Businesses that want to take their product or service Global generally need to make adjustments that help adapt it to different international markets in order for it to be successful. A quick disclaimer, not every idea or brand is meant or is capable of going Global but we like to think that many brands have the opportunity just knocking at their door.
One of the most certain market adaptations you will have to make is that to your own website content’s language and your marketing campaigns. While many of you may be trying to remain cost effective and use free translation services such as http://www.freetranslation.com/ or http://translate.google.com/ we would have to advise you against this for many reasons. First off, the true accuracy of a lot of these tools word for word is not perfect. Although they do quite a good job at translating word for word, your concepts that you need to communicate to your customers are going to get diluted and often times can be mis interpreted. For example saying that your customers would “Die” for your product which in America may mean that they love the product a lot such as iPhones or Mac fans proclaim often, in other cultures they may interpret this with some religious implications such as being a suicide risk or killing your users, quite the opposite of your desired message to be communicated.
Professional service corporations such as SDL ( http://www.sdl.com/en/ ), the firm that actually owns and operates FreeTranslation.com , provide “localization” services and technologies. For example having professionals in a certain country whom are familiar with the culture and the implications of the marketing message you put forth in front of them, will translate your professional documents, marketing messages ( advertisements, brochures, business cards, etc ) in full for the best results. There are many firms which provide these human translation services, often at a cost per word with some volume tier discounts. SDL would be one of the more expensive but most trusted brands ( they have localized major web properties such as Apple’s ) while others are more cost effective but the quality may not be as high; other firms may employ “just anybody” overseas or in the America’s that knows the language to translate which may or may not reflect and facilitate the best cultural connection.
The cost of miss-communication in a foreign market can be devastating to a brand’s future of doing business or cap their market share much lower than it really should be. A true evaluation of the necessary budget to go Global properly is very important and here at the Global Good Network, we connect our partners and clients to the best solutions and third party providers to ensure their marketing messages are correctly delivered to every market, every time.
More Globalization articles to come!
Thank you for reading, I wish you and your Globalization efforts the best success!
– Josh Bois, CEO Global Good Media
Want help Globalizing, Localizing, or Going “Glocal”? Consult the experts who can add some creativity and international insight to your brand’s globalization efforts whether online or in brick and mortar reality.
Global Good Network
GlobalGoodMedia.com – Globalization Consulting, Web Development & International Branding, Social Media & Mobile Strategy, Professional Services, Marketing and Localization Consulting
Follow the Global Good Network’s Co Founders:
Josh Bois: @JoshBois and @MrGlobalization ::::::::::::::::: Rick Jeffries: @RickJeffriesC4C and @MrGlobalGood
Twitter.com/GlobalGoodGroup :: Twitter.com/GlobalGoodMedia