A few years ago, targeting a local audience was highly effective in online marketing. It has made it easier for online brands to rank in search engines, relate to their target audience, provide consistent customer support, geo-target their content, and deliver products or services. But in business, change is an inevitable element that kept companies on their toes.
Aside from the ones mentioned above, another advantage of focusing on a local audience is the competition. By further defining their target audience, online marketers were able to narrow down the competition and gain a comfortable market share. This was enough to enable growth and sustainability for a lot of online businesses.
But as more brands enter the market, established brands begin extending their marketing reach to stay ahead of the competition. And as markets grew more saturated, so did the need for global advertising, which is one of the significant marketing trends to look out for in 2016. Who knows, big firms in the UK, Asia, or Australia could be competing for your local audience in NYC this time next year.
Competing for a Global Audience
Effective global advertising takes a lot more than just enabling traffic to your website from different countries. True, your website might already be accessible to users in France, Germany, or China, but this means nothing without one key component to make global advertising work.
Think about this — what do extremely successful companies like McDonald’s, Nike, Apple, and Google have in common?
They are all globally-recognized brands. And more importantly, they cater to their foreign audiences with their own native languages.
You may not be looking to top the globally-recognized brands mentioned above. But it’s not about being the best – it’s about surviving the competition that never stops getting tougher:
The Need for Global Advertising is REAL
It’s true that there are plenty of startups — particularly those who offer digital services — set up shop with global in mind. Even so, most of them still overlook the importance of supporting site-wide translations to communicate with the international audience. This is probably due to the widespread misconception that English is the primary language of the internet. Sure, it might be the most-used language, but calling it the primary language is a stretch. Keep in mind that only 32.8% of internet users are English-speakers. Furthermore, more than half of all Google searches are made with another language.
If you have never considered using translated content or offering translation in your site before, then this means you could be missing out on more than half of the online population. This will definitely limit your own company’s growth and income potential. And as more online marketers realize this mistake, the demand of website translation services continues to increase.
Also remember that about 72% of internet users prefer to browse using their own native language. Roughly the same amount of people also prefers shopping in a translated online store. Furthermore, 42% of online shoppers think twice about buying a product or service without translated information.
The link between translation and conversion isn’t really hard to understand. It can actually be summed up in two words: user experience.
Being able to access a website that’s translated to your native language immediately builds trust and authority, especially if you get every translation perfectly. It shows that a company has the initiative to employ certain measures that improve user experience. And regardless of language, consumers are all over companies who will put them first.
Furthermore, proper translation will improve the communication between you and your target audience. This is essential for many aspects of your marketing strategy, like promoting a new product, educating your audience about your brand, and nurturing them as your leads. Of course, all these will have a beneficial effect on your conversion rate.
So if your online storefront is receiving consistent traffic from a particular non-English speaking country, then you should absolutely implement translation to make the most out of it.
Translation is the Next Step for GROWTH
You may be fine with the results your business has been getting so far. But then again, remember that your market could be getting smaller as more competitors enter the industry. Besides, what’s the point of running a business if you’re not constantly pushing towards growth and progress?
If your business has already gained ground with your current setup, then expanding your reach by offering website translation and launching a global advertising campaign are the most cost-effective means of growth.
For example, Neil Patel of Quick Sprout (also co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, and KISSmetrics) reported a traffic increase of 47% within three weeks after translating his blog into another language. This is because translating your site is one of the best things you can do to boost its global visibility.
In addition to appealing more to the foreign audience, translating your website will also optimize it for global search engines. Believe it or not, Google, Bing, and Yahoo are not the most-used search engines in countries like France and Japan – at least, not the English versions of these search engines. And if you want your site to be indexed into these foreign search engines, such as Google.fr or Yahoo.jp, then your website should contain quality content that’s written with the appropriate foreign language.
If you want to extend your marketing reach to a non-English speaking country, be sure to incorporate a little bit of their culture in your content. This should include your website’s images, theme, text articles, email content, and so on. This should speed up the development of trust between your brand’s identity and your foreign audience. However, you will need a bigger budget if you want to offer content that’s culturally relevant.
Translating must be Done CORRECTLY
Despite being a marketing necessity and a door to further company growth, remember that language translations can be a double-edged sword, especially if you’re unsure of what translation service or method to use. Remember that mistranslation is one of the worst communication blunders that can ruin your brand’s image.
Here is an infographic at 24 Hour Translation Service that shows how mistranslation as well as other miscommunication can jeopardize your business both externally and internally:
Never forget that your brand’s image is at stake every time you communicate with your audience. When it comes to global advertising, remember that a single mistranslated word can ruin your credibility. Furthermore, mistranslations will force you to waste money just so you could correct translation mistakes. It is an unnecessary investment that could’ve been used for improving other areas of your business.
With all these being said, it is a good idea to test translation services before fully committing to them for a long-term project. Fortunately, it was only a matter of time before the best translation services were brought to light. Some of the best and fast translation services include One Hour Translation, Text King, and Prisna.net. If you want a professional translator who can personally handle your projects, you can look for one from freelancing websites such as UpWork.
Finally, remember that translating your website content into the appropriate language is a great way to form a genuine connection with your international audience. Although it is an on-going trend, there is still a good chance that your competitors haven’t implemented content translations yet. You can use this to your advantage by being the first to establish your brand in a foreign market segment.
Images “ Translate Button on Old Typewriter. Grunge Background for Your Publications./ Shutterstock.com“
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