%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1).png?width=1500&name=international%20customers%20concept%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1)%20(1).png)
To ask if your brand is consistently communicating the right message regardless of the content type, the language, and the location, I have to first ask another question: what makes a message consistent and how to make sure it is the right message even when it's multilingual?
If you are interested in everything connected to space and you create a website to reflect your interests, you will make sure all of your content refers to the planets, stars, black holes, galaxies far, far away. Oh, and yes, the Death Star too.
If you start writing about ocean creatures, your audience might be confused. They might get curious, but you risk them losing interest in your website if they really just want to read about new space discoveries.
In business, if you don’t make sure your message is consistent, you risk not only people losing interest in what you have to say. They lose interest in your business, your product and in the end, the one that loses is you.
If a message is consistent, it’s easier to comprehend and as a result to accept it.
Consistent messaging means you communicate a specific theme, tone and voice throughout all of your content. Whether it’s a product manual, website, a landing page or your international marketing content, you make sure the terminology, the tone and the voice remain unchanged. This way your prospects and your existing customers will trust your brand. This is what your brand needs, right?
Related content: Marketing Translation Playbook
To make sure your message is consistent, check your content as it is.
Is it always clear? Does it make sense to people who are not specialists in your industry?
Is the way you describe and introduce your brand and its products always the same? You may add some tweaks to it throughout time, but is the essence still the same? If yes, then you can be sure it’s consistent.
That’s not all, though.
There’s more to your message than just words. Your imagery, logo, your company name, coloring, shapes you incorporate on your website, even your fonts, are all details that make up your brand message.
Related content: A Quick Introduction to SEO Localization
So, you’ve checked your brand content to make sure it’s consistent. And now it’s time to introduce your content to prospects worldwide. Before you scream “I can’t go through it all again!”, I have good news for you: you don’t have to recreate your content or create a new one for the multiple locations you picked to enter. You just need to follow these 4 tips:
If you have the marketing strategy ready, you have your personas ready too, I’m sure.
You will need to make sure your personas reflect the cultural and linguistic aspects. When you do your research, please remember to ask your translation company for advice on that.
Related content: Translation Agency vs. In-house Marketing Team: Who Should Translate Your Content?
Their resources know the industry you represent and the target market’s expectations. They will most definitely be able to help you adjust your personas to the specific market.
You polished your content, making sure every aspect of it is in line with your company’s voice and tone. When you enter international markets, your content’s consistency is what you should bet on to win. The first thing to remember regarding consistency of your multilingual message is the terminology.
Make sure your glossary does not get lost in translation. It has to be consistent and at the same time, it needs to comply with the given market’s unique linguistic and cultural situation.
Related content: 15 Myths About Style Guides and Glossaries for Translation
Your translation professionals know your industry and they know the audience in the target market. If your company has its own glossary, that’s great. You can use it throughout the content in any language and your message will remain intact and trustworthy.
If you don’t have a glossary of terms yet, make sure you discuss this with your translation partner and establish a term base that will be used in any translation projects you will have with them.
Your terminology saves you money. Thanks to your translation agency that uses translation memory, your translated content can be reused as many times as needed and each time it means you saving money, as you know your translation provider will not charge you twice for translating the same term or expression.
Related content: How to Really Save on Translation and Localization
You also save time, because if you want to go global and multiple languages are included in your plan, the translation memory and Computer-Assisted Translation tools (CAT tools) speed up the whole process, cut the costs, guarantee you consistency and make you ready to launch your international expansion according to your schedule.
Related content: Top 10 Translation Tools That You Should Know About
It allows you not only to keep up with your competition but also to get head of them.
Don't forget about the possibility of speeding up your translation process by integrating your system with translation software. Make sure to ask your translation company about that.
When it comes to choosing the translation company for a long-term partnership, it’s important to make sure which questions to ask. It’s not about just the quality any more. It’s about time, money, process flow, communication and human contact between your company and the translation partner.
So, what should you ask about to choose the right translation agency for your business?
Is the translation company production department in tune with my needs?
What do you need, exactly? Are they able to deliver their work that fully satisfies your needs? Remember, we’re talking about your brand’s message being consistent regardless of the type of content, the language, the location and the people it’s addressed to. Does the translation company have the production team that is fully capable to deliver all that?
Is the translation company willing to harmonize their internal processes and corporate culture to get in line with my company requirements?
Marketing translation services providers, just as any other company in the world, have their own processes, tools, set ways and culture. It’s important for your company’s swift international growth to have a translation partner that is able to listen to your needs and requirements and then, if necessary, adjust their processes and culture.
Their focus on your needs should be visible to you straight away. You want to see their work and their focus on your expectations reflected in your rising ROI.
There are so many more questions you should ask to make the right choice.
Once you clarify your goals and needs, check your content as it is, decide on what services you need and which type of content needs translating, you just have to find the right translation partner.
And the minute you do that, you are on the path to consistent communicating the right message to the right prospects in the right language and location.
Recommended articles:
50+ Translation Integrations That You Should Know About
