What Is a “Cultural Audit” and How Can It Help Your Company?

By Sarah-Claire Jordan

We are now in an age of extreme globalization, and we can’t do anything to stop it. This means that, in order for companies to be able to compete with every other similar company in the world, they need to look towards specialists in each target country in order to get a better idea of how to market towards them. This may seem quite simple, like something that can be solved with a call to a translation company and a bit of extra time and money. However, there is more to it than just cracking the linguistic code of a target market.

“Transcreation” is a new term that takes translation and turns the dial up all the way. Transcreation specialists are not only expert translators, but are either from the target culture or extremely well-versed in it. This means they know about customs, preferences, taboos, and much more about a particular culture that can then be taken into account when creating a marketing campaign geared towards Japan, for example.

One step that companies should take before consulting with anyone else is to think about doing a “cultural audit”. What it means is to have a specialist come in a take a look at the content and marketing campaign that you have been using already in your own country and see how much of it needs to be changed. The “cultural” aspect implies the need for a good understanding of how culture can affect and even dictate marketing techniques, while the “audit” part simply means that there will be an assessment of content and more to see what can still be used and what should be changed or added.

The ideal candidate to carry out a cultural audit is a linguist who is an expert in both the source language/culture and the target language/culture, as well as having extensive knowledge of the industry the product pertains to. A knowledge of consumer behavior in the target culture is a huge plus. Once you find this person, they should be able to tell you exactly what you need to do, and what you won’t need to do, to make your marketing campaign successful in the target country and language. After that, it will be up to the company to take the appropriate measures and prepare for the campaign launch.

What are some things that you will notice after carrying out a cultural audit? The benefits are numerous, but one of the most obvious things you will see is whether or not you were heading in the right direction. If your company had already started translating content, a cultural audit will give you indispensable feedback as to whether or not your translators are doing a good job. You will also save time and money, as you will see if your content needs to be translated or if it needs a cultural makeover as well. The most important thing you will get out of a cultural audit is the certainty that your campaign or content will not be a flop or embarrassment in the target culture.

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Tags: marketing

Category: Business Translation