Improving Revenue Streams Through Multilingual Marketing

The global marketing industry is absolutely huge. Spending on advertising alone in 2019 totaled US$563.02 billion globally, according to Statista. Within that global marketplace, translation services play a fundamental role in enabling marketing teams to connect with international customers – and in allowing their companies to reap the rewards of those interactions.

How is translation done?

When it comes to marketing material translation, there is huge potential for the translated materials to connect a wider and diverse multilingual customer base (both domestically and abroad) with the company in question.

Such translation is done by skilled professionals with knowledge not just of languages but also of marketing. This means they have insights into both what the company is trying to achieve and how their customers are likely to engage. This knowledge is a powerful tool in helping companies to improve their revenue streams through multilingual marketing.

What is the difference between translation and localization?

Translation and localization go hand in hand. Both are necessary for successful multilingual marketing. What are localization services? They are services that adapt marketing materials (and other documents and products) for specific audiences. The difference between translation and localization is that translation converts the language of a document, while localization converts its intent, ensuring that the target audience’s response will be the same as that of the original audience. A good multilingual marketing strategy must, therefore, incorporate both.

Say, for example, you need to translate Spanish to English as part of your marketing strategy. Your Spanish translator will need to convert all relevant copy from Spanish into English. However, their marketing translation doesn’t end there. They will also need to provide localization services to adapt the document(s) to meet the specific cultural needs of the target English audience in question.

Multilingual marketing comes in numerous forms and a decent translation company will be able to help with all of them. Localization and translation services to include in a multilingual marketing strategy include website translation, multilingual content marketing, multilingual email marketing, properly translated closed captions for video content and more.

The localization process is key to all of these different approaches, as is using the best translation services that your budget allows (forget machine translation – the quality is lower than with human translation and won’t contribute so much to your revenue streams as a result). It is through localization that you will be able to best connect with potential customers. The content they will read/watch/listen to will sound as feel as though it was written with them in mind, not adapted from a marketing campaign aimed at someone else. This is the heart of the localization definition and it can make a huge difference when it comes to engagement rates.

What is the best online translation service?

There are several contenders out there for the best online translation service. Look for a company that has glowing reviews, a good Trustpilot score and that has been operating for years.

You also need to look for language translation services that will meet your needs – both now and in the future. That means companies that offer a wide range of language pairings, as well as marketing expertise. According to W3Techs data from 25 February 2020, 58.6% of websites use English for their content, 8.1% use Russian, 4.3% use Spanish, 3.3% use German and 3.0% use French.

However, internet usage by language paints a different picture. Internet World Stats reports that English speakers account for just 25.2% of all internet users. They’re followed by Chinese speakers (19.3%), Spanish speakers (7.9%), Arabic speakers (5.2%), then Portuguese speakers (3.9%).

Considering internet users in terms of growth rate presents yet another focus, with Arabic proving the fastest-growing language for internet users between 2000 and 2019, at a rate of 8,917.3%. That was followed by Russian, at 3,434.0%, and Indonesian/Malaysian, at 2,861.4%.

How you focus your translation need will result from your strategy in terms of which languages will allow your company to capitalize on your multilingual marketing strategies fastest. Just be sure to think about your future language needs as well as the markets you’re looking to tackle right now.

Finally, ensure your chosen translation agency offers more than just document translation services. They might be all you require right now but look out for a company that provides multilingual content writing, desktop publishing services, and other marketing-related functions as well. That way, as you need flex, so can their service.

Translation and revenue

The right language translator can do much to improve your revenue streams. That’s why so many companies are turning to translation to help them succeed. Indeed, the Common Sense Advisory reports that the global outsourced language services and technology market will grow to a value of US$56.18 billion by 2021, up from $46.52 billion in 2018.

If your business is looking to develop a multilingual marketing strategy, be sure to do so in consultation with experienced professionals. The sheer size of the global marketplace makes marketing to it a complex process. You’ll need sound research and good execution in order to succeed.

Specifically, seek out translation and localization services from a professional translation agency that can deliver marketing translation expertise, alongside native translators and localization consultants.

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William Woodall

Hi, My name is William Woodall, and I am a person who is determined to make the world a better place. I like to be around people and enjoy adventure and challenges.
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