Want to grow your business further afield? Multilingual content for business could be exactly what you need. Finding a content marketing strategy that really works for your business is definitely something to celebrate. However, if you want to be noticed in all the places you’re not, then you’ll have to do a little more leg work to get there. To ensure you rise above your competitors and target the right people, writing multilingual content is a must.
Multilingual content involves writing for the rest of the world. If you’re a relatively new business for example, you’ll probably be comfortable marketing your products and services in your own country, but not so confident in speaking out to new countries. Reaching out to new customers is what makes a business grow and become successful. But how do you do it if you have no knowledge or experience in writing for other countries and languages?
A professional translation company can help your business get the right content out there – but how can they ensure they’re speaking your customers’ language? Here are some tips you should know if yourself or a translator are writing for a multilingual audience:
Simplicity Is Key
Keeping your content short and sweet when translating can prevent a whole host of problems later down the line. Local language, slang terms or idioms for example may make sense to you, but to someone of another culture or country, it could be confusing, or even offensive in some cases.
To make sure all your content is easy to read in a number of different formats, keep things simple. There may be certain important business documents that need a little extra information, but for general pieces of copy, you should keep your audience in mind, and keep it simple.
Thoroughly Research Your Market
You’ll already know your current target market, but before you start to write any multilingual content, or work alongside a translator, you need to know who your new audience are and what appeals to them. One of the first things you should do is to research your new market and create unique profiles for each. This way, you’ll get a much clearer idea of who is interested in your products and how you can encourage them to use your services over any other.
Working with a professional translator to create some quality multilingual content will help you greatly. They’ll know of any cultural standards in your new market’s language, as well as approach each subject with them in mind, leaving no room for error.
Use Translation Friendly Practices
It’s important to always write with the right audience in mind. A translator specialising in Spanish and Italian, for example, will have a much clearer idea of that particular market than you do. As mentioned in our first point, they’ll be more knowledgeable in unaccepted words or phrases that could hinder your credibility if used. They’ll also know the correct tone of voice to use to attract the most attention.
No matter someone’s language, if they’re in your target market, you want to reach them – you want them to be on the same page and to realise that they need your services. You need them to choose you over a competitor.
Preparation And Communication
Don’t even attempt to reach out to your target audience until you have flawless copy ready to go. No matter if your copy is in the form of multiple web pages or if it’s a physical document, you need to check, double check, and triple check for errors before anything is live for people to see.
Something as little as one mistake can give your customers a good reason to no longer trust you or your brand. Being well prepared before you promote your services to new parts of the world will work in your favour.
Use Social Media To Your Advantage
Social media is an incredibly powerful tool and a great way to target and reach the right people in your audience. Depending on where in the world they are, they may use different social media networks to find new brands or products.
To start with, try big names such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, but also do your research in order to pick up on any more popular platforms in other countries. For example, in Russia, the social platform VKontakte is more popular than Facebook – it’s all about noticing where your audience are spending most of their time and becoming active online in these places.
Multilingual Content Can Really Take You Places
If you want to aim high and bring more success to your business, then you should consider branching out to new places. Working alongside a translator to produce multilingual content can increase your credibility and encourage more people to put their trust in you.
This post was in collaboration with Intrawelt, a translation and interpretation agency. For more information about their services or to get in contact, visit their website: https://intrawelt.com/en.
