Language considerations for your online ads/banners

When you are advertising your business locally, you already know which language should be used in all your promotional materials. The exception is if you are targeting a smaller niche community within your local area, but for the most part, it’s an easy decision to make in terms of language. Things get a whole lot trickier, though, when you are marketing a product or service to a wider audience, or even globally, as you need to be sure that the language you use in ads, banners, and other marketing materials is in line with the country where you are selling. Let's take a closer look at language considerations in advertising.

Geo-targetingLet's imagine for a moment that you are putting together an ad campaign aimed directly at Vietnam. It stands to reason that the language you should use in all those ads would be Vietnamese. However, when setting up your ads, you need to go one step further, which is to use an ad server to apply geo-targeting or geographical restrictions. If you have that, you can ensure that your ads display in front of the appropriate audience instead of before people all over the world who have no idea what the ad is about because they do not understand that language.

Site/placement targetingThe same rules apply when deciding which websites will publish your ads and banners. You will want to look for publishers that have an audience predominantly in your favor. For example, if you are going after a Hispanic audience, there is no point blasting out your ads to sites that have very few Spanish-speaking people as visitors. This form of ad targeting helps you reach people that speak the language of your ad campaigns, regardless of where they are in the world.

TranslationA good translation is incredibly important when you are creating ads that are in a language different from the one that you normally speak. While there are free translation apps and tools available online, they are not always particularly great or accurate, especially for slang, jokes and local norms. You may end up translating an English phrase into another language that is awkward, or worse, insulting. It is better to get the help of a marketing expert who speaks the language and understands the local culture to ensure an effective localized ad.

Celebrity endorsementImagine that you come across an online ad that features a product being endorsed by a huge celebrity from Thailand. That person may well be the biggest star in that part of the world but if you have never heard of them, how swayed are you going to be by their endorsement? It’s quite unlikely. Therefore, if you plan on using a celebrity to pimp your products, make sure it is someone who is known in the region that you are targeting your ads.

Landing pageThere is nothing worse than creating the perfect banner ad that pushes all the right buttons for your target audience, only for them to click on an ad and be taken to a landing page that is put together in a totally different language or seemingly unrelated. Consistency is the key here, so be sure that the language used in your landing page is the same as the one used in your ads.

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