Mastering Brand Templates for Local Scaling

When marketers are racing to keep up with the speed of culture, it can be challenging to find the additional time needed to create localized campaigns. Almost half (44%) of marketers need weeks or months to accelerate global launches which often leads to campaign delays. Marketers can speed up this process by automating production instead of relying on manual methods. 

So what exactly makes traditional production workflows inefficient? 

Revising creative and producing individual pieces of content one-by-one requires time that creative teams don’t have. It’s too slow and cumbersome. Most marketers (86%) say their creative teams need more time to devote to the creative process. If designers are already running short on time for creative ideation, how can they keep up with production for growing content needs? Instead, marketing teams can introduce automation to speed up the process and localize content faster than ever. 

Before we go into template-based localized production, here are some things to consider in your organization. When introducing automation, you should take the following into account if you want to set your team up for success:

• Project management roles redefined: When marketing teams rely on project managers (PMs) to guide them through the production process from initial briefing to final release, the introduction of automation adds a new layer of management. Automation eases the production process through template creation and asset management, which adds an exciting level of support for PMs. Once they become familiar with the platform, they can manage workflows easier and guide the whole team.  
• Prepare for faster review cycles:  Automation can cut the creative production cycle in half. This unlocked speed means that all stakeholders must be ready to review quicker than before. Celtra’s automation software is cloud-based so you can review and leave feedback in real-time. 
• New capabilities for marketers: Gone are the days of asking designers to make a copy tweak here and there. With Creative Automation, marketers can make edits on the fly without having to restart the production process.

Now that you’re ready to introduce automation software to your team, let’s talk about localized templates and what you should consider. 

Why does localization matter? 

No matter how much time and effort you put into your campaigns, if you’re only speaking to one market, you’re missing out. Whether your brand is expanding internationally or growing into regional markets, shoppers want brand content to resonate with them. In a recent Celtra study, we found that more than half (56%) of consumers find creative assets from brands not to be relevant to their likes and interests. Marketers can use localization as a tool to solve this challenge and create content that matters to shoppers. 

What you need to know about transcreation

We often mistake localization for translation. When translating, we simply move text from one language to another. As marketers, we know that this is easier said than done. We’ve all seen our fair share of translation fails, which is why it’s crucial to work with native speakers or localization specials to help localize your messaging. 

Localization means keeping the brand messaging intact while staying relevant to the specific market. Marketers can take localization one step further and dive into transcreation, which is the process of adapting content into a new language while maintaining the same style, tone, and emotion. Transcreation not only focuses on copy but on images as well. That means brands can build their look and feel to be inclusive and find assets that will resonate across different markets. Working with native-speaking subject matter specialists or local experts can help with transcreation. From there, you can build up a robust asset library for brand templates. 

Font challenges and how to solve them 

Not all fonts are created equally. Many fonts are incompatible with languages that use character-based writing systems or special diacritical marks. When building brand templates, it’s crucial that designers do their homework on font styles. To maintain brand consistency, brands can look into multilingual fonts or carefully select alternatives that flow with the brand look and feel. Here’s a roundup of some of the best multilingual fonts to help you get started. 

Creative Automation: the solution for localized template production  

If you’re ready to start building brand templates for local scaling, then it’s time to look at automation solutions like Celtra. Our Creative Automation software makes it easy to design on-brand templates for every market. By separating content from design in feeds, teams can edit headlines and swap out assets for culturally-relevant content in just a few clicks. The feed works as a central content repository, which makes it easy to tag and organize headlines, descriptions, translations, CTAs, and more all in one place. Product assets can be managed from the feed too, so any team member can update creative without ever having to open a design file. Maintain cohesive brand identity across all formats and channels to create content that resonates. With our custom font uploading tool, you can seamlessly use your favorite multilingual fonts in every template. 

To learn if Creative Automation is right for you, check out this video or send us a note!