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Loading ...Okay, I think this is gonna be a really simple blog. It is actually just a question that I am looking for some opinions on.
Can a conversational marketing campaign move across different language groups? How does one create a campaign that does so? And what are the potential limitations or pitfalls in such an effort?
I ask this question because I started thinking about the globe - how many people are online, where are they and what languages do they speak. As is well known the US does not have the highest internet penetration in the world. Countries like (I believe) Finland, Singapore and a few other Asian countries have extremely high internet penetration - yet these countries first languages are not English. Is this a potential problem and how do you get around it?
Filed under: Attention Marketing, Buzz Marketing, Conversation, Conversation Marketing
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Saul, the filter of culture and language (the voice of the given culture) are the hardest to breach. No quick studies and translations software is worthless. There have been hundreds of marketing studies on how successful campaigns from the US fail miserably in Mexico(which culturally is not very far). Example: Chevy Nova one of the best selling models bombed in Mexico until they did study and changed name(No va means doesn’t go in Spanish).
There is no easy way around this problem and must work with individuals that speak the language and are immersed in the culture of the national market you hope to reach. I’ve lived here in Taiwan for 20 years and feel pretty qualified on this topic.
I have a feeling that there might be a unification theory here and that might just Internet culture, which is shared and in many cases can be seen across national and cultural borders.
The development of Linux is all about Helsinki talking to Mexico talking to the US talking to Russia and talking to Germany.
So, that is what we try to appeal to. This shared culture as well as the culture of unique subcultures on the Internet.
So, speaking Nation-State is so drôle, especially when dealing with the Internet which is mostly English-friendly.
There are still many language barriers; however, they are becoming less and less insurmountable.
What do you think about that?
I agree that on many levels national boundaries are “drole”. They hold validity in many regards - but culture is certainly not bounded by imaginary lines drawn in the sand by a bunch of people over the past few hundred years.
I think the internet does offer us a way of getting past these boundaries - this is not to say that nation-state does not matter. I know this only too well being a person from more than one culture and one nation.
The question is still how we surmount some of the real barriers that do exist - and recognize that difference is part of what makes us all so interesting.
However marketing on many levels - especially conversational marketing - has the potential to subvert and disregard some of these cultural boundaries.
Think of traveling and having conversations with multiple people from multiple countries and multiple languages - the majority of the time you get your message across.
Unless we are thinking of different things here, I’d say you guys are very off-base maybe even naive. So are you the typical Americans that expect the whole world to speak English.? Do you repeat the words much louder when teh locals don’t understand you? :)Granted they are wearing Levi’s and Nike’s but that connection is very superficial tenuous at best.
If however, your point is that geeks are geeks in any country/culture that would be a truism and still leaves some holes in your theory. I’m curious how many non-Western countries have you visited?
One other point-cultures and nations are separate but related entities. One from a long tradition the other from geo-political factors.
No, Mark. We’re very — extremely — international. Saul is South African, living in Oakland and I have studied in England, grew up in Hawaii, lived in Helsinki and Utrecht, NL, and traveled the world for a year backpacking. Oh, and I am moving to Berlin in November. Good try, though. And yes, I try to be as naive as possible.
First, Mark, I ain’t American. I grew up in Africa and have lived in this country on and off for many years. I have traveled to many far off lands and explored many cultures. So, I would say that you are “off-base and maybe even naive.”
But, that is neither here nor there. I think it is a conception of culture that we are talking about. One can view culture as a bounded and closed entity, which has clear lines that you cross - from one to the other. This would be a Samuel Huntington argument (read Clash of Civilizations). Which in my opinion, and experience, is not a true rendering of culture or of societies. Yes there is a difference between one cultural entity and another, but the lines separating culture are not clear cut. There are similarities and differences that work in both directions and are continuously reworked.
It is because of this nature that cultures share, expand, contract, interact and rework ideas and concepts that originate in other cultures.
It is because of the fluid nature of culture (and of humans on an individual level) that makes life interesting and interconnected.
Culture and nation are not necessarily related, and a nation and a state are not necessarily related. A nation can exist without being represented by a state and a state can exist without a coherent national identity - or contain several nations. These are big arguments that one can go into and I am not sure this is the arena.
Suffice to say it is about finding ways that we connect across these divisions that are often placed upon us. Realizing that cultures feed and grow off of each other, that they interact and rework and reorganize. Some are more rigid then others, but the fact is that they are not created in isolation and that humans interact and talk - they share ideas and concepts, feelings and art. It is this fluidity, these “gray” areas (for lack of a better word) that are the exciting and interesting places. This is part of our history as humans - this interaction.
Be careful about assuming that everyone in America is just an “American”. It is a dangerous assumption and is a bit simple.
And actually I have visited many non-western countries - India, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Swaziland, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mexico, UAE to name but a few.
Okay, mine is: Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Saipan, Guam, Ponape. I surely lack countries that are “not Western.”
Well…yeah time to head south. Gotta come to SA with Mark and meet up in the winter. Berlin doesn’t sound that fun in January…
True. Will do. I don’t know if this makes any sense, but I wrote this:
When in Rome Do as the Romans Do
“Online conversation needs to flow. It is responsive and organic. When preparing for a conversation, an interview, or a debate, talking points are more flexible than preparing a script.
Engaging in online conversation as a member of an online community requires your language, delivery, humor, and tone to mirror that of the community. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”
Absolutely…:-)
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