Most People Want Localization to Go Away
…but we don’t.
At a recent trade show, I was trying to come up with new kinds of content for an industry colleague who wants to attract more attention, but it occurred to me that most (not all) customers today want the same things they wanted from translation vendors in the 16th century: higher quality, lower prices and shorter turnaround. Vendors have always wanted to raise the game by becoming strategic business partners, but that’s like pushing a rope because Most People Want Localization to Go Away.
Maybe every industry faces the same demands, but it’s not very fertile ground for 21st-century social media campaigns, is it?
What are you going to offer that’s different from what your competitors are offering? How are you building the unique relationship with your “following” that successful social media requires? Are you even trying to exploit social media to get deeper customer engagement; something beyond the traditional exchange of translated words for money?
Sure, localization is a necessary evil in many organizations, but how do you engage with:
- your current customers to keep them as interested in you as you are in them?
- prospects, so that they remember you fondly when the time comes to spend localization money?
- your competitors’ customers, and get them to remember you when they’re ready for a switch?
What does it take for them to not want you to go away? For them to be glad to hear from you, to miss you when you’re away?