What is Image Localization? Why Do You Need It?

When you first start your localization quest, it can appear complex and immense. There are hundreds of websites giving tips, suggestions, strategies, and services to assist you in trying to launch your globalization. However, before trying to seek outside assistance, you must implement the majority of your localization efforts internally within your team or organization.

This means you can begin your journey right away, without the need for extra resources or capital costs. Let’s begin with some visual localization factors.

What Is Image Localization, And How Does It Work?

By customizing your images to the local culture of your target audience, localization in business improves your brand image. This way, you can develop a rapport with potential clients and gain their trust, encouraging them to interact with your firm longer. Ensure that your customers see a consistent brand image so that brand identity is not compromised. Furthermore, they assist in the display of applications that are tailored to your clients’ tastes in multiple locations. You can elicit favorable emotional responses from app users using this approach. Clients will be able to trust your company and buy your products and services as a result of these positive sentiments.

Is It Necessary To Localize Images?

Should you localize your graphics/images as part of your company website localization strategy? Why should you devote additional time and resources to such a time-consuming task? Is the required return on investment going to be reachable? How many of your competitors are doing it as well? Will it be valuable to your target audience? Will it result in a bigger market share? These are some of the issues you’ll need to consider as you prepare to localize your company’s website.

It’s not always easy to respond to these inquiries, no matter how basic they appear. You must find and analyze a variety of different websites, ask the appropriate questions, process the data, and come up with a complete analysis to truly grasp what would work best for your target audience. You need to begin by identifying and evaluating essential success elements for website localization that would assist you in attaining your global goals. Thereafter, you will have to look at website navigation best practices to see how localized websites use navigation features to communicate with their intended audience. It’s critical to evaluate why you’re thinking about localizing your graphics/images. Whatever the reason, keep in mind that website translation strategy is typically driven by marketing/branding objectives. Localizing images and visuals are just one part of a bigger strategy for staying ahead of the competition in the global market.

Importance of Localized Images

People are typically drawn to images, and our digital society is almost entirely based on them. Of course, your interactive graphical technique will be influenced by your own experiences and culture, and the same intuitiveness may not work in other countries.
Your branding is heavily reliant on images and graphics. While mission statements and core principles are vital, the images you choose to represent your firm will always be noticed by customers and clients. Your product or service may have a harder time selling in overseas markets if it has high-quality translation but images that customers can’t relate to.

Image Localization Research Approach

A detailed understanding of the culture for which you are localizing is required for successful image localization. Frameworks like the Iceberg Model can help you stay focused on your cultural understanding and choose better images when it comes to marketing a brand. The type of images to use or avoid will be narrowed down by identifying the attributes that a culture considers relevant. Another great way to choose images is to think about a country’s six-angle cultural dimensions. Based on a culture’s particular viewpoints, these characteristics might help you calculate how effective your image would be.
Collectivist societies, for instance, will respond favorably to images of people bonding together. Different societies, on the other hand, will incline toward images that depict a single individual, as this emphasizes individuality. Based on how the culture perceives itself, these cultural preferences will influence image selection.

Pick Universal Concepts

After research, the next step in localizing images is to create basic rules for your images and graphics. You should generate a list of prerequisites for your products and imagery that can be used as a set of guidelines for future campaigns.
Of course, since localization is the end goal, the images you create should be designed to be efficiently localized. This streamlines the entire localization process by creating a framework from which you can operate.

One important rule is to use common imagery that will be recognized in almost any culture. Mathematical characters, international sports, vacations, and modes of transportation such as yachts, trains, and airplanes are all common images. Before you start localizing your images, this guideline is a great place to start for reaching a consensus between cultures.

Localize Images

Using images of sceneries, cities, festivities, and events from the target culture, depending on the industry, could be a successful technique. People are frequently utilized in images since marketing demands a link between the customer and brand. Another criterion of visual choices is to include images of individuals who are roughly the same age, economic status, or gender to your intended audience since this will assist buyers to identify with the product.

Similarly, cultural views of attractiveness, body language, and fashion evolve, so your portraits of people must match traditional notions. Make sure you acquire local, experienced input throughout the localization step. Obtaining intelligent input from the start might assist your brand in avoiding future marketing catastrophes.

Work Out the Cost

Furthermore, as a pleasant team project, try whiteboarding the life cycle of just one picture in your system (in terms of hours and individuals engaged) to show all the hands that touch it throughout its use. This provides you with a clear picture of internal churn and the expenses of maintaining that image over time.
Increase your procedure by the number of languages you wish to expand into, then multiply that by two because translated versions need at least twice the effort. This offers you a ballpark figure for how much time and money one image will cost.
If you’re feeling ambitious, increase that amount by the entire number of images you use in your support articles, tech support webpages, webinars, and so on.

Seeing the total effort put in for image management could be all the motivation you and your team need to take the next step toward a more focused strategy for global expansion. And when you’re ready, apply this guide to get started right away! The majority of your localization activities must be carried out internally. As a result, you may get started on your content localization journey right away, with no additional resources involved.

Our Bottom Line

The performance of your localized marketing efforts may be made or shattered by visual images. Although selecting relevant pictures is not always easy, it should be a critical feature of your localization process. At Infognana, we believe that the purpose of images on your website is to bring cultures together, not to separate them. See how we can help you localize your image for better marketing performance by using our Image Localization service.