2. The Top Economies Driving Global Sales and Influence
• BRIC - the big top four of global market development, where young populations are the force
behind driven economies
• Brazil
• Russia
• India
• China
• CIVET - the honorable mention list, and the next five economies and countries to consider for
global expansion, depending upon where your business target markets would be optimal and
best served.
• Colombia
• Indonesia
• Vietnam
• Egypt
• Turkey
Research Your International Markets
• It's important to research which regional target markets are optimal for your particular
business products or services. While the previously mentioned economies are the destinations
for heavy foreign investment flow and general business expansion, there will be regions much
more primed for your particular business outreach.
• Research things such as demographics, current trends for beginners. However, once you start
localizing your marketing efforts, this research will need to be much more in depth.
• Localization: Research
• The reason localization is necessary is because selling a service or product to a different
culture entails more than language translation. It also requires cultural translation.
Even the very name of a product can be potentially embarrassing or offensive when
seen through another culture's perspective.
• You don't want to be another translation blunder - do your homework on whatever
regions you want to sell to.
• Examples:
• Astana, Kazahkstan is a lesser known prime destination for real estate investment, due
to its new city capital expansion in modern architecture, and in commercial and
residential structures.
• Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, and therefore attractive to many energy &
resources companies. However, there are several drawbacks to doing business here, so
research is necessary.
• Businesses and product lines aimed at older markets may be interested to know that
Japan has the highest population of those 65 and older, and also the highest life
expectancy in the world of 86. Other noteworthy countries with around 20% of the
3. population being 65 and older are Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Germany and Greece.
• These are the kinds of demographics that are good to know before investing in global
localization efforts
Why is Website Translation Necessary?
• While English is spoken by many web users, repeated research and studies have shown that
somewhere between 50-60% of non-native English speakers place higher value upon
information being offered in their native language than a low price.
• Between 30-40% of non-English speaking internet users will not buy from a website at all,
unless information is offered in their native language.
• English is the language of less than 30% of all internet users.
What Types of Business Activities Should You Translate or Localize?
• eBay Auctions
• Multi-lingual translation of auction information opens up market exponentially, and
• Greatly increases chances of better bids and higher final sales
• Email Marketing Campaigns
• It is widely known that email marketing is an inexpensive marketing method -
Multilingual email translation is even less expensive. Each additional foreign target
audience or email list requires only one email translation per language, but can be
copied and distributed many times over. Globalized email marketing using email
translation and localization is exponentially more effective than simply targeting English
speaking email recipients - who are much more likely to never read the email at all.
• Corporate or Business Websites
• Whether the primary purpose of your business website is to inform, engage or sell
services or products, all of these are more effective when the audience is broadened to
a multilingual one.
• A few websites that are excellent examples of multilingual globalization via website
translation and regional localization:
• Coca-Cola.com - The North American regional website is also offered in Spanish
and Canadian French, in addition to English, and for all other regions, the
website is available in just about every major and minor language in the world.
One only has to select from the dropdown menu.
• Nike.com - offered in at least 14 languages right there on the homepage. The
on-site global branding is fantastic, as an aside. The website has plenty of
4. sleek aesthetics, to boot.
• Volkswagen.com - The U.S. English homepage version can be toggled between
English and Deutsch. However, from there on, website localization and
translation according to country/language can again be found in a dropdown
menu, and doesn't stop simply at content, but also includes translation and
localization of local/regional dealership maps and listings, guides, dealer
searches, and all other on-site tools.
• Nintendo.com - Obviously a video game system as widely used as Nintendo is
going to have some multilingual options. However, they have separate landing
pages for regional users, including a European landing page, with its own list of
languages, one for North American users with a list of languages - and so on.
• Social Media Activity
• Your social media campaigns to spark involvement and branding awareness will
produce better results when they invite a global audience to interact. Social media
translation can be tricky, and may require the need to translate both for the audience
and for the social media marketing managers, but the results are worth the effort.
• Apps, APIs, plug-ins and other free tools provided on or off your site
• Free tools are an exceptional way to draw more traffic to your site, and even more so
when those tools are available to a global market. If you have created some kind of
web or mobile app, widget or other free tool for your website visitors, applying IT
translation and localization will introduce, enhance or contribute to your brand in a very
positive way.
• Articles, Whitepapers, Press Releases, and other off-site marketing materials
• If you submit a press release to U.S. media sources, why not do the same for global
media sources? Again, this is an affordable way to create global brand awareness,
because press releases need only one language translation per submission.
How Do You Find the Right Translation Services?
• Language service providers, especially large companies, usually specialize in a particular
industry or form of localization. There are those that focus on patent translation, some
specialize in technology and IT translation services, others specialize according to languages.
While large, well-known language service brands may be appealing, they are usually more
costly than opting for small to medium translation companies.
• Search for specific translation and localization services online. Instead of searching for just
"professional translation" or "French translation," search for specific needs, such as "mobile
app localization" or "software content translation." This will produce results much more
relevant to your particular business service needs.
• Narrow results according to service preferences, and compare rates using each company's free
quote services. Just about all translation/localization services offer instant free quotes.
• Ask questions. Many online professional translation agencies offer chat services, or have FAQs
available, or at the very least, will invite you to email them with specific inquiries. If you want
to gauge a company's competence in a specific industry or language service area, simply ask
5. them in detail about the kinds of services they can provide in relation to your needs.
Tomedes Professional Translation Service
www.tomedes.com
