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What Goes into Localization Project Management?

by marshub

Brand localization is becoming a buzzword in the business world. Everyone is talking about it, and it’s significant to reach a wider audience. It is true that localization is really very helpful to create multilingual brands that would help you connect with your audiences on a deeper level. According to research, it is estimated that the brands that seem native are more likely to grab the attention of maximum audiences. Considering this in mind, businesses are investing in localization to beat the competition and acquire the maximum market share in foreign countries.

Localization project management comes with a lot of benefits, but there are also many challenges that you have to deal with. A lot goes into a localization management project that you must know before getting into it. This article provides the list of localization project management best practices that you must follow to enhance the credibility and efficiency of your localization project.

What is Localization Project Management?

Before getting into the best practices of localization project management, you must have a clear idea of what it is about. Localization project management is basically a process of adapting all aspects of your brands; be it translation, development, or design, to the preferences of your target audiences in every region. The main purpose of brand localization is to make your brand look more native, so your foreign audiences can better connect with it. The responsibility of the localization project manager is to maintain a good relationship between teams, including translators, developers, designers, etc. All the localization teams have to work together on a localization project to achieve higher efficiency and quality of content.

You have to follow the guidelines and localization best practices provided in the article. So, you can do your localization effectively and meet the demand of your business.  

Localization Project Management Best Practices

Do Market Research 

The most important thing you must do before starting your project localization is to do proper market research. You must have a clear understanding of the market trends, competition, and customers’ expectations. The purpose of the research is to get a deep understanding of the culture and languages. It would allow you to better adapt your overall brand persona to the interests and needs of locales.

Assemble Qualified Team

Once you have done detailed market research, it’s time to assemble a well-experienced and skilled localization team. Your team should be qualified enough to understand the requirements of your localization project to deliver the best work. It is your choice whether you want to hire full-time in-house employees or work with contractual freelancers. When it comes to translations, you should hire native speakers; they can better understand the cultural intricacies of a region. They would also translate the content considering all cultural sensitivities and social values of the targeted groups. Project managers can conduct detailed job interviews and testing to filter out the best candidates for the localization job.

Use Advanced Tools 

Based on your unique localization needs, you must use advanced tools and technologies accordingly. Paid tools like machine translation systems or professional TMS can help you make your localization tasks super easy and hassle-free. Every translation software has its own unique features. You must choose your tool carefully considering all of your localization requirements. For translation, try not to rely on open-source tools. It can mess with your brand message and affect your brand persona in a foreign marketplace.  

Maintain Good Quality Translations 

The translation is one of the most important aspects of localization, so it is crucial to maintain a good quality translation. For this, you can either hire professional translators or buy paid tools to generate automated translation. The benefits of using translation tools are that it allows you to generate high volumes of content in less time. You are more likely to maintain brand consistency using these tools. In case you are using machine translation tools, you may still need to hire professional translators to review and edit the translation files.

Define Performance Metrics

It is important for the project managers to define their performance metrics for all localization employees. It would help you give your localization team a clear vision of the project requirements. Your employees would also better understand what is expected of them in the project and how they can deliver the best results. Being a project manager, you can discuss with your employees the performance metrics during the hiring process.

Final Words!

For successful localization project management, you have to follow the best practices and guidelines mentioned in this article. From doing the market research to defining performance metrics, everything should be done right to achieve maximum results from brand localization. You can also hire a professional localization company to take care of your everyday localization tasks. It can be a convenient and hassle-free way out, so you can focus on more important business tasks.

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