Marketing texts have a range of objectives, from publicising a brand or selling a service to encouraging engagement with an audience. If you want to internationalise your business, just a few marketing tactics that really need to be handled skilfully include the translation of social media content, everything related to SEO (tags, URLs, keywords, etc) marketing campaigns, catalogues and posts, as well as descriptions of products and / or services.
Not only does marketing translation involve the translation of text, but it must also deliver the right marketing message, mindful of the cultural preferences of the target audiences. The process considers the proper adaptation of the style and language to fit local culture, which means that the translator must also know about the specific culture of the target region.
With marketing translation services becoming increasingly important in the corporate world it is prudent to know which types of translation will benefit your marketing strategy and brand.
- Website Translation Services & Localisation
- Multilingual SEO
- Multi-media Translation and Transcription
- Social Media Support
- Brochure Translation
- Cultural and Cross-Cultural Consultancy
- Press Release Translation
- Marketing Content Translation and Localisation
Expanding your brand internationally and approaching foreign consumers can be an extremely stressful and a time-consuming process. Without an in-depth knowledge of the target country itself as well as the market, consumer behaviour and competitors within your chosen market, internationalisation could prove to be a costly mistake.
The perfect example being Amazon’s Swedish translation blunder! The retailer launched their much-anticipated expansion into the Nordic e-commerce market. However, the Swedish media quickly pointed out that online shoppers had found numerous spelling mistakes and translation errors on the website, Amazon.se. Some of the worst reported; a greeting card with a giant rooster was translated into words rudely referencing male genitalia. The word “rapeseed” for several products was simply translated as “valdtakt,” which means rape in Swedish. A baking tin was described for use with “faeces.” Amazon’s shares were down 2.7% midway through the first day of their website release.
An effective and accurate marketing translation can only be completed successfully when executed by a native language professional and a native understanding of the target culture and experience within the marketing sector. In some cases, a marketing translation may not be sufficient as certain phrases simply cannot be translated with the same intended meanings. In such cases, we offer transcreation as a solution. This involves recreating the text to suit your marketing plan and the culture of the intended target market.
Communicating marketing messages and materials in other languages is extremely difficult. Marketing messages have one specificity that characterises them and makes them complex; they are created to generate a certain reaction in the mind of the person reading, watching, or listening. They indeed come with a particular style, imagery and campaign created around it, which sometimes makes them hard to be translated accurately, especially knowing that each language is linked to a particular culture.
For this reason, keeping the message universal is not the most appropriate strategy it will not be understandable by everyone and not culturally suitable for every market, which means reaching fewer potential customers and even potentially harming your brand image.
We work closely with award-winning marketing agency Revolution Four to provide multiple skill sets to complement any business to guarantee your message be heard in every language and in the most creative and appropriate way.
Talk to us today to see how we can help your business grow.