Did you know that…?

          A survey conducted by Common Sense Advisory among 2,430 Web consumers in eight countries to learn about how language affected their purchasing behaviour shows that more than a half are willing to pay more if you provide them with information in their own languages! The detailed results are as follows:

72.1% spend most or all of their time on websites in their own language

72.4% say they would be more likely to buy a product given information in their own language

56.2% replied that the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than the price.

On the B2B side of things, different surveys from different researchers indicate that buyers already know 50% to 70% of the information before engaging with the sales team. (L. Wizdo, Myth Busting 101: Insights Into The B2B Buyer Journey, Forrester) They are in fact 57% through the purchasing process when you first get a chance to talk to them! (D. Stoutjesdijk, The Challenger™ Sale — How to take control of the sales process, SlideShare).

What does that mean to you? Simple: Customers do their homework and read online. They want to read. You must give them something to read. Something in their own language. And preferably something well written — which in this case means well translated! — because competition is tough these days and buyers are comparing their options. Only strong brands that stand out in a good way (and bad translation weakens your brand, making you stand out in a bad way) can hope for any decent margin. Others have to sell almost at cost and are reduced to subcontracting for more important players.

To succeed in today’s market you need to speak with a powerful voice — a powerful message — and for that you need an expert business translator.

Contact me and get your message across!

What makes marketing translations different from other translations?         

Within translation, marketing translation is a class unto itself. It follows (or cleverly breaks with) different rules than most other translation. Much of the time it would be more proper to speak of transcreation (a separate type of service) than traditionally understood translation.

Traditional translation converts between languages, often in ways that result in some awkwards. Transcreation fluidly recreates the content in a new language to make conversions! Marketing translation falls somewhere in between: it does not create a new text, but it avoids the awkwardness of literal fidelity.

Marketing translation is thus so much more than formally correct translation from one language to another. This (often highly) creative type of translation requires not only a perfect mastery of the source and the target language but also knowledge of the culture of the country whose language the text is being translated into.

For truly great results, it also requires excellent knowledge of the target market and target social group Not without significance is the translator’s writing creativity, which is extremely helpful when puzzling over word choices typical of the (sub-) culture. 

Although marketing translation is a complex and challenging game, not easy at all to play (contrary to what unscrupulous sellers of “cheap and easy” translation may be telling you), but well worth playing. In a survey I conducted more than 1,000 anonymous respondents confirmed that perfect marketing translation can boost product sales by as much as 500%! 

The participants of this study were asked, among others, to select 10 out of 200 products; each product was accompanied by marketing translations — bad, average, or very good translations in an equal proportion among all products; the products were of comparable quality and price among themselves. 93% of the respondents chose the products that had the beest translations.

There can be only one conclusion — a very good marketing translation opens the door to the world.

The knowledge needed to do specialised translation is not less than that of a doctor or lawyer. Specialised marketing translation — or transcreation — also requires creativity. Take no chances. Put your valuable text materials in the trusted hands of an experienced professional who knows her craft. Translation errors and especially the kind of errors that are typically associated with subpar or amateur work can leave a poor impression with your customers, tarnishing your reputation, harming your brand and thwarting your sales. A broken reputation is never mended. Or at least not easily.