Do You Need to Translate Your Marketing Content?

If your business is trying to expand its reach globally, you might have thought about translating your marketing content. But is it necessary or are you taking on an added cost that won’t pay for itself? This article will answer whether you need to translate your marketing content.

Businesses Going Global

The global economy is bouncing back from the pandemic. The global economy is set to grow at 4.4% in 2022. That means more and more companies will start to expand their operations globally. When it comes to the SaaS industry, they will need the services of the SaaS marketing agency Zenpost for writing everything more professionally.

Now, the question is should you take your business global? Here are several reasons why you should:

Bigger Revenue Potential

When you start marketing to other countries you also increase your revenue potential. It’s not a guarantee, but with a bigger market, it is possible to get more sales. Globalizing could be the opportunity that you have been waiting for.

Get the Chance to Attract Foreign Investments

When you start to operate in a new market, you will also have an opportunity to get foreign investors. That can sustain your expansion in the international market.

Diversification

If you’re selling your services or products in one market only, what happens when there is a problem in that market? Your business can be ruined. When you go global, you can diversify your market and you will be cushioned from problems in various markets.

The Need for Help from a Translation Agency in Translating Marketing

When you are expanding to new countries and new markets, you will be faced with a crucial question. Should you translate your marketing content?

The answer is yes. You should really translate your marketing content when you go global. It will help you in maintaining the message of your brand and your business.

When you work with an established translation agency, they can maintain your original message. Of course, you have to be careful when looking for translation agencies because not all can keep your message intact when translating your content. Marketing content should be done by a language specialist like a translation agency. These translation agencies with extensive experience in marketing can connect your company to the right language for the right audiences.

Another reason why you need to have your marketing content translated is that it can save you money. Even if you hire a translation services agency that’s still cheaper than creating a whole new set of marketing materials from scratch. It’s also going to be faster if you do it that way.

Things to Remember When Translating Marketing Content

Around 8% of companies that market to a global audience do not translate their content at all. Don’t be part of that statistic.

Translating your marketing content should be a part of your expansion plan. Will you get help from a translation agency to translate your marketing content? If so, it’s still helpful to know a few things about translating marketing content.

Idioms Are Culturally Dependent

Idioms are expressions that are peculiar to a language and the culture to which that language belongs. The meaning of an idiom can’t be figured out from the meaning of the words making it up, which means it can be lost to someone who speaks the language but is unfamiliar with the culture that uses it.

The expression, “Break a leg” for example means “good luck” but for someone unfamiliar with its use, it could mean wishing ill on another person. That’s not the sort of message you want to get out there for your business.

When you’re translating idioms in your marketing content, make sure you adapt to the local culture. A good translation agency can localize your content. Better yet, just avoid using idioms in your original marketing content in the first palace.

Slogans Are Difficult to Translate

Slogans, like idioms, are also hard to translate. There are plenty of hilarious examples of slogan translation fails. While some might find that funny, it’s not the case when your business is the one that made the mistake.

A good example of a slogan translation failure is when KFC tried to translate their “finger-lickin’ good” slogan into Chinese. They actually came up with “eat your fingers off” which is hardly the kind of message that a fast-food company wants to send out to its customers.

Brand Names Are Tricky

Another component of marketing that can cause problems when translated is the brand, product, or company name. In most cases, there’s really no need to translate the brand or product name and in some cases where it was done, it absolutely failed.

Take the case when Coca-Cola was translated into Chinese. They ended up with “Bite the wax tadpole” in Mandarin.

Here’s another tip when you are looking into entering a new market. Research what your company, product, and brand name mean in the local language.

Spaces Between Words Should Be Considered

Spacings between words and line breaks are also crucial when it comes to translation.

When translating, it’s rare that one word will always have a one-to-one match in another language. An expression that has seven words in English might take 10 or even more when translated into another language or the opposite can be true.

That’s not a problem when you have unlimited space like in a book but when you’re working on marketing content that has limited spaces, it’s a different thing. This is why line breaks and spaces between words are crucial when translating marketing content. Good translation agencies know how to handle spacings.

Use Universal Symbols

If you want to make your marketing effective beyond translation then you should incorporate universal symbols into your content. For example, the heart symbol is universally accepted as something that stands for love and caring. The tree stands for the environment and nature.

Visual content such as infographics is quite powerful. In fact, 38% of marketers are planning to use it for the first time in 2022. Using universal symbols in your marketing can make it easier to translate them.

These are just some of the things that you have to consider when translating your marketing content. To be sure of the quality of the translation of your marketing content is top of the line, you should get the services of a translation agency.