At Albion Languages, we specialise in content translation and localisation. Our services can empower you and your business to successfully communicate with potential customers around the globe.
On International Clients’ Day, we would like to reflect on the fundamentals. Those areas that need to be just right to ensure you have a sure and steady flow of customers. We have picked three key areas to focus on.
Understand your target market
It is essential to see clearly who you are targeting. Determine the things you know, for example:
- What would a typical customer be searching for to find you?
- What routes can they follow to find your product/service?
- Why does your product or service fulfil their needs?
If you’re looking to cast a wider net to grow your business internationally, understanding your target market becomes even more crucial. There are so many more things to think about, including language barriers, supply chains and branding.
When expanding internationally, translation is key. Everything needs to be adapted into the native language of the country you are targeting – your website, branding, strapline, flyers all need to be localised. If you don’t localise, a lot of potential customers you reach may not have a clear understanding of what you are selling.
Domino’s Pizza has mastered localisation. With over 17,000 outlets worldwide, the franchise has to ensure its offering can be read and understood in multiple languages. Domino’s have translated their website into multiple languages, such as French, German, Japanese and more. They even go a step further by creating unique content for other regions.
Manage first impressions
The first impression of your business usually won’t be when they actually walk into your store or office. A customer’s first impressions are more likely to come when they check out your website, glance at a social media channel, advert or flyer.
Unfortunately, this first impression online or in print doesn’t allow for human interaction. Your smiling, friendly staff aren’t on show to greet the customer and represent your brand physically. The customer has to be able to understand what they are seeing, and if it is a customer in France that doesn’t speak English, they will struggle to understand what is in front of them. They will often disregard what your company has to say and move on to something easier to understand. A potential opportunity is thus lost due to poor – or non-existent – localisation.
Clear communication
The common element in the two previous points is the need for clear communication. When considering new international marketing opportunities, the importance of language cannot be overlooked. Beyond merely translating content into another language, accuracy and understanding have to be ensured.
Many languages around the world have slang phrases or words that are spelt the same but said differently. Another complexity that can trip you up when localising content is words that mean different things in different languages. In English, the word ”gift” is something you give to someone, but “gift” in German means ”poison”! To complicate things further, the word “gift” also means ”married” in Swedish. Such simple words could send your customer down a completely different path if they have to translate content for themselves or the content is poorly translated in the first place.
How Albion can help you target your market
As language specialists, Albion Languages work with you to ensure your messaging works across linguistic and cultural boundaries. Our dedicated team of localisation specialists work with you to establish your business objectives and decide when and how your content should be localised.
This empowers your business to reach more customers and provide a safe shopping experience. To discover how the localisation and translation experts at Albion Languages can help your brand grow internationally, get in touch with us today.