Culturalization refers to the process of adapting a product, service, or idea to the cultural norms and values of a specific group or society. This can include changes to the language, design, packaging, marketing, and other elements to make it more appealing and relevant to the target culture. Culturalization is often used in the context of global business and marketing, so companies try to adapt their products and services to different cultural markets in an attempt to expand their business.
Keep reading to learn more about how culturalization unlocks global success for companies.
The types of content that generally need culturalization
Certain types of content can especially benefit from culturalization. Creative content—such as movies, literature, video games, and apps—in particular can benefit from this process. Marketing campaigns are a good example of content that can fall flat without culturalization. Advertisements, brochures, and other marketing materials should be culturally appropriate to ensure that they resonate with the target audience. This can include any written text, audio text, images, or music included in a marketing campaign.
Creative industries are not the only ones that should be mindful of the benefits of culturalization. Culturalization takes geopolitical affairs into account as well. Businesses in any industry can easily find themselves in trouble if they inadvertently cause offense. Even seemingly inoffensive things can be interpreted as controversial political stances. For example, what you call a country or the maps you display can be considered offensive even if they seem innocent at first glance to someone not from the target culture. Not only can a blunder like this upset a new audience you want to make progress in, it can cause you to waste a lot of time and money on an unsuccessful launch.
How culturalization works in practice
Culturalization compares a company’s content goals with the style of content that would appeal to its target market—to later reconcile the two.
This is why it’s so important to hire localization and target market specialists who have experience with culturalization and who are native to the target audience you want to enter. They will not only understand the language needs of the audience but will be able to help your content be as effective as possible by guiding you toward making choices that will truly resonate.
The takeaway
When it comes to culturalization, adopting a proactive approach where the content is appropriate for the target market from the beginning can avoid damaging the reputation of the brand and increase the chance of making a positive first impression. This proactive approach can help your brand save a lot of time and money cleaning up a mess you could have avoided in the first place. You can work with a seasoned localization team to create a strong culturalization strategy that will help your business achieve your goals.
