Written by Maria Xanthopoulou
Are you a business owner wishing to expand your activity in foreign markets? Have you been trying to sell your products abroad for some time already but your efforts did not meet the response you were expecting?
Very often customers who wish to make exports abroad approach us with the request to translate promotional material for them, such as websites, leaflets, ad campaigns etc.
The problem with this is that the request comes usually with a vague description of what they want and only in a partial or fragmented way, which prevents them from achieving meaningful results.
Don’t worry though. After many years supporting businesses in their exporting activities we have detected good practices and we can tell you which is the best way to use translation and interpreting services in order to get real and meaningful profits. Here are some tips:
STUDY YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE AND DEFINE YOUR STRATEGY AND GOALS
When people ask for a translation, most of the times they only have a generalized purpose in mind, namely, to export abroad. However, the translation in this context is a marketing act itself and as such it should be governed by specific goals and strategy. And if you ask the marketing specialist you have in-house, I am sure they will agree that marketing works better, if it is targeted to a specific audience. Therefore, the first thing you need to do is study your niche market and define a specific strategy and goals.
ADAPT YOUR COPY AND RESONATE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
Once you have established and studied the niche market you wish to export to, the next step is to adapt your copy. A common mistake most businesses do is that they use the same version of material, for example the same website content, for every single country they export to. However, a copy that works for Germany may not work for Spain and vice versa. Your content should be nailed down to the specific audience you address each time. Don’t panic though! By this I don’t mean that you need to re-write and reorganize your whole website. You can simply introduce some adjustments and make small-scale modifications in order to address your audience in a more tailored way.
CONSULT YOUR TRANSLATION EXPERT
Translators can do a lot more than simply putting words in another language, as many people think. Most of us have lived and worked for long periods in the places, where the languages we specialize in are spoken. Thus, we have come in touch and studied thoroughly the cultures, the mentalities and the way things are done by locals. A translator specializing in Greek to Spanish for example, has most probably experienced at first hand how people in Spain live and can give you useful insights about your niche, such as what is the most preferred payment method, which are the most popular competitor brands, how people like doing their shopping or spending their free time, which special rules do consumers need to obey or what special rights do they have etc.
INVOLVE TRANSLATORS AND COPYWRITERS IN YOUR STRATEGY PLAN
For all this you need a holistic approach. You are a general surrounded by consultants. You set the plans and strategies and make sure you take feedback from consultants and coordinate them with one another. Your consultants consist of copywriters, translators, sales or legal experts, accountants and others. All these need to share your vision and coordinate with each other to fulfill your goals. A common mistake most businesses do is that they let the teams work independently from one another. This should not happen though. To produce a powerful translation we need to consult with your marketing and sales experts and on the other end, marketing and sales experts can profit from our advice and need to know how we work to nail down their approaches according to the targeted audience. Coordinating and training all the partners involved is your responsibility and you cannot expect miracles unless you do your part.
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Translation Embassy specializes in helping businesses expand worldwide and gain customers abroad by providing consulting and translation/interpreting services to support their strategy and goals.
Services we provide for businesses include among others:
- Marketing translations for any kind of promotional material
- Technical translations for product manuals, patents, technical reports, safety guidelines etc.
- Financial translations for accounting/tax documents, balance sheets, annual reports etc.
- Legal translations for statutes, various agreements, employment contracts, internal regulations etc.
- Official (certified) translations for use in public authorities,
- Liaison interpreting for business trips and negotiations,
- Conference interpreting for promotional events, training seminars and conferences for expert opinions exchange
Get in touch with us now!
