Brief for Successful SEM Localisation

For translators, the essence of SEM localization projects is to understand your company, the product or service you want to market, and the target audience, so that they can deliver the content that will meet your needs, seduce your target groups, and provide or exceed the ROI, that you expect. Do you need a keyword list in German, wish to optimize existing content, are you creating a new website, maybe planning to launch a PPC campaign etc.?

Detailed information about the following points is needed:

1. Existing content

Are you already selling products or services in Germany? Is this your first SEM project for the German market or do you already have SEM copy like a keyword list, SEO-optimized content, previous Google Ads campaigns etc.?

2. Project goal

What do you want to achieve? For which search engine do you need the keywords or do you want to optimize the text? Based on Statista* Google with more than 90 % is the most used search engine in Germany. Followed by Bing (18 %)*, Yahoo (12 %)*, and DuckDuckGo (9 %)*. But if you want to optimize your product description for Amazon, you need to know what German people type into the Amazon search bar, which might be slightly different from the Google searches.

*Source: https://www.statista.com reviewed on the 24th of February 2022.

3. Product or service

Please provide a detailed description of the products or services. This is necessary to understand them very well before starting with the localization of a SEM campaign.

4. Brand identity

Describe your brand identity. How do you define your company’s identity? What makes you different? How do you want to present yourself and your product or service to your German target audience?

5. Brand voice

Do you want to come across as serious, secure, business-like, or do you prefer to be playful, easy-going, inventive, creative, strong, glamorous, attractive, etc.? Will you address the German audience with the formal Sie or the informal du? This is a tricky question – in German marketing, they are in a plain transition from Sie to du, so there is no one-size-fits-all answer to that and the decision highly depends on the company’s tonality and the target groups.

6. Target audience

It is very important to get a clear picture of the audience you want to reach – the wording and the keywords for private customers can be very different from those for corporate customers. It’s all about finding the right words to attract the right audience that will make you earn money.

7. Target market

Why did you choose the German market, and what are your expectations? Please share any market-specific information that might have an impact on SEM. Who is your strongest competition in the German market? If possible, name at least three companies.