Took two US SaaS brands into new languages and markets, from Spanish search to GITEX Dubai

The challenge

Our customers set up phone numbers in dozens of countries, but most of our content was in English. Buyers in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East often had to evaluate us in a second language, and each market came with its own telecom rules, from caller ID restrictions to number documentation.

The goal was to meet buyers in their own language and context, and to build trust in regions where we wanted to grow.

My approach

1. Localized what sells first. Chats, calls and visitor data showed a growing Spanish-speaking audience, so we tested in Spanish first, then applied what worked to French and Portuguese. Spanish (49 pages across 2022–2023, 4 videos and core brochures), French (39 pages and brochures) and Portuguese (6 pages, 3 videos and brochures), working with native-speaking colleagues and translators.
2. Advertised in the buyer's language. Launched a Spanish Google Ads campaign in October 2023: 89 conversions, 67 paid signups and 25 paid accounts by March 2024. In 2025, added geo-targeting, time-of-day bidding and geo-dynamic landing pages.
3. Explained the local rules. Content on UAE telemarketing requirements, Spain's 0400 numbers, France's telemarketing restrictions, in-country caller ID rules and toll-free number eligibility, written to be accurate and practical.
4. Showed up in the region. Ran integrated campaigns for GITEX Dubai 2025 and our Brazil office launch: landing pages, press releases including Arabic PR, media coverage, ads, email, case studies and social.
5. Learned from customers in each region. I interviewed customers like ScienceSoft (GCC) and Japan Ski Experience (Japan and Australia) to understand what they needed local numbers to do. Then I turned their stories into proof for sales and search, and shared what we learned with Sales and Support.
6. Expanded by priority. In 2025, set localization priorities for APAC, Latin America and the GCC across web, ads and video.

Results

• Spanish: organic traffic grew 266% and keywords in Google's top 20 grew 125%. Most traffic came from Spain, Mexico, the US, Costa Rica and Peru.
• French: from no organic traffic to about 71 visits a month and 95 keywords in the top 20, with most traffic from France, Canada, the US and Côte d'Ivoire.
• Portuguese: from no organic traffic to about 97 visits a month and 61 keywords in the top 20, with most traffic from Brazil, Angola, Portugal and the US.
• Spanish ads: 25 new paid accounts in the campaign's first six months.
• GITEX Dubai 2025: improved search visibility for our Middle East solutions content, brought in meeting signups at the event, and fed new leads into follow-up campaigns.
• Brazil office launch: the social media campaign drew our highest engagement in months.

Localization results: Mar 2023–Mar 2024.

Reflection

I’d keep working with native-speaking colleagues rather than relying on translation alone. They know the product, have explained it to customers in their own language, and bring the terms and phrases real buyers use. I’d also keep letting Search Console decide what to localize next: when people search for our services in a language, the core pages they land on should answer in that language.