A company might be proficient at
marketing and advertising their products or services in their own origin
country i.e. if they are located in the West, they will be very adept at
marketing as they are aware of the market scenario and the target audience. But
know this, the same techniques and practices that work in the West will not
work in Asia and cannot be replicated.
Asia represents a growing market as it
contains more than half of the world's population and 1 billion of the 4
billion people living in Asia are Internet users. If you go to list out the
differences between Asian online marketing and the marketing technique used in
the West, you will find that the differences are too many. Some of the
differences may seem tiny and almost irrelevant, but each difference makes a
great impact. There are many questions and concerns you need to address when
you are marketing to Asians online. You
will need a basic understanding of how your target market works. How will they
share information? What social networks does your target market use? The major
difference between the West and Asian regions is obviously that in the West
most of the time writing and communication is in English. This isn’t the case
with the Asian market. So when you are marketing to Asians online you need to
Research and be relevant
When you are expanding to new markets,
you are under the pressure to make yourself locally relevant. This does not
mean that you have to undermine your brand or its identity, you will simply
need to tweak your message to understand your new target market. Tweaking your
message will require lots of research.
Translation translation translation
Getting your translations right when you
are marketing to a new target audience is a very important exercise for your
marketing plan. You need to understand the nuances of language of the region
your target audience is from, including the latest online abbreviations that
change frequently. Do not depend on online translators for something and
complex as web content. Remember it’s much more important for your translations
to be right rather than free!
Get the content right
Before you get the translation right,
you need to have the content in place. Make sure that your content is relevant
and understandable to your new target market. You will also need to take the
current market scenario into consideration when marketing to Asians online.
Like every other business and marketing
strategies that you conduct in your location, marketing to the Asian market
also depends a lot on the amount you want to experiment and spend. Be smart and
persistent with your expansion plan and you will meet success.
