A Comprehensive Approach to Culturalization

实现文化化的综合途径

2020-07-24 06:00 RWS Moravia Insights

本文共950个字,阅读需10分钟

阅读模式 切换至中文

Whether operating on a local or global scale, a personal touch is vital for brand success. Tailoring the various aspects of your brand to the local user is invaluable, and the employment of ‘culturalization’ could mean the difference between success and failure. Yet with all its advantages, the concept of culturalization remains elusive for many organizations. Chui Chui Tan, the Founder and Director of Beyo Global, joined the Globally Speaking Radio podcast to discuss the importance of culturalization and its impact on building a global customer base. What is culturalization? In its simplest form, culturalization is a method used to tailor content for people from different cultural backgrounds and geographies. It goes above and beyond standard localization by gaining and applying a comprehensive understanding of specific demographics so that businesses can design products, services and communications that better satisfy their target customers. In the podcast, Chui Chui explains the importance of making a clear distinction between culturalization and localization, since there is a widespread misconception that the two are synonymous with one another. While localization adapts language and content to local audiences, culturalization goes a few extra miles to understand how best to communicate with them to deliver optimal and culturally appropriate customer experiences. Culturalization in practice At the end of the day, customer loyalty is founded upon trust. Organizations that fail in this area will struggle to engage and grow their customer base. Chui Chui discusses the value of understanding the needs, motivations, behaviours and frustrations of local users to create defined strategies and brand propositions that build stronger connections. Culturalization propels global brands towards gaining this customer trust by finding content in context. This process can be achieved in three general stages as shown below. Each stage increases in complexity while simultaneously improving the customer response. Today’s customers demand a certain level of awareness to develop any type of rapport with brands. With this awareness comes the perception of sensitivity, trust and authenticity, all of which are critical to boosting engagement. It also means customers can be lost in an instant, whether it be from an honest oversight or intentional disinformation. Chui Chui describes how, in 2018, a number of large-scale organizations mistakenly listed Tibet and Taiwan as individual countries. ''This is the kind of geopolitical mistake that a company could very easily make,'' she states. And although the mistake itself can be easily repaired, reinstating customer trust is a much harder fix. As the culturalization process is refined, relationships with customers will naturally grow stronger. Incorporating cultural expectations is the customary next step following the development of trust and authenticity. ''If you get this respect establishment level wrong, it could very easily damage your business, and it's very hard to recover from,'' Chui Chui asserts. An understanding of basic cultural subtleties is a must and can include seemingly small factors such as: Currency – Using the correct currency and symbol for each respective market; Icons – Understanding how the use of icons changes from region to region; and Metrics – Having a grasp on the local units of measurement (for example, metric or imperial). Chui Chui explains that getting these little differences between cultures right delivers a more seamless experience for local customers. In an increasingly competitive business environment with less room for error, this goes a long way in furthering trust and positive brand perception. At this level, businesses can leverage the full power of culturalization to truly separate themselves from the competition. History, context and culture are brought together to develop a unique selling proposition for the target audience. For instance, a company’s product may have five unique marketable features. However, some of those features might be quite useful to audiences in some countries, but not very useful to others. Chui Chui stresses the responsibility of brands to carry out the necessary research, establish the precise preferences of each individual market and adjust marketing communications (and sometimes, even the products) accordingly to better serve local customers. The vast amount of data that is available to businesses today facilitates this process. From website traffic to online forums, a huge library of market research is just a click away, explains Chui Chui. As such, leading companies are now taking considerable steps to attain actionable information. Chui Chui brings up IKEA as an example. She describes how the company sent employees to live in India before penetrating the market. This provided key insight from the inside and helped the retail giant develop a unique perspective on the needs of the local customer base. For instance, ''they know that Indian women are a bit shorter than Europeans and Americans, so they showcased their cabinets and counter tops at a lower height,'' states Chui Chui. ''You are not just making changes to the products that you're selling, but also operations, marketing and business strategy.'' This data was then used to inform all decisions the company made to ensure a successful launch in the country. The most successful brands remain curious Organizations that succeed in culturalization remain curious and constantly strive to understand their target market. “I think it’s good to always be observing something and wonder, what do they think about that? Or why do they do that?” says Chui Chui. This need to understand not just what the customer wants, but also why they want it, is critical to reaching the target market more effectively than your competitors do. Culturalization means that brands are in a better position to boost trust and authenticity, meet cultural expectations and enhance the customer experience.   For more insights from Chui Chui about culturalization, listen to the full episode and subscribe to the Globally Speaking podcast to be notified of upcoming episodes.
对于一个品牌而言,无论其是在本地还是在全球范围内运营,其个性化品质是品牌成功的关键。 根据当地客户的需求对品牌的各个方面做出调整有着极为重要的意义。因此“文化化”做得到不到位可能直接决定品牌推广成不成功。 文化化虽然具有种种优点,但其对于许多企业来说仍然很陌生。《全球视角》的一期栏目中,倍优全球的创始人兼董事崔崔坦讨论了文化化的重要性及其对建立全球客户群的影响。 什么是文化化? 简单来讲,文化化是指为来自不同文化背景和地理环境的人群量身定制内容。 它超越了本地化,要求企业全面了解特定人群的具体情况并加以运用,使企业设计出的产品、提供的服务、以及企业的传播方式能够更好地满足其目标客户的需求。 人们大多都有一种误解,认为文化化等同于本地化。栏目中崔崔坦指出,将二者区分开来具有极其重要的意义。本地化是指根据当地受众的情况修改语言和内容,以便其能适应受众环境。而文化化则更进一步,要求企业明确与受众沟通的最佳方式,从而为客户提供最佳的、契合当地文化的体验。 实践中的文化化 归根结底,顾客忠诚度是建立在信任之上的。与客户无法建立起信任的企业将很难建立起客户群,更不用说扩大。 崔崔坦提到,了解当地客户的需求、动机、行为和不满有着巨大价值。只有了解了这些,企业才能制定出明确的战略、提出合适的品牌主张,从而密切与客户之间的联系。 文化化鼓励全球品牌在具体环境中寻找合适的内容,从而获得客户的信任。 这一过程大体上可分为如下所示的三个阶段。 三个阶段的复杂性递加,但同时也意味着用户反馈越来越强烈。 如今的客户需要一定的意识来构建与品牌的融洽关系。 有了这种意识,人们对品牌的敏感性就会提高,同时也会对品牌越来越信任,渐渐认可品牌的可靠性。所有这些都是获得客户信任的关键。 这也意味着客户可能会在瞬间流失,不管是仅仅由于疏忽还是有意的造谣。 崔崔坦提到,2018年多个大型企业错误地将西藏和台湾列为独立国家。 她说到:“这是个地缘政治错误,所有公司都容易犯。” 虽然错误本身很容易纠正,但恢复客户信任却是个棘手的问题。 随着文化化过程不断加深,企业与客户的关系自然也会变得越来越牢固。与客户建立起了信任、使客户认可了品牌的可靠性之后,企业接下来要做的就是融入文化期望。 “如果把文化上的细节搞错了,那企业会很容易遭受损失,而且很难弥补。”崔崔坦说到。 对文化的微妙之处有基本了解是必须的。下面这些因素看似无伤大雅,实则意义重大: 货币——针对不同的市场,使用正确的货币和符号; 图标-——了解不同地区对图标的不同使用方法; 度量单位——掌握当地的度量单位(例如,公制或英制)。 崔崔坦解释说,正确处理这些文化上的微小差异可以让当地客户拥有更完善的体验。 在这个竞争日益激烈的商业环境中,企业犯错误的机会越来越少。处理好这些问题对增进用户的信任、促进用户对品牌的积极认知大有帮助。 从这个层面来讲,企业可以将文化化的力量发挥到极致,从而使自身从竞争中脱颖而出。 企业需要将当地的历史、背景和文化结合在一起,针对目标受众制定出独特的销售计划。 例如,某公司的产品可能有五个卖点。 然而,其中几个卖点可能十分受某些国家的欢迎,但对另一些国家却不那么有吸引力。崔崔坦强调,品牌有责任进行必要的调研,精确了解不同市场的偏好,并相应地调整市场传播手段(有时甚至是调整产品),以便于更好地服务当地客户。 今天,企业可以获得大量的数据,从而为调研过程提供了便利。 崔崔坦解释到,从各大网站到在线论坛,这些资源就像座庞大的图书馆一样供企业查询,点击一下便可即刻获得。 因此,行业领先的公司目前正采取各种手段获取可操作的信息。 崔崔坦举了宜家(家具零售巨头)的例子。 她说到,该公司在打入印度市场之前先将员工送到了印度居住。 这使公司从印度内部认识了当地客户,从而对当地客户群的需求有了独特理解。 例如,崔崔坦解释到:“他们了解到印度女性比欧美的矮一点,所以他们降低了橱柜和台面的高度。”她还说到:“你要改变的不只是销售的产品,还有运营、营销的方式和商业战略。” 宜家随后用该数据做为每一项决定的参考,确保公司成功进军印度市场。 最成功的品牌时刻保持着好奇心。 在文化化上取得了成功的企业依旧保持着好奇心,并且不断增进对目标市场的了解。 “我认为多去观察一些事物、多问一些为什么大有好处。应该多问问客户怎么看、为什么要这样做。”崔崔坦说到。 这意味着不仅要了解客户想要什么,还要弄清楚他们想要的原因。对这些问题了然于胸就能比竞争对手更快一步。文化化意味着品牌能更好地增进客户的信任以及对品牌可靠性的认可,满足客户的文化期望,提升客户体验。 想要了解更多崔崔坦对文化化的见解,请收听完整播客片段。欢迎订阅《全球视角》,获取最新节目通知。

以上中文文本为机器翻译,存在不同程度偏差和错误,请理解并参考英文原文阅读。

阅读原文