The most wonderful time of the year is just around the corner. It is a time that friends, families, and businesses alike look forward to especially where shopping, gifting, and spending time together is concerned. For businesses, it’s also time to focus on a localized Christmas offering for international clients!
By now, you have a picture in your mind of how you want the holiday season to be this year, especially as a business owner. And seeing that we now live in an age that is heavily dependent on digital technology, it’s important that as small business owners especially, your products and services are localized when serving an international market.
Christmas is celebrated worldwide but in different ways due to cultural differences and traditions. In this post, we’ll look at how localizing Christmas benefits businesses.
But first, let’s make sure we’re both on the same page and establish what we mean by a localized Christmas.
What do we mean by a localized Christmas?
We know that localization means that you adapt everything that has to do with your business to suit specific cultures or geographical locations. This means that the content on your website and social media and anything that can be found on the internet, to your actual product or service is matched with your specified target audience.
Therefore localizing Christmas for your business can look different depending on the area you’re in as well as the cultural practices and traditions.
With this in mind, we’ll be looking at a few ways in which businesses can benefit from localizing Christmas.
Benefit # 1 – It helps with emotional appeal
When localizing your business there comes the need for translation and localization. But, that’s only one aspect of the localization process. It goes much deeper than that. When consumers, followers, or just your general audience are exposed to your localized content it creates an emotional appeal for them.
Christmas is a celebrated holiday in over 160 countries right across the world. With this in mind, everyone celebrates Christmas differently. In the United States, for instance, Christmas is more commonly referred to as the holiday season and is a time for spending time with the family and of course gift giving.
Curating your content to incorporate messages about Christmas gifts, spending time with family, and spreading holiday cheer by supporting locally owned businesses or doing online shopping will resonate with this type of audience.
Benefit # 2 -The local culture thanks you for it
In Japan, Christmas isn’t celebrated in the ‘traditional’ way that it is in western countries. In fact, it’s not even called Christmas. This time of year for the Japanese is a time to spread happiness and lots of good cheer. The highlight of the season is Christmas Eve and the locals ‘celebrate’ by purchasing and consuming Kentucky Fried Chicken. With this in mind, a company such as KFC, a business straight out of the western world, will localize its content and promotions to suit the cultural practices of the Japanese.
Usually, the campaign is called ‘Kentucky for Christmas’ and with this comes one of the busiest times of the year for KFC. They roll out a fully localized campaign suited for a Japanese audience and in line with Japanese culture.
Of course, this is just one example out of so many others.
Benefit # 3 -Your brand awareness increases
These days, your brand isn’t what you tell people about it. Instead, it’s what people decide that it is, so putting your best foot forward always is extremely important. Localizing your business especially around Christmas time puts you on the map when consumers think about buying local.
Through content, products, and services that are relatable to your local target audience, you’re able to have and keep a better connection with your customers and increase the possibility of attracting new ones. Therefore incorporating the culture into your brand works wonders.
In the Caribbean, for example, they generally celebrate the tradition of Christmas through the lens of Christianity. This means that the birth of Christ is the main focus. This also means that they emphasize aspects of Christmas such as Santa Claus to a lesser extent. However, nativity scenes, Christmas Church services, and family dinners are more popular.
With this in mind, businesses within the Caribbean tailor their Christmas messages, sales pitches, and content marketing to match the culture and traditions of the region’s nativity scene, expressing ‘Season’s Greetings’ and recognizing Christmas Day (Dec 25.) as well Boxing Day (Dec 26.).
Benefit # 4 -It sets up your business for success
Who doesn’t love Christmas time? It’s a season for both children and adults alike. The element of gift-giving is of great importance. This means that shopping villages and local small businesses come alive during the holiday season.
By making a simple gesture such as decorating your store with beautiful lights, a Christmas tree, and the perfect gift ideas sets your business up for success. Many cultures also view Christmas as a time for giving back. Therefore, consumers look forward to great ‘Christmas deals’ and discounts the whole season around.
In a nutshell, Christmas sells, especially when you do it right and take localization into consideration. The local economy and local business owners also benefit greatly.
Wrapping up
Enterprise size doesn’t matter when it comes to localized Christmas offerings. When done right, your business benefits from a localized Christmas. They don’t call it the most wonderful time of the year for no reason. So give your customers the best experience they could ever have by keeping it local.
Of course, at Day Translation we’re here to help get you started on having a localized Christmas for your business. It’s not too late to begin and you’ll reap the benefits in the very near future. Our team of experts are available 24/7. Ready to start the journey? We’re here to lead the way!