No matter what industry you operate in, remaining culturally sensitive when expanding to a new country is crucial to your success there.
A lot of people really aren’t sure where to begin when they expand, but one of the most important things is to assess your company’s ability to be culturally sensitive in your target market. Because expanding your business is of great importance to you, you will likely have to put aside some pre-conceived notions or your personal thoughts and feelings in order to expand.
For example, if you are expanding into a country with certain religious, cultural practices and beliefs you need to be mindful of things that may not be appropriate for the locale.
Depicting people in marketing material and on your website need to be done with sensitivity and guided by someone with localization experience to ensure it’s appropriate.
You may need to examine how the people in the images are dressed, what people in the pictures are eating, hand gestures and so on to make sure your business’ marketing campaign is successful for its intended audience.
PARTNER UP WITH BILINGUAL LOCALS
The best way to know how to remain culturally sensitive and aware is by partnering up with trustworthy bilingual locals who can communicate with you about what your target market is looking for. You may be able to find someone who can help through advertisement or through a company that specializes in localization efforts.
You will find that bigger corporations have success in operating this way. When you have expanded, it is always a great option to keep these partnerships alive so that there is someone in your target market who can communicate with your customers or clients during the day, as managing your company in a different time zone could prove to be a bit challenging.
STAY LEGAL ACROSS BORDERS
Different regions will call for different legal requirements to be met. This could include business taxes, employee safety and health guidelines, and operation guidelines. When you move to another country with your business, you need to be sure you are culturally aware of the expectations. For example, some countries may have a certain daytime schedule or holiday schedule your company is not used to (e.g. Friday prayer). Becoming aware of this will help you not only stay on the right side of the law across the world, but will also earn your respect among your clients and international workers.
BREAK DOWN LANGUAGE BARRIERS WITH LOCALIZATION EFFORTS
Localization is the act of taking your information and putting it into a language and cultural context that your target audience can understand. This is perhaps one of the most important aspects of maintaining a cultural awareness.
Most customers will find another business to work with if they can’t understand the information your business is giving them. To be successful in an unfamiliar country, you have to translate your website, business documents, and video and audio promotional materials. Your customers will appreciate your efforts in making your company accessible to them.
Now that you know the best way to stay culturally aware when expanding your business to a new country, you probably are wondering where to begin your localization efforts.
If you’re expanding your business, you need a competent team working together to help you produce information that people can understand in any language. The VEQTA team provides each customer with translators in Malaysia and linguists providing a professional service. It also has a network of translators working in country delivering a vast array of languages to pick from!
Translators look beyond just words and work to translate your information in context and with cultural sensitivity in mind. VEQTA is experienced in providing top-notch localization services.
The company has experience translating a number of things, including website text, graphics, videos, audio, and printed materials among other. For more information on this translation agency visit their website https://veqta.com
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