Global growth is a go-to-market problem.
Localization plays a critical role in how products are positioned, marketed, and adopted in new regions. But in many companies, it’s treated as an afterthought, leading to missed opportunities and costly rework. Most localization problems are created upstream in product, marketing, and naming decisions, not in translation.
The articles below cover the key decisions and systems GTM teams need to scale globally. If you read one article from this section, be sure to read and share Upstreaming : Treating Localization As A Forethought Instead Of An Afterthought.
Strategy & Market Selection (Where To Expand)
Which Languages Should We Target? – how to choose languages that maximize growth and ROI based on market size, product fit, and expansion strategy.
Spanish As A Prelude To International Expansion – a fast, high-impact way to expand into new markets by supporting Spanish for US and Latin American audiences.
Economics & ROI (What It’s Worth)
Measuring ROI – how to quantify the revenue impact of localization and justify investment in global expansion.
Budgeting For Localization – how to estimate and plan localization budgets based on your product, markets, and growth strategy.
Organization & Ownership
Building Out A Localization Team – who should we hire to staff our localization team? This article describes the typical makeup of a localization team at small and mid-size companies. Whether you plan to hire in-house or outsource this will give you an idea of what to expect.
Where Should Localization Live In The Organization? – one challenge in localization is that it often has no clear owner and is shifted from team to team. This article describes the benefits and tradeoffs of placing localization in different departments within your organization.
Systems & Execution (Get It Done)
Selecting A Translation Management System – one of the more important decisions you’ll need to make is which TMS to use. A TMS, like a CMS for web content, streamlines the management of translation work across user touch points.
Combining AI And Human Translation – one of the most frequently asked questions we get is whether everything can be translated by AI. It’s complicated and the short answer is that AI is good for low visibility, low risk content, but for high visibility, high impact content it is important to have humans in the loop.
Managing Multilingual Feature Releases – if you are a software as a service (SaaS) company, you will need to translate new features and supporting assets as they are rolled out. This article describes some helpful techniques around release management.
Content & Campaigns
Upstreaming : Treating Localization As A Forethought Instead Of An Afterthought – localization is often treated as a downstream task, an afterthought. This article discusses the importance of including localization teams in discussions about new products, features and terminology.
Video Subtitling And Dubbing – many companies rely on video assets for marketing and training material, as well as social media. Dubbing and subtitling these assets in other languages will help you extend your reach in new markets. This requires a different set of tools compared to textual content. Read on to learn more.
If localization is limiting your ability to grow in new markets, we should talk. Reach out to brian@loctechpartners.com or book a consultation..