Catering to Special Customers

Marketing Internet services to particular communities can boost your bottom line, but to be successful, this kind of campaign must be handled with finesse.

by Kevin Beauchamp [September 14, 1999]

Not long ago, I received an e-mail from an ISP asking my opinion on how they should approach "localizing" their services. Ironically, it is something we've been working on recently. This is a marketing approach that can do more than just add local flavor: It can instill tremendous customer loyalty.

Localizing is when a company molds itself to fit into a specific community of customers. In many cases, this involves translating their website into another language. But to localize effectively, a company must communicate with the targeted community in ways that go beyond just presenting their company website in a particular language.

Localizing can be expensive—which is why many ISP have a difficult time making the effort—but like everything else to do with marketing, it need not be. There may well be an ethnic or socially focused Chamber of Commerce in your area that would be more than willing to help you out in reaching the Chamber's focus community.

Extend your family
You should definitely consider hiring an ethnic consultant or employee capable of reading and writing in the local language and assisting you in designing or collecting content that will appeal to the community you're addressing. This should be someone who can do more than simply speak and read the appropriate language, though: Make sure he or she can really communicate well in this language. A "localized" company brochure or website that looks as if it was written by a five-year-old just learning the language will not be an effective marketing tool.

Furthermore, language is only the beginning. Your consultant or employee should also be steeped in the culture you're attempting to localize to. He or she should be knowledgeable about the community's ethnic or cultural interests and the programs, content, and marketing that should most appeal to community members. You don't want to promote your ISP with a barbecue rib picnic when your target audience is vegetarians. While this example is rather glaring, understanding and reflecting the subtle cultural nuances of specific groups will definitely help your cause.

Include, don't exclude
Keep in mind also that while niche marketing programs—including localizing your company's services—can be effective, they can also backfire. In going the localizing route, you must be careful not to alienate the rest of your potential market. Customers come from all walks of life; maintaining a site that panders to one specific group to the exclusion of all others can keep you from really growing. Mass-media advertising a site at yourcompany.com to everyone in your market is great, but if the site is available exclusively in Spanish, you've wasted those dollars on a majority of English-speaking potential customers.

Furthermore, many social, religious, and ethnic groups have big problems with other social, religious, and ethnic groups. Walking the fine line of balance (avoiding offending anyone) is important if you want to create a service that everyone enjoys using. Try not to limit the customers you can obtain by focusing so strongly on one market that it alienates any or all of the others.

Creating alliances with niche groups can be a very compelling marketing strategy and one that can reduce churn and spread the word about your company quickly. Doing it right means bringing in the right people who can really create the right cultural nuances that attract your target market; but at the same time, do not alienate other potential customers.

—End