Marketing translation is an essential activity for businesses focused on global expansion. For better understanding, marketing translation refers to targeting new customers in several countries using their language to appeal to them and sell the brand. There is a significant distinction between marketing and regular translations from one language to another. In marketing translation, you have to find a way to communicate the brand’s message without off-putting your audience. This requires precision because, as a brand, you cannot control the number of people who will be exposed to your content. This article points out six important details that you must know before starting marketing translation.
1. Marketing translation differs from routine translation: If you hold an international meeting in your company, you can do a document translation for the minutes of that meeting. This translation will be a word-for-word or sentence-for-sentence translation of the original minutes. If you are writing a marketing translation, the format is different. Your aim is not only to repeat everything in the original copy, you also need to communicate the brand’s message and ensure that the translated copy can be used for marketing purposes. Marketing translation has its strategies and if you do not understand these strategies, it would be wrong to try experimenting. You can hire translation services to help you create effective strategies for your marketing translation.
2. Marketing translation cannot be rushed: Marketing translation cannot be rushed like other translation projects. You need to take time to understand every part of the content whether relevant or irrelevant. When you make effort to create multilingual content for marketing purposes, you must retain things like the tagline and headline of the original copy. This is important because many people will first read these parts before deciding whether or not to read the body of the content. Headlines and taglines draw the attention of the target audience so it is expedient that they are not changed during the marketing translation.
The decision to change the content depends on the agreement that exists between your business and the translator. Sometimes, you might need to edit a segment because of cultural differences or certain policies in the region where the content will be published. A clear understanding has to be established between both parties so that the final translation will be immaculate.
3. Idioms don’t work well with marketing translation: When creating a local copy, it is advisable to infuse humor, pun, idioms, and other figures of speech. The problem with using these figures of speech is that they resonate with only a specific audience. If they are used for global content, the intentions may be miscommunication and a different meaning can be read to it. It is possible to infuse puns, metaphors, and idioms in your marketing translation since it helps to communicate the brand’s message with an informal tone. However, you must ensure that you use transcreation, i.e. making it globally acceptable.
To do this, you can give a quick brief or provide a reference before you introduce your figure of speech so that the audience can easily understand. In this case, you might not necessarily use a word-for-word translation for your tagline and headline. However, the same message will be communicated. Transcreation requires a great level of creativity and it is not compulsory. If you find it hard to give precedence, you can as well avoid using any figure of speech in your article.
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4. Cultural translation is a must: The marketing translator must consider the cultural implications of their content. For example, some words or expressions may not be accepted in a different culture because they go against what people believe or against that particular society’s norms/ customs.
It is also important for the translators to have knowledge of local settings, traveling to that particular place could be helpful or meeting people from that certain culture. Sometimes certain pictures might not be appropriate for a targetted culture. Word for word translation should be avoided and cultural implications should always be considered.
5. Marketing translation requires attention to colors: Some tribes associate the color red with strength while others associate it with death. If you use the color as a symbol of strength to one audience and the strategy works, the same intentions will be miscommunicated if used for a different audience. When choosing colors for your marketing campaign in another language, always ensure that you have a good understanding of the culture of your audience to avoid sending the wrong messages. Images are another visual pigment that can send a wrong communication. A professional marketing translator is necessary to avoid any complications in your translation.
6. Keep up your brand’s voice and value in translation: Voice is important for marketers to retain regardless of the market they are in. The voice should be similar no matter what language you translate it into, and even though there may be minor changes from the original content due to both culture-to-culture adaptations as well as ensuring the same meaning across different languages – the translator has ultimate responsibility for choosing appropriate words which will convey same idea/message and display your values in the new translation.
Global expansion is a difficult task that requires an extra push to get customers abroad who will buy your products or your services. Marketing translation can help with this by targeting new markets and appealing to new customers in their languages, ensuring a better understanding of what you are selling and as such making it more likely for them to purchase from you! But similar to other strategies, It is a double-edged sword – very rewarding if done the right way and detrimental if any mistake is done. Marketing translation can be tricky, but it’s important to use the right tone of voice for each audience. Taking into consideration cultural implications, taking your time, and ensuring you transform your voice into the translated content are crucial among other aspects.
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