Taking your business from a domestic market to a global one can be overwhelming. How can you best convert challenges to opportunities? Many companies have already discovered the investment to go global has paid off. SCORE, a non-profit business organisation, reports that, according to a survey by American Express, “80% of American small and mid-sized businesses who sell globally say that business is up.” Trade in the international marketplace is expected to continue to increase significantly over the next five years. Below are four important considerations before you decide to enter the global market.

Pick Your Market

Emerging markets are often good places to start trading. A strong, growing consumer market is not very hard to find. People with extra income to spend are often looking for items which previously couldn’t be purchased in their country. If your product satisfies the new demand, then you will be ahead of your competitors by entering the market sooner rather than later.

Other opportunities relate to the improvement of infrastructure. As better roads, rail systems and power plants are built, your company will have the opportunity to provide goods and/or services that the local population and businesses need.

According to website Investing Haven, the emerging markets to watch in 2019 are India, Brazil, Thailand and China.

Do Your Country Research

Study your target country so that you have a clear picture of the infrastructure, digital economy, local laws and consumer behavior.

For example, suppose you decide to trade in Brazil. If you research about the ease of doing business in Brazil, you will see their rankings improved in 2018. Consumer confidence is high, and the economy is growing.

Digital economy is improving. The number of consumers buying online has been rising steadily and the government has announced plans to improve its digital economy in the next few years.

Develop Your Export Strategy

Developing your export strategy will help you to set goals, budgets and expectations with service providers. You will see clearly where you will need to concentrate your efforts and how to manage new objectives. Useful information can be found at export.gov.

Organize Your Website and Social Media Platforms

If you want your international consumers to find your business online, you should localize your website to the target country. If you are planning on doing business in Brazil, then you will need online content in Brazilian Portuguese. It is important to consider not only translating, but also localizing your content. Make sure your website has graphics, images, colors and content that reflect the people and culture of your target market.

This is especially important for social media marketing. Text should not be translated word for word from your English posts. Content should be created by a translator who understands your target language’s culture. This will ensure your appeal to the local audience and gain their trust in your company.

These four considerations will help lay the groundwork for a solid global strategy when entering the international marketplace.

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If you would like a quote to translate your content for a global platform, visit our website for a no-obligation budgetary quote in 24 hours or less. Terralingua is an ISO 9001 and 17100 certified translation provider. We assist both small and large businesses in the international marketplace.

Organizing an event is an opportunity to increase brand awareness and attract new customers. One of the most important factors of any event is measuring its success. These considerations will help you when planning your next trade show or company event.

Setting Goals

When setting goals, ensure they are realistic, achievable and measurable. Consider how you will record and collect goal measurements such as:

• Recording the number of people who attended the event
• Monitoring social media feedback
• Measuring the event’s ROI

Measuring Success – Quantitative versus Qualitative

Quantitative measurements are all about numbers. Before and after the event, track and review numbers, such as the number of opened email invites, the number of inquiries you received by phone, and the amount of social media comments. Whatever can be counted and totaled will be the measure of your quantitative goals. These measurements will help you benchmark your prior and post event goals.

Qualitative measurements are taken by gathering feedback and communicating with customers or event attendees. It can be taken formally, through comment cards and surveys, or informally, through conversations or monitoring social media comments. It’s about identifying whether your guests thought the event produced value, whether it increased brand awareness, and to check for problems that might arise.

Speaking to Your Audience

Ensure your materials and content are targeted toward the event attendees. Don’t assume the same content will work for every event. For example, if your event is being held in another country or is mainly targeted towards guests who don’t have English as their first language, then translation is important. Information available in their native language will make potential clients feel comfortable and engaged with your brand.

ROI

Measuring your ROI will help you to decide whether to repeat the event in the future. In simple terms, ROI can be measured by dividing the amount of money spent on the event by the revenue generated or anticipated. Over the weeks following the event, track your sales. Are purchasing customers existing or new? Has brand awareness increased? Are there new markets to explore based on the event feedback?

Success is not an accident. These considerations will help you plan and measure a profitable event.

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Terralingua is an ISO 9001 and 17100 certified translation company. If you would like to learn more about how our translation and localization services can assist you with your event, please visit our website for further details.

If you want to expand your global business footprint, you might want to explore an emerging market. This means you can take advantage of a growing middle-class population with more available money to spend. You can quickly become a market leader with products that customers need.

However, in order to this, you will need to attract customers and keep them engaged. You will need to use marketing strategies which include the basics of a website and localized content. Do not make the mistake of thinking all you need to do is translate the material you already use for your domestic audience.

When doing business with another country, it is vital to know about its language, traditions and culture. Yes, you need to translate into the target language, but you also need to make consumers feel comfortable and valued.

How do you do this? By localization. In other words, you should make your website, manuals, user content, social media platforms and any other marketing materials relevant to your target community.

Social Media Locally

Social media has become an established marketing staple. But what if you are doing business in another country? Do they use Facebook and Twitter? Research is required to ensure you understand where to find your customers. For example, you will find the equivalent of Facebook in China is called WeChat. It has around 1.08 million active users a month. The Chinese market also uses Sina Weibo for Twitter and Toudou Youku instead of YouTube.

This means if you want to get your message out to social media users in other global markets, you should be using the most popular local platforms to give your company a wider reach.

Translation and Localization

Localization means using a native speaking translator who lives in the country and understands the nuances of the language and current culture. Literal translations are avoided when you choose a translator who understands and localizes the content. However, you still need to review your content to ensure all of it is relevant to the target audience and to modify it accordingly before the translation step. Colloquialisms or idioms will not translate well. Taglines often need their own approval process and creation because of this issue. You should also consider supporting phone numbers or addresses for that market.

Colors and images should also be evaluated to ensure they will not signify something different or offensive in the target culture. For example, in China if you put a black border around someone in a photograph it means that they have died. It is worth doing some cultural research before you design your global marketing materials.

Global Websites

It is a proven fact that consumers are more likely to buy a product or service from a website in their own language. How does your website appear to consumers abroad? Is it easy for them to navigate to their language? Do you have support contact information listed for targeted countries? Ensure that your website platform is built to support different fonts and characters sets. Your translation partner can assist with advising what tools are needed in order to achieve a global site, including plugins or navigation assistance. Having your site built to support other languages, even if you are not ready at this time to translate content, will prevent many headaches down the road.

Expanding to other markets is less of a risk with a trusted translation partner in place. Proper localization of your brand message and presence will guarantee that you are starting off with your global customers on the right foot.

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Terralingua is an ISO 9001 and 17100 certified translation company. If you would like to learn more about our translation and localization services, please visit our website for further details.

Effective internal communication can be a challenge for large organizations, but it is an important part of running a productive business. If you want high employee production, less down time and excellent customer service, then effective communication is the key.

Look upon your workforce as a powerful marketing tool. They help to communicate your product or service and their enthusiasm for your business can help it to grow and thrive.

Coordination

Each department within your company should be aware of each other’s activities. Coordinated internal communication should provide information and the control to ensure that this is the case. Your workforce should be involved in decision making, as well as encouraged to develop ideas and provide feedback.

Strategy

Begin by sending out an assessment questionnaire to all staff. Provide the opportunity to share their opinions on the communication methods they prefer. This includes how they want to report concerns and what they think the priorities or essential aspects of a strategy agreement are.

Intranet

Make the most of your organization’s private network. Create podcasts, blogs and newsfeeds that inform and engage staff. Encourage comments and use this feedback to collect valuable data about how your communication strategy is working.

Translation

Translation is important when communicating with your customers, but don’t forget about your workforce. Internal translation shouldn’t be forgotten when you want to pass on important information to employees who work for you abroad.

Though they may speak proficient English, do they have the same level of English proficiency for reading and writing? English has many words in some languages that can’t be translated. Slang terms are also popular, and you might use them in internal communications without even thinking about it.

Rather than hoping that your employees overseas understand the nuances of the English language, it is better to translate and localize important documents to ensure your employees understand your internal communication, goals and brand message.

Do all new employees understand your business vision and mission statements? Do they understand all legal and safety information? By having content translated, your company’s goals and expectations are clearly set out for everyone’s understanding. There should be no confusion about the company’s aims and employee expectations.

Feeling Valued

Internal communication is an ongoing process that requires constant evaluation and refinement. If done well, though, it will help to create a loyal workforce. Your employees will feel like they are a part of your company’s brand and will understand how to achieve goals globally.

Effective communication shows your employees how much you value their participation in your organization. Just as it shows your care with customer support, it is also an important aspect of feeling valued as an employee. Be assured that they fully understand the materials you provide. Communication in all languages demonstrates to all offices and employees they are a valued part of your workforce. It conveys respect of the global language and culture differences of the workforce as a whole.

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Terralingua is an ISO 9001 and 17100 certified professional translation company specializing in localization and desktop publishing. Please visit our website to explore how we can be of service with your company’s translation projects.

The digital age has made it easier for consumers to purchase goods and conduct business transactions all over the globe. This has been a boon for companies who strive to grow sales by marketing goods in other markets.

Consumers are also much more aware of their purchasing power with multiple choices and options. If a company wants to do business with them, they expect to receive the appropriate brand communication and engagement. If they don’t get it, then they will go elsewhere.

What is the best way to keep current customers loyal while attracting new ones? It’s all about meaningful content. Content should be the lynchpin of all marketing activities. However, it needs to be managed properly to be successful. It is all about localization and how you communicate with your customer.

The most important consideration if you are in the global marketplace is, of course, translation. Studies show that most customers buy a product because it is advertised in their own language. That means you need to speak to them like a native, and not like a machine with hard-to-understand phrasing. Professional translation will show your potential customers their worth to your company, as well as properly convey your product and brand message.

Once your content is created and translated, think about how it is received by the user. Consider your website’s user interface and how it is viewed on other devices such as mobile phones. How is your content distributed through email marketing campaigns and social media?

Always consider the audience. Ask yourself these questions: Does your content pass by multiple departments, or are the decision makers a few key people? Are you properly addressing this audience? How does your company reply to needs in all languages? What is your response time to email or social media inquiries?

Review how your content aligns with your marketing objectives. What countries are you currently doing business with? From their viewpoint, what is the level of ease to interact with your company? When looking at your short and long-term goals, who is the target audience? Are you creating content that appeals to and engages this audience? Is your content relevant? It is often quoted that a website needs 21 languages to reach 90% of its web users. A strategic plan will help your company narrow in on your desired target market.

Educate your content creation staff as to these goals. If you have creators in many different countries or offices, ensure you organize and communicate a consistent and culturally relevant message throughout all markets. In order to ensure quality control and a clear message, a company will often rely on a translation partner to localize content in other languages. Feedback is obtained from local offices to confirm any preferential terms in their market.

Planning content creation with your global audience in mind will mean efficient productivity and active customer engagement. This will not only improve sales, but also give customers a better experience.

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Terralingua is an ISO 17100 and 9001 certified translation and localization provider to global business leaders in all industries. Visit our website to find your local office and obtain a quote online.

If your organization spends a considerable amount producing content, then it is probably time to schedule a content spring cleaning. Starting 2018 with a clear vision and strategy will allow you to fully analyse and create a structured approach to ensure consistency and maximize asset use.

Where to start?

First take stock of your content and production protocol. Have you compiled and catalogued all available documentation? Are there pieces that require updates or improvements? Before creating new content, have you reviewed what is currently distributed and in use? Can you find production and distribution efficiencies to implement?

Do you produce content that is required by different departments or in different formats? Through the implementation of an organizational review, substantial savings could be found by repurposing content used in brochures, user guides, training material or repair manuals. Though the expense of a content management system may be outside the scope of your current needs, there are many ways you can repurpose material without one. Review your documentation practices, explore content repurposing efficiencies that could be applied, and determine when a content management system (CMS) investment would be needed. Centralizing the documentation process will significantly impact affect translation expenses as well.

Avoid the translation silo

Even though each department may have a separate translation budget, it does not mean that your company’s translation procedures should have a “silo” approach. Create a centralized method for the sharing and distribution of your company’s translation memory so that each department can access the benefits of already translated content. Even if you do not use the same translation provider for each project, ensuring consistency and maximizing reuse can be easily obtained through a centralized method of simple steps. If you have several translation memories from many different providers, taking the time to consolidate the memories and reviewing terms will result in time and cost savings for all departments. Style guides and controlled language are also two useful tools to review.

Keeping everyone in line

Creating style guides, approved glossaries and templates for all content creators will mean a consistent company message and easier implementation of reusable segments. Whether it is with your internal documentation team or a translation partner, having a documentation protocol is essential. Also discuss the company’s tone of voice, images and typography for your brands to safeguard consistent use across departments and through contracted and outsourced work.

Controlling the message

When repurposing text, especially text concerned with safety, many implement a controlled language tool. This provides your content writers guidelines and a limited vocabulary to reduce the risk of ambiguity and clarifying text. For example, after a company-wide documentation review, you may find the same safety message written in many different ways. Limited approved options ensure a safer message and cost savings.

Explore content management options

A Content Management System (CMS)’s purpose is to store, organize and repurpose your content. There are many options to explore which will make your content easier to search, organize and locate. The expense and learning curve of a CMS often keeps companies from investing but with an ever-expanding content library, it is important to evaluate pros and cons of different systems. Each company’s needs vary as well as the cost of each system.

If you are writing technical content, then a useful system is the Darwin Information Typing Architecture or Document Information Typing Architecture (DITA). DITA is an XML data model for authoring and publishing. DITA software allows content writers to write in segments. This means that they build up the content bit by bit, segment by segment. Each part of the text is separate, meaning editing and reusing text is seamless.

Have you heard about Typefi?

Typefi is a publishing platform that allows any XML based content and produces formats for online, mobile and print within minutes. It can be used by authors and editors as well as by your design team, so that, with a click of a mouse, both teams can view the design and content quickly. It is ideal for multiple language publications and it can save you a considerable amount of production time.

Despite the fact that there are many considerations, having clear documentation goals and taking a hard look at your current content production methods can help you streamline procedures to achieve more in less time. A spring cleaning is worth its weight in gold any time of year.

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Terralingua is a professional ISO certified translation company specializing in localization and desktop publishing. We implement XML based solutions and work with content management systems for many global industry leaders. To find out more about our services, please visit our website for further information.