20 June 2025
By Roger Kennedy
roger@TheCork.ie
Have you heard about “Can’t Read, Won’t Buy?” This phrase perfectly sums up one of the biggest pitfalls companies face when going global, i.e., localization gaps.
No matter how amazing your product is, if your international customers can’t understand your messaging, they will simply walk away. The numbers back this up. Research shows that 72% of people prefer buying products described in their native language.
It’s clear that poor localization can quietly sabotage your global plans before they even get off the ground. You risk becoming a case study in what not to do if you don’t get it right. It’s totally fixable, however.
Here, we’ll share a few tips to help you stop sabotaging your global growth. Dive in, then!
#1 Don’t Rely Entirely on Machine Translation
Machine translation is fast and cheap. But relying on it entirely can sabotage your brand.
It is excellent for translating high-volume, low-risk, informational text, such as internal company documents, where the primary goal is conveying factual information.
The trouble, however, begins when businesses ask a machine to do a human’s job—specifically, to be creative, persuasive, or culturally savvy. Machines don’t understand context, humor, slang, or emotional nuance. They translate words, not meaning. This can lead to technically correct but culturally disastrous translations.
Amazon’s Swedish website launch is an example. The site famously featured the flag of Argentina instead of Sweden. Worse, the machine-translated product descriptions were often nonsensical or deeply offensive. The launch was widely mocked and created a terrible first impression for the brand.
So, if machine translation is for information, what do you use for persuasion? The answer is transcreation. It doesn’t just translate the words on the page. It recreates the entire message for a new audience. It takes the original intent, style, tone, and emotional impact and finds the best way to express it within a new cultural context.
#2 Keep Legal and Regulatory Factors in Mind
Expanding globally means entering a complex web of international laws that govern data privacy, advertising, consumer protection, and more. Assuming that these rules are similar elsewhere can lead to severe penalties.
Many North American businesses are eyeing Ireland to sidestep U.S. tariffs. Ireland, however, operates under the strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
That means you need a lawful basis for collecting user data, and privacy policies must be transparent and written in plain language. Violations can lead to fines as high as €20 million or 4% of global annual revenue.
To stay on the right side of Irish law, hire local professionals, such as compliance officers and marketers who truly understand the regional landscape.
Don’t navigate local hiring alone; work with a reputable Employer of Record (EOR) service instead. Ireland Employer of Record services help businesses legally employ talent, handle payroll, and manage compliance without needing to set up a physical entity.
Remote, a global HR and payroll platform, explains that an EOR acts as the legal employer for employees in different countries. They protect your business from compliance risks by hiring workers on your behalf.
#3 Be Mindful of Cultural Nuances
Localization doesn’t just mean swapping words. It’s about understanding and respecting culture. Getting this wrong can lead to confusion as well as cause offense and damage your reputation.
Take, for example, color symbolism. In most of the world, Uber’s car icons are a standard black or gray. But in China, they are bright red. This is a deliberate choice. In Chinese culture, red symbolizes luck and good fortune, creating a more positive and culturally resonant user experience.
Symbols also carry deep-seated cultural meanings that can be easily violated by a company that fails to look beyond its own cultural lens.
When Pampers launched in Japan, it struggled. That is because its packaging used the Western image of a stork delivering a baby. The concept is foreign to Japanese parents who associate babies with giant peaches from folklore.
These examples show that you can’t simply export your existing marketing materials and expect them to work. You have to look at every element through the eyes of your new audience, which is why you must do thorough research.
The path to global expansion is filled with potential pitfalls. But they are all avoidable with the right strategy.
You can navigate the complexities with confidence if you follow these tips. Ultimately, you will build a brand that not only crosses borders, but also captures hearts, creating meaningful connections with customers all over the world.