The Ultimate Guide to Creative Marketing Translation

The Ultimate Guide to Creative Marketing Translation

The Ultimate Guide to Creative Marketing Translation 2500 1669 Accelingo

Having a Thought-Out and Culturally Sensitive Transcreation Strategy is Vital to Your Multilingual Site’s Global Success

You’ve made the decision to take your site into foreign markets, but how do you go about translating your content? You want to make sure your content is relevant to the country-specific audience and takes into account your audience’s culture, avoiding taboo topics and speaking to them in a way that will resonate.

While no two websites are the same due to different languages, cultures, and audience, this guide will walk you through the typical stages of a creative marketing translation project.

Stage 1 – Plan and Preparation

Now that you’ve made the decision to expand into global markets, you need to clearly define your strategy. Before you even start looking for a marketing translation company, you should get prepared for your translation and localization project by asking yourself some key questions.

  1. What are your global business goals?
  2. Do you know what languages, countries, and regions you want to target?
  3. Is your business equipped to handle an expansion into foreign markets?
  4. Do you have registered domains for the countries you are targeting?
  5. Do you have a multilingual SEO strategy in place?

Multilingual translation projects can be complicated, so the clearer you understand your goals and strategy the smoother the project will run.

Stage 2 – Choosing a Marketing Translation Partner

Choosing the right marketing translation partner is vital, as this can make or break your project. You need a company you can trust, that will understand your unique business and audiences, and be able to meet your deadlines while producing high-quality work.

When choosing a partner, make sure you have done thorough research and understand the transcreation services they offer, as well as costs, process, turnaround, and scalability. Before signing any contracts, make sure you have received and checked references from the company.

Learn More: The Global Marketer’s Checklist for Buying Translation Services

Stage 3 – Briefing Your New Marketing Translation Company

When surveyed, around 1/3 of the marketers did not know how much time is needed to carry out translations, so making sure you clearly understand when each stage will be completed will help smooth out the process and ensure deadlines are met.

  1. Set up a meeting with your new partner to outline project objectives
  2. Collect company assets they may need such as images, fonts, etc.
  3. Get a quote and agree what will be achieved for your budget
  4. Prepare a brief to let your partner know the outcomes you are expecting and ensure they know the context and deadlines for campaigns

Stage 4 – Time to Get Started: Translation and Localization

The full brief has been accepted, now it’s time for your project to kick off! If you haven’t already, now is a good time for you to decide who will be on your project team and manage communications and expectations with your transcreation provider.

The marketing translation company you are working with will have a project manager who will be your point of communication throughout the project. They will be the person to answer all questions and create a project plan and schedule at the start of the project.

The project then begins and the creative marketing translation and localization gets underway. The company you hire will have a network of professional translators throughout the world that will be able to localize your content for culture and can also have specialist knowledge within your industry if necessary.

Stage 5 – The Design Stage

Once all the copy has been translated and given your seal of approval, the design stage can begin.

Here are some examples of the design elements transcreation experts take care of in translating and localizing your content.

  1. Imagery: Images by their very nature are open to interpretation by the viewer. An image that might seem innocent to you could be offensive to someone from another culture. Your marketing translation company will help you source appropriate images as well as help you find images with culturally appropriate people where necessary.
  2. Color: In each culture, a color can symbolize something different. A color that may evoke a positive feeling in the Western world may have negative connotations in the culture you are trying to target, so research needs to be done into potential conflicts. For example, in the Middle East the color red represents danger but in East Asia it is a symbol of happiness.
  3. Typeface: Your transcreation partner will make sure the text is presented in the most engaging way possible, using interesting layouts, appropriate spacing, and a typeface that is relevant to the content and helps to reinforce the message you are communicating.

Stage 6 – Analyzing the Results

Your content has been translated, localized, and distributed, but the project is not over yet. An important last step is to measure the results of your campaign to gain insights into what worked, what can be improved, and how you can optimize future content for the new markets you have expanded into.

It’s important to choose the right metrics that align with your campaign and business goals whether that is traffic to your site, social shares, dwell time, downloads, or anything else relevant to your business.

Once you have your metrics, review all the data you have been given and make sure you understand what the information is telling you. These metrics can provide valuable insight and help you understand why your content has worked well in your new markets.

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