Five Tips for Global Content Marketers in the Life Sciences Industry

welocalize March 30, 2018

Aging populations worldwide, coupled with extended life expectancy, create a sustainable demand for healthcare, medical devices and pharmaceuticals. To reach patients in new and emerging markets, Welocalize Life Sciences shares five ways content marketers can achieve greater success in the localization of branded and digital content.

    1. Create usercentric websites. Incorporating auto-navigational functions on a website will automatically ensure a site’s content is localized for the correct country without a user having to select a language. This contributes to the visitor’s ease of use and seamless access to information available on the website in their language.
    2. Adapt and transcreate. Global, multilingual marketing campaigns are complex. There are many reasons why the process can be challenging. For example, languages vary widely in text length when translated making adaptation of the layout to suit different devices an additional consideration. In addition, translation alone is not always enough to convey the same meaning in another language. Instead, transcreation is involved to adapt the content, images and product to the local market.
    3. Localize logos and symbols. The average consumer is exposed to thousands of forms of brand impressions per day—from billboards to pop-up ads. This highlights the importance of having a logo that stands out from the crowd. If a company name is part of the logo, make sure it will be successful in other markets. A name may need to be altered or translated to resonate and not offend. Here are some examples of global branding blunders committed by some very well-known global companies. According to Doctor Multimedia, medical logos tend to be represented through the colors blue, green, black, grey and white to communicate formality, trust, professionalism and cleanliness. Colors and symbols can have different meanings from region to region. Find out what colors mean across cultures.
    4. Collect data, carefully. Data can be collected for numerous reasons such as helping to place patients in the correct clinical trials. Although successful data collection can prove successful for future marketing needs globally, rules and regulations must be adhered to for the sake of the consumer and business. Research is vital, but so is patient confidentiality, so the collection and storage of data must be secure and follow regulations of the given country. Important: Within the European Union, Directive 95/ 46/ EC states collecting and processing personal data of individuals can only be allowed under certain circumstances. Know each country’s data collection and privacy laws.
    5. Get social. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social and rich media outlets, customers and patients have a multitude of forums to find out about products and services. The rapidly evolving social networking landscape provides an open playing field for consumers to access your materials across global, cultural and linguistic lines. Social media is also increasingly becoming a useful and valuable tool for clinical trial recruitment through engaging with online patient populations. The reality for global marketers is that much of the world is engaged in social media channels. According to a study conducted by The Nielsen Company, the reach and usage of social networking and blog sites in Brazil, Italy, Spain and Japan has surpassed the United States and United Kingdom. However, Countries such as Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and China may be more difficult to reach as many social sharing sites are blocked or restricted. Tip: The Welocalize Global Guide for Content Marketers offers some quick references, fun facts and easy tips to help global marketers begin the journey into driving awareness, expanding reach, and effectively engaging a “local” audience around the world.

For any successful marketing initiative, content must be available in the languages expected by the target audience and should be localized.  The patient or consumer must be able to easily find the information in which they require, in the language in which is needed, and then be able to purchase products or services successfully via a working payment service.

With some careful forethought, active listening and experienced partners to assist you, capturing a global—and local—voice through content marketing is doable, if not a must, to remain competitive.

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