Paula Shannon, Chief Sales Officer, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Lionbridge (http://Lionbridge.com) joins us to discuss localizing the right way, how to avoid the pitfalls and how to minimize the investment without sacrificing return... Read the Transcript

Paula Shannon Chief Sales Officer, SVP & General Manager LionBridge http://LionBridge.com

Paula Shannon manages Lionbridge’s global sales forces and account management teams. As Co-General Manager of the $300 Million Localization Business, she drives new services and sustainable solutions, develops strategic accounts, and ensures the continued delivery of innovation and execution excellence to a broad range of Global 1000 customers. Paula joined Lionbridge in 1999 as Vice President of Internet Alliances and assumed additional responsibilities in 2001.

Localization is king and spreading across industries. In this article we look at where this trend originated, where it is going, how it will impact other industries in the near term and how your business can get the local feel no matter the size. Localization continues to grow today but not just in the food industry.  The retail industry is attempting to make strides in being more local, even when they are a national brand. Christina Bieniek notes that retailers determined that the price advantage of standardization was now gone, companies needed to differentiate themselves to stand out, and consumers’ tastes were vastly different across communities and regions.  This strategy has worked, especially for the food industry. Bruce Temkin, writing for the Experience Matters blog, said that, “...McDonald’s business has grown significantly from introducing products tailored to the specific customer tastes in other parts of the world.” This does not mean that other industries are exempt from initiating localization efforts. David Vazdauskas, President of Victory Branding said, “Localization has certainly not been ignored by other, non-retail players on the internet.” Vazdauskas adds, “Local search is the new killer app.”  Rehan Choudhary, of Suite 101, stated that companies should look at a few avenues if they want to localize. First, gather and segment as much data as you can as new data mining and gathering techniques have made it possible to know a lot about your audience. Be prepared to innovate to capture that ideal local audience. So why isn’t everyone localizing their businesses right now? You have to be prepared to invest the resources necessary to make it worthwhile. Customers are diverse and their needs are even more varied so how willing is the company to undertake efforts that may not see a return for a year or two? Jeremy Morris said it best when he wrote, “...there’s a bigger opportunity for companies...than simply tailoring product mix by region. It’s to redesign their entire customer experience...from the bottom up.” To turn the trend in localization into an advantage for your business, consider the following. Localization is coming to your industry sooner than you think. Localize the entire customer experience from the ground up. Use your web and mobile presence to connect with customers locally. Support localization at the corporate level but defer to local executives. Lastly, localization has high opportunity costs but unlocks significant markets.