How Localization Can Benefit Your Nonprofit Organization
When operating a nonprofit organization, you want to reach all the members of your target audience. Don’t just reach the audience in your immediate geographic area; find people outside of it that match your requirements. Localizing your content will increase the odds that your website and blog posts will resonate with the members of your target market. Consider these six ways localization can benefit your nonprofit.
1. Translation Is Critical for Your Nonprofit’s Reach
Many nonprofit organizations support people from diverse backgrounds. In many areas, minorities may suffer higher poverty and unemployment rates. So they may need more financial support from local nonprofits. In other areas, ensure you have correctly translated educational content for students using your nonprofit's services.
Inaccurate translations (including AI translations that do not offer an accurate breakdown of what the content says) can create many problems for the members of your target audience. In some cases, those inaccurate translations may mean that your target audience needs help figuring out how to use your services. Even if they realize that your services are available, they may need to learn how to engage with them or how to make the most of them.
What services do you offer to your target community? What can you provide? If you haven't localized your content, chances are you aren't able to convince people to take advantage of them.
2. You Want the People You Support to Feel Comfortable Engaging With Your Content
Localization is especially vital when you're developing content that needs to resonate with the members of your target market and make them feel comfortable as they interact with your nonprofit. Localization focuses on creating content that is relevant to specific needs. It may include:
The way people dress on your website
How people look in images used on your website, including things like skin color or facial features
The way people speak and interact on your website
The type of content you present
When you localize your content to your target market, you ensure it resonates with them. For example, what foods do the people most likely to use your services eat? What does the background look like as they move through their cities? By creating localized content, you help ensure that they feel a sense of connection. That sense of connection may increase the odds that they will feel comfortable using your services. This means you can continue to provide them with the support they need.
3. Localization and Translation Into Multiple Languages Can Help Build Awareness of Your Cause
Finding donors is critical for ensuring that you can continue to help the people that need your services. However, if your content is only produced in one language, you significantly limit the number of donors you can reach with that content.
When you put together fully localized content, on the other hand, you can reach out to a broader range of potential donors. Also, you can increase their sense of connection with your brand. By offering your donors that vital sense of connection, you can encourage them to donate more and invest more heavily in your cause.
Increased translation and localization services can also help spread your reach further. Your nonprofit brand will only reach those demographics if you have localized your content to certain areas. For example, suppose you've translated your content into only English and Spanish, which may not provide what your Ukrainian or Japanese-speaking audience needs to trust in you.
4. Localization Helps Establish Trust in a Nonprofit’s Brand
Trust is vital for both donors and recipients when it comes to many non-profits. Unfortunately, if you're only putting together marketing materials geared toward a solitary group or market, you may find that it's not generating the high level of trust you need. Localization helps each person connect with your nonprofit on a deeper level, letting you establish who you are and why they should trust you.
Think about those moments when you are presented with poorly-translated material that does not meet your needs. That content likely creates a jarring note that disrupts your experience and can even leave you with a poor overall impression of the brand. For example, a poor dub in a movie—one that results in the characters sounding foolish rather than like native speakers—can ruin your enjoyment of otherwise great content.
But localizing your content for each audience ensures a smoother experience and a higher trust in your brand. As a result, donors and your clients will be more likely to trust your nonprofit organization and what it offers.
5. Increase the Odds of Purchases From Your Nonprofit Organization Through Localization
Many nonprofits sell items or services as part of their daily actions. You might sell goods or services at a discount to the market you're trying to help. On the other hand, you might sell items to customers who need them and then use the profits to provide services to your target market.
The problem is this: if customers cannot tell what you're selling, they probably won't buy your products!
If they can't read the information on your website or in your brochures, they can't check vital information about the items to determine whether they want to buy them. From clothing sizes to the dimensions of an item, there is a lot of information that people need to check before they make a purchase. If it needs to be presented in their language and standard measurements, they will ultimately decide not to buy.
6. Get Access to More Volunteers
Many nonprofit organizations rely heavily on volunteers to help them get their job done and serve their target communities. Unfortunately, if you aren't localizing your content to the right market, you're missing out on plenty of people who would love to volunteer within that community.
You can translate materials into their preferred language and focus on the values that matter most to the members of that audience. Your localization efforts also help show what you're doing in specific local communities rather than worldwide. This can help volunteers feel more committed.
Localization Is a Top Priority for Global Nonprofit Organizations
Whether you have a global nonprofit or a nonprofit that serves a demographic that uses a language other than the one you speak, localization is vital. After all, you don’t just want to reach the people you serve; you also want to ensure you can reach out to potential donors and volunteers to keep your nonprofit organization operating smoothly.
With the right localization services, you can:
Improve your offerings
Deepen your connection to donors and recipients alike
Discover higher levels of success for your nonprofit organization
Contact us today to learn how we can help you achieve those vital localization goals.