that friendly, approachable vibe. Now that’s a powerful brand voice – one that’s respectful of local customs, but still consistent with core brand values.

At the end of the day, you want your brand voice to connect you with your customer, and establish the unique voice that spells out a fun customer experience. So, stay consistent, but localize to suit different market nuances.

Conclusion: A Distinct Brand Voice Should Have a Local Flavor

So, now you understand that a brand voice is the experience a brand uses to communicate its core values to its target market. Now, you understand not just how to create one, but how to create a consistent brand voice across all the markets you sell in. The right voice will communicate trustworthiness, and encourage customers to keep coming back, and will eventually (hopefully!) make the brand a household name.

When you create your brand voice right, you’ll sell not just products – you’ll sell an experience. A lifestyle. A journey. That way, no matter where in the world they may find your brand, your brand evokes the same feeling and experience to customers new and old.

Remember to aim for brand consistency. The brand voice is the personality your brand takes on; this should be the same across all touch points, whether on an Amazon listing, a website, or a social media post. Those personality traits can really help your brand stand out, especially in the jungle that’s Amazon selling, where every other person is selling a product similar to yours.

Yet, as with all exercises in global expansion, localize your content to suit your target market. We can’t underscore how important it is to take that brand voice, and customize it to suit the different psychologies of every region you sell in.

Don’t forget – YLT Translations is here to help you localize your Amazon product listings – and we can follow a brand voice chart so the output is aligned with your brand’s values, too! Reach out for a free listing audit, and let’s see where we can hasten your international expansion through a well-crafted and beautifully-localized listing.

While we’re on the topic of marketing, did you know that country-neutral and culturally sensitive external marketing can help you win over your customers all over the world?

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What can an Amazon Seller learn from Coca-Cola’s example? It’s important to stay relevant to a global audience – and a great way to do that is to espouse universal values that are relevant worldwide.

Given it’s the season for celebration, let’s take a peek at the critical elements of Coca-Cola’s branding, and see how you can go about making the strategy work in your Amazon business. Coca-Cola stands out as a winner in the localization industry – you’re about to find out why.

If you like this content, read up on localization for the holiday season. Not all Christmases are the same!

Historical Context of the Santa Claus of Coca-Cola

Since the 1930s, Coca-Cola has evolved the image of Santa Claus, shifting from traditional portrayals to a modern figure resonant across cultures. The jolly chubby Santa with the rosy cheeks was the brainchild of artist Haddon Sundblom, who fashioned Santa after Lou Prentiss, a retired salesman. Did you know that the wedding ring had to be superimposed on all ads because consumers were worried about Mrs. Claus? Sundblom was also inspired by Clement Clark Moore’s 1822 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Fast forward to 2023 – Santa is still as popular now as 90 years ago, and he’s still providing fantasy and cheer to a global audience. He has come to signify joy, generosity, and the holiday spirit, something Coke continues to enforce with an advertising strategy that’s fully localized, to keep the original design relevant and timeless.

Global Reach and Localization

This year, Coca-Cola adapted its Santa campaign to over 80 markets, integrating local charity events and culturally specific experiences, like the Christmas Truck Tours. The marketing messages of the holiday campaign center around doing good and espousing joy, generosity, and the holiday spirit, no matter where in the world you are – and this has been a consistent brand message throughout the years. You could even say that the idea of doing good during the holidays is one of the critical components of Coca-Cola marketing during the holiday season.

But the concept didn’t start in 2023. Coca-Cola has a long-standing history of incorporating community involvement in its global marketing campaigns. The soda brand has often used its holiday campaigns as platforms for charitable activities and community engagement. What better time of the year to strongly enforce Coca-Cola’s broader corporate social responsibility initiatives? They make a positive impact on local communities while simultaneously promoting their brand to each local audience.

Furthermore, there’s also the iconic Christmas Truck Tours, which began in the mid-1990s as part of a popular TV commercial. The trucks travel to various locations, offering activities like sending digital Christmas cards and engaging with local food vendors. The countries vary each year, but the tours usually travel across the USA, UK, Germany, Poland, as well as regions in Asia and Latin America. Each location adds it own cultural touches to the tour, to make it a unique and festive experience that resonates with local traditions and customs. Now that’s the way to localize your marketing efforts. This year, the campaign was called “the world needs more Santas.” Often, visitors are encouraged to blast their selfies with the truck on the side of the vehicle, creating a close brand affinity with consumers worldwide through user generated content. In fact, last year in Britain, Coke donated a meal to a person in need for every visit to the truck, a collaboration with FareShare, the UK’s biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste.

How does this translate to the Amazon seller? Coca-Cola understands the importance of localization efforts as part of its marketing strategy. It came up with an image that resonates with cultures all over the globe, because of the universal values it espouses. In other words, Coca-Cola created content that resonates with culturally-neutral value systems. Then, they localized their global message by creating localized marketing campaigns that were still on-brand with the universal message, to showcase that they understand, respect, and value the local culture of their customers all over the globe.

Start with brand values that are universally accepted, and make sure your imagery and content revolve around those values. Then, localize to appeal to local users. Encourage your users to interact with your product or service through user generated content. That’s how to appeal first, and create a relationship second, just like Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola Social Media Strategy, Digital, and AI Innovations

Just because the jolly red Santa that we know and love began almost a century ago, doesn’t mean the image – or the messaging – are outdated. In fact, Coca-Cola has retained the brand identity for generations, adapting to the times.

Digital & AI Innovations

Part of Coca-Cola’s global localization is the personalized experience. Coca-Cola integrates AI to create personalized experiences for consumers – like AI-powered tools for creating the “Create Real Magic” platform, which allows users to design unique holiday cards featuring Coca-Cola’s branding elements.

Furthermore, AI gathers and analyzes market data, consumer insight, and trends, helping the brand stay ahead in understanding consumer preferences and behaviors. Understanding each market has been integral to the Coca-Cola branding strategy; essentially, Coca-Cola creates a sense of ownership with its customers by giving them exactly what they want, year on year.

Coca-Cola has also been exploring the use of generative AI in product development, such as crafting new flavors or product concepts based on data-driven insights.

Before we continue with Santa’s story and how it appeals to Amazon sellers, check out this blog on cultural sensitivity in eCommerce.

Coca-Cola Content Strategy

Now, much of an Amazon Seller’s success comes from external marketing – and this is where you can take a cue from the Coca-Cola advertising strategy for its online engagement.

First, there’s engagement through campaigns. Take for instance the “Find Your Inner Santa” campaign, which encourages users to participate in a quiz and share their results on social media to foster interaction and brand visibility.

Second, there’s influencer and celebrity partnerships. Check out the 9 biggest celebs that Coke has worked with over the years according to The Things – the list includes Taylor Swift, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Matt LeBlanc of Friends fame, and Selena – the Queen of Tejano, a move that appealed to the Latin community in America. Their history of sponsoring celebrities and using entertainers as their brand ambassadors began in 1900 with Hilda Clark, the light opera and dance hall singer. They’ve gone on to welcome celebrities all over the world and from many different nationalities as part of their roster.

Third, there’s real-time interaction and content creation. Coca-Cola is very particular about customer service. It uses Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to engage with consumers through Q&A sessions and creative content that resonates with their audience, and helps them feel heard.

Fourth, Coca-Cola excels at storytelling. The stories often revolve around themes of happiness, unity, and festive spirit – values that, again, resonate with cultures all over the world. More about that a little later in this blog.

Fifth, there’s user-generated content. This is where Coke has really excelled in localization. Consider the “Share a Coke” campaign – a case study of successful localization in its own right. It was launched in Australia in 2011, and featured the Coca-Cola logo on bottles with popular names. The campaign encouraged consumers to share a Coke with their loved ones; they actively looked for bottles with their names, or the names of friends and family, so every purchase became a personal experience. Once more, universal values were critical elements of Coca-Cola’s advertising; the campaign personalized Coca-Cola bottles, thus creating a personal connection with consumers and memorable experiences. User engagement increased with the hashtag #ShareACoke, which encouraged UGC. Eventually, “Share a Coke” evolved to include names and phrases relevant to the local culture and language – crucial, given the campaign launched in over 70 countries. This made the campaign a global, yet still localized, effort. In fact, in some regions, Coca-Cola introduced interactive kiosks where people could print custom labels with their names, or personalized messages. It looks like Coca-Cola excels at developing a global marketing message that’s easily customized to a local audience.

How can you create a global campaign with universal values that you can localize easily? How will you foster engagement with your customers through social campaigns? Which influencers and celebrities in your product domain can you leverage to push your brand and make it more accessible to your target customer? How can you tell your story in an engaging way? And how can you boost UGC?

Follow Coke’s example in your own Amazon store; they’re doing something correctly, for sure.

Cultural Impact and Storytelling

Back to Christmas. We promised you we’d tell you how storytelling is one of the strongest elements of Coca-Cola’s branding strategy.

We begin in the 1930s with the Sundblom Santa. Imagine, Coke employed artists as famous as Norman Rockwell to illustrate its ideas, yet this Jolly Ole Santa became so popular, it’s now an iconic symbol of the holidays. Although countries across the world celebrate Christmas in different ways, and their gifts are delivered by an entire slew of characters, the Sundblom Santa is so popular, he’s become the figurine and representation of Christmas no matter where you may live. La Befana could be delivering your gifts (Italy), and you might be celebrating with your significant other instead of exchanging presents (Japan), or you might be waiting for the Three Kings to arrive, but that baritone ho-ho-ho and ruddy pink cheeks are clear – Santa is here to stay.

These campaigns aren’t just consistent in the portrayal of Santa; they’ve become intertwined with the fabric of Christmas celebrations world-over. The global and universal values of warmth, nostalgia, and happiness have become associated with the image – core emotions associated with the holiday season. The emotional connection has played a critical role in the enduring success and appeal of Coke’s campaigns.

But Coke didn’t stop there. Recognizing the diverse nature of its global audience, Coke has masterfully adapted its Santa campaigns to various cultures while maintaining a consistent brand image. This strategy of global reach with local adaptation has allowed the brand to strike a chord with different audiences worldwide, showcasing the universal appeal of the holiday spirit.

Here comes to storytelling. In coke’s ads, Santa’s enjoying a Coke (strongest brand ambassador yet, we’d dare to say), or spreading joy. The ads aren’t just plain old TV ads; they’re short stories that capture the spirit of Christmas with brand values like happiness, sharing, and community spirit.

The fact is, Coca-Cola used a myriad of marketing tools to become a trendsetter in holiday marketing, thus influencing how other brands approach advertising during the festive season.

How You Can Use Coke’s Globalized and Localized Marketing Efforts in Your Amazon Selling

Let’s summarize everything we’ve learned in this blog from Coca-Cola’s holiday marketing strategy:

• Universal Values in Localization:
  • Understand the importance of espousing universal values that are relevant worldwide in order to stay relevant to a global audience.
• Localized Marketing Strategies:
  • Adapt global marketing messages to local cultures while maintaining brand consistency.
  • Create content that resonates with culturally-neutral value systems, then localize to appeal to local users.
• Community Engagement and Charity:
  • Incorporate community involvement and charitable activities as part of the global marketing strategy.
• Utilization of User-Generated Content (UGC):
  • Encourage interaction with the product or service through user-generated content to create a close brand affinity with consumers worldwide.
• Digital Innovation and Personalization:
  • Integrate AI to create personalized consumer experiences and stay ahead in understanding consumer preferences and behaviors.
• Effective Social Media Campaigns:
  • Leverage influencer and celebrity partnerships to enhance brand accessibility.
  • Engage customers through social media campaigns, real-time interaction, and storytelling.
• Storytelling in Branding:
  • Use storytelling to communicate universal values in a way that appeals to every market through customized content.
• Global Campaigns with Easy Localization:
  • Develop global marketing messages that can be easily customized for local audiences.

Conclusion: Use the Coca- Cola Branding Strategy to Boost Your Brand on Amazon

In conclusion, Coca-Cola’s masterful blend of global appeal and local relevance offers a blueprint for success that extends far beyond the beverage industry. For Amazon sellers looking to make their mark on a global stage, the lessons are clear: universal values, when woven into localized narratives, create powerful connections with diverse audiences. By embracing digital and AI innovations, Coca-Cola has stayed at the forefront of consumer engagement, showing that understanding and adapting to customer preferences is key in an ever-evolving marketplace.

The use of storytelling, a hallmark of Coca-Cola’s campaigns, transforms ordinary marketing into a tapestry of shared experiences and emotions. This approach is not exclusive to global giants; it’s a strategy that Amazon sellers can adopt to elevate their products from mere commodities to parts of a larger, more relatable story. Encouraging user-generated content further deepens this connection, making customers not just consumers but active participants in your brand’s narrative.

As you venture forward, consider how you can integrate these insights into your Amazon strategy. Think about the universal values that resonate with your brand, how you can tailor your approach to different cultures, and the innovative ways you can engage with your audience. Remember, the goal is not just to sell a product but to create an experience that resonates with customers globally.

Let Coca-Cola’s journey inspire you to craft your own unique path in the global market. By prioritizing localization, storytelling, and community engagement, you can transform your brand into a globally recognized name that echoes with warmth, familiarity, and trust in every corner of the world.

Speaking of external marketing, check out this blog on unleashing the power of country-neutral and culturally-sensitive external marketing.

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Why is External Marketing Important?

SellerRocket lays out the benefits of a solid external marketing plan:

1. External marketing increases conversions significantly.
   1. First of all, you are engaging customers that your competition may not be. We’re talking about the people that follow you on social, that discover your landing page, or click on your ad.
   2. Secondly, you’ll nurture leads off-Amazon, meaning the leads will be relatively warm by the time they hit your product detail page.
   3. Thirdly, external marketing allows you to improve brand awareness in the long run–and of course, the more visible your brand and products are, the higher the likelihood that they’ll get sold.
2. External marketing helps you build your own customer base.
   1. SellerRocket said it perfectly: Amazon customers are not your customers–they are Amazon’s. It’s helpful to have your own loyal customer base away from Amazon’s–you can manage customer data off the platform, and grow an email list for future marketing campaigns.
3. External marketing improves rank.
   1. Funneling traffic to your Amazon listing actually helps you rank better! Amazon benefits from the boost in traffic, so the algorithm rewards sellers who bring people into the Amazon marketplace. Just take the Brand Referral Bonus program. Furthermore, sending traffic to Amazon could mean that your listings get prioritized when potential Amazon shoppers look for products on Bing or Google.
4. External marketing is cheaper than paid advertising.
   1. This is a no-brainer. Having a solid social media marketing strategy, an informative and value-filled blog, and a robust email marketing strategy is so much cheaper than spending all your marketing budget on PPC.

But, when you’re selling in different cultures, it starts getting more complicated. Do you localize your external marketing efforts? (In a word, YES.)

Here’s how to retain your brand identity when localizing your external marketing efforts.

Embrace Country-Neutral Strategies and Cultural Sensitivity

Most marketing strategies cater to a single culture, and this ends up inadvertently alienating other cultures. For example, bathroom accessories–many lifestyle images will portray the product in a large, American-style bathroom, where the shower head is attached to the ceiling. If you’re selling those same bathroom accessories in France, there’s a big chance your French audience won’t be able to relate; French bathrooms are typically small in size, and many of them have bidets. Furthermore, the shower heads are usually the hose type, and not affixed to the bathroom walls or ceiling. Perhaps marketing your bathroom hooks or towel rings in a US setting won’t negatively affect conversions, but it won’t boost them either, if your market doesn’t feel like you understand their specific living conditions.

Avoid Gender Stereotypes

According to the World Population Review, Iceland has the most gender equality in all the world (89.2% gender equality index in 2021) followed by Finland (86.1%) and Norway (84.9%). Other notable countries include New Zealand, Sweden, Ireland, and Switzerland. On the opposite side of the scale are Saudi Arabia (60.3%), Iran (58.2%), and Afghanistan (44.4%). Let’s say you’re selling bed linens for babies. It’s quite common to see pink pillowcases with ruffles for girls and blue blankets with ducks and teddy bears for boys. If you’re selling to a Nordic demographic, they’re not likely to resonate with these gender stereotypes, given they espouse equality as a top cultural value. It’s best to stay neutral, so your Middle Eastern customer and your Swiss customer both enjoy your products.

Be Careful of Inappropriate Colloquialisms and Slang

This one’s quite famous in the world of localization. When KFC expanded to China, it translated its very American slogan, finger lickin’ good, into Chinese, with disastrous consequences. The translation actually read as We’ll Eat Your Fingers Off. You see, as much as the English slogan rang true with its home country, with all the goodness of Southern fried chicken, the brand didn’t translate well into a global scenario. KFC ended up redoing its slogan to So Good in China. In short, accurate translations and cultural understanding is a non-negotiable in marketing. Don’t develop a marketing strategy around a country-specific idea; there’s a big chance that the idea won’t translate into other cultures, especially if you use slang, idiomatic expressions, or colloquialisms that are particular to a certain culture. Inappropriate colloquialisms or idioms could lead to unintended offense or confusion when translated, so it’s best to stick to country-neutral communications.

Take Fenty Beauty, for Example.

Rhianna is a QUEEN. Not only is she a talented musician, she’s a savvy business person as well. According to the website of Fenty Beauty, “Rihanna was inspired to create Fenty Beauty & Fenty Skin after years of experimenting with the best-of-the-best in beauty—and still seeing a void in the industry for products that performed across all skin types and tones.” The idea of Fenty Beauty is that “people everywhere would be included.” In other words, Fenty is for everyone, regardless of age, lifestyle, sexual orientation, gender, etc. That would explain why Fenty is present in 150+ countries–everywhere from Denmark and Sweden, to the Middle East (remember what we said about gender equality? Fenty’s an example of a brand that appeals to every woman–regardless of lifestyle). Fenty’s slogan, “beauty for all,” translates beautifully into every culture, with respect for its customers across the globe. Cultivate a brand identity that transcends borders, and don’t forget to translate all text on packaging and inserts, so your customers understand your brand identity no matter where on the globe they may live.

External Marketing – the More Affordable, and Extremely Effective, Way to Boost Conversions

…especially if it’s done right. We hope you enjoyed this week’s Ask Jana! Remember, if you’re confused about your external marketing strategies, and if they’ll resonate with your audience across the globe, YLT’s seasoned translators are all native speakers themselves. They can provide you with valuable insights to make sure your external marketing is culturally sensitive, country-neutral, and as effective as possible given cultural nuances. Contact us today and embark on a transformative journey toward global success!

Do you have a question you’d like featured in a future Ask Jana series? Let us know and we’ll try to accommodate you!

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