In the dynamic world of B2B SaaS marketing, crafting a compelling communication strategy is paramount. It's not just about conveying your message—it's about ensuring it strikes a chord with your target audience. And in today's interconnected global market, that means grasping the distinction between translation and localization, and why the latter is the key to unlocking growth.
To illuminate this crucial topic, we invited Graziella Moschella, a seasoned content marketing, SEO, and localization strategist, to share her insights.
Graziella: A Content and Localization Expert
With over 15 years of experience spanning B2B, B2C, and SaaS environments, Graziella currently serves as the Senior Content Marketing Manager at deskbird, a leading workplace management platform for hybrid companies, where she leads the charge in crafting and localizing impactful messaging and helps the company connect with diverse audiences worldwide.
Translation vs. Localization: Driving Global Growth for B2B SaaS
Graziella clarifies a common misconception: translation and localization are not interchangeable.
This may seem obvious to those working in the industry, but it’s actually something many businesses overlook when they’re under pressure to expand rapidly into new markets. And it’s not the first time one of our guests brings up this topic. If you want to dive deeper into this topic, from another perspective, you can listen to this episode of The Multilingual Content Podcast, where Ashley Herbert Popa, Head of Product Marketing at Sendcloud, shared some useful insights on the best ways to drive the company's product marketing strategies, while taking into consideration factors such as cultural nuances, market variations, and logistical complexities that can affect B2B SaaS international expansion.
Going back to deskbird, Graziella gives us a concrete example of the difference between translation and localization in a real-world context. In her experience, translating "flexible workplace solution" into German ("flexible Arbeitsplatzlösung") is simply not enough. In order to get their value proposition across, deskbird needed to adapt their communication to match how businesses in Germany actually talk about hybrid work—maybe leaning more into compliance and efficiency rather than just flexibility.
Engaging Decision-Makers and Generating Leads
Graziella compares decision-makers to discerning restaurant critics who expect not only a good meal but a top-notch experience tailored to their expectations. She explains, "In B2B SaaS, a CFO in Paris might consider tax efficiency when adopting hybrid work software, while an HR lead in the U.S. might focus more on employee well-being. Localizing means speaking directly to their pain points in a familiar way, which builds trust and conversions". deskbird does this beautifully by adjusting content tone, case studies, and even calls-to-action (CTAs) for each market.
Localization: Navigating Longer Sales Cycles
As Canva’s Michael Levot also pointed out, B2B sales cycles are marathons, not sprints. Graziella takes this analogy to another level: "If you're just translating, you're handing runners a glass of water, which is good for a little while; if you're localizing, you're pacing with them with a full bottle of Gatorade. Better impact, better performance 🙂".
Localization builds trust faster by making prospects feel understood from day one. Graziella shares that one of deskbird’s strategies in this regard is that they don't run 'one-size-fits-all' webinars. Instead, they create market-specific content that allows them to earn their prospects’ trust and confidence faster, thus driving up conversions. This approach highlights how important it is for businesses to come across as trustworthy, as confidence in the brand is a major driver of global growth for B2B SaaS, and localization is one of the key elements to achieve this.
When to Translate, When to Localize
Deciding between translation and localization depends on the content's purpose. Graziella offers a simple rule of thumb: "If it's functional, translate. If it's persuasive, localize." Here are a few examples she provides:
Blog posts about "How to set up a hybrid workspace"? Translation is enough, but with a secondary SEO review.
A campaign convincing German companies why flexible work improves compliance? Full localization is necessary.
CTA? Call-to-actions should always be localized, as "Book a demo" doesn't have the same persuasive weight in every language.
Maintaining Brand Voice Across Cultures
Consistency is crucial when adapting marketing content for different cultures. Graziella recommends creating a brand voice playbook with adaptable guidelines for each market. At deskbird, they did this with the help of their language specialists, creating specific guidelines for each language to ensure the correct terminology and style are used every time.
She brings the example of the Swiss market, which in deskbird’s case responded well to straight-to-the-point communications focussing on efficiency, as opposed to Southern Europe, where storytelling and emotion seemed to resonate better. This tailored approach allows companies to tweak their messages to the specific market, without morphing into a different company. If you want to find out more about this topic, we recommend you check out our conversation with Angeley Mullins, Chief Commercial Officer at Resourcify, where we discussed the delicate balance between a company’s global identity and its local manifestations.
Avoiding Localization Pitfalls
During our conversation, Graziella also highlighted common mistakes B2B SaaS companies should avoid when translating and localizing marketing content:
Ignoring cultural nuances: It’s important to rely on facts and regional language specialists to avoid making mistakes or misunderstandings.
Machine-only translation: AI is valuable, but without human review, the content is likely to sound robotic and therefore underperform.
Not localizing CTAs and value propositions: "Try for free" might work in the U.S., but a more trust-based CTA like "Request a free consultation" will convert better in other countries.
One-size-fits-all messaging: The tone of voice is key. While French buyers often expect formality, Dutch ones appreciate directness - same SaaS, different approach.
Tools and Methods for Scaling Localization
Graziella emphasizes the importance of a clear, defined strategy with KPIs to support localization efforts. She recommends tools such as Lokalise, Weglot, DeepL with human QA, Contentful, Phrase, and HubSpot localized workflows.
In terms of methods, Graziella advises prioritizing high-impact markets first, testing localized content with micro-campaigns, and scaling what performs best. This is a type of approach we know very well at Undertow. We go as far as recommending a “soft launch” strategy, where rather than immediately localizing every aspect of your product into each new market, we help you identify the key elements needed for your customer to have a fully localized experience of the main features of your product, and starting from those to test the waters without a huge upfront investment. It’s what we call a Minimum Viable Experience (MVE).
Measuring Localization Success
Data-driven KPIs are essential for measuring the success of localized marketing campaigns. Graziella suggests tracking:
Conversion rate per market
Lead quality and time-to-close
Bounce rates and session times
CTA performance
NPS and feedback
In general, measuring the direct impact and focusing on customer experience metrics is essential, as understanding the ROI of localization is important for evaluating its effectiveness.
Future Trends in Marketing Localization
Graziella highlights several emerging trends in marketing localization that are vital to consider for B2B SaaS:
AI + human hybrid localization
Geo-personalization at scale
Localized video content
Conversational AI with regional tones
She emphasizes that localization is no longer just a nice-to-have any more, but rather a revenue driver and an engine of global growth for B2B SaaS. To win in new markets, companies must speak their users’ language and adopt the local mindset.
In conclusion, localization is no longer an optional extra—it's a necessity for B2B SaaS companies aiming to thrive in the global marketplace. By understanding the nuances of each market, tailoring messaging accordingly, and leveraging the right tools and strategies, companies can forge meaningful connections with their target audiences and pave the way for international success. As Graziella aptly puts it, "To truly connect with your audience, you need to speak their language and embrace their mindset". At Undertow, we can help you do exactly that, with tailored localized content that can boost your international growth. Get in touch to find out more about how your business can leverage localization to scale globally.
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