TOP 10 TIPS FOR

MARKETING TRANSLATION
AND LOCALIZATION
CROSS-CULTURAL BRAND SUCCESS

AN ACCLARO
EBOOK PUBLICATION

www.acclaro.com 1-866-468-5106 [email protected]

TOP 10 MARKETING, TRANSLATION & LOCALIZATION TIPS – CROSS-CULTURAL BRAND SUCCESS PAGE 2

Building your business in new language markets?

A localized marketing strategy is key.
Launching a marketing campaign in a new market or expanding an existing
campaign into additional areas can be a tricky affair. What colors, images, or
turns of phrase are enticing and which fall flat?

Without a keen cultural eye, even the best Even if your new market doesn’t require
planned campaign can falter — even if it has translation into a new language for the
enjoyed previous success in other markets. campaign, regional differences and
colloquialisms can have disastrous
When Proctor & Gamble began selling
consequences.
Pampers diapers in Japan, it used its
original, successful imagery of a stork A 1977 Braniff Airlines campaign used the
carrying a baby. After an underwhelming tagline “Fly in Leather” to describe its new
response, research revealed that consumers luxury fleet. Although the Spanish phrase
found it cute but confusing, since their “Vuela en Cuero” conveyed the appropriate
culture has no comparable traditional stories meaning throughout most of Latin America,
of babies being brought by storks. The in Mexico the expression also meant “fly
campaign’s failure to resonate with the local naked” — certainly not the intended slogan
culture reduced its effectiveness. for the high-class airline. Within a few years
of this branding error, the airline was out of
business.

In this eBook, we’ll share 10 of our top tips to help you

successfully translate your marketing campaigns across
languages, cultures and regions to most effectively connect
with new markets and achieve brand success.

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TIP 1
Determine your target audience
Effective marketing needs to reflect the habits, tastes and lifestyle of its target audience. If
you choose only a “global” version of a language when translating your branding or marketing
1 campaign, this may save you money, but your content may be considered too neutral to be
effective. Content that appeals to “everyone” runs the risk of resonating with no one. You will
need to consider the risks and benefits of each scenario.

Before you develop a new campaign or send your existing text to the translation team,
determine if your project will be global or regional in scope. This, along with your budget, will
determine your target languages. If your project is global, then you may consider “global”
Spanish. If it’s only for certain Latin American audiences and your budget allows, you may want
to choose multiple specific regional Spanish translations (for example, Mexican Spanish).

Even if you are not customizing or tailoring your marketing to best engage specific local
regions, you should still analyze your content for a wide range of localities in your target area to
reduce the potential for accidentally confusing or otherwise ineffective translations.

Working with a translation service from the very beginning

of your project can help you develop a global campaign that
can be easily localized to more specific regions.

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TIP 2
Evaluate your content

You should undertake a professional, thorough review of all source content, including your
company logos, slogans and imagery as well as your intended marketing campaign material.
This review can involve translation and interpretation professionals, marketing professionals,
focus groups, cultural consultants, and other strategic decision-makers. Its mission is to
identify images, phrases, or concepts that might not translate effectively, such as culturally
specific pictures, metaphors and idiomatic expressions.

Reviewing your existing content is vital to ensure not only

that your marketing materials are as effective as possible but
also that they are not inadvertently confusing, nonsensical,
or have an otherwise unintended meaning.

In a brand-new marketing campaign, having this feedback before translating the material
can help you decide whether to change your original campaign material in order to be more
consistent across translations.

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TIP 2, CONTINUED.
Evaluate your content
For example, if you discover during the early stages of development that your new product’s
logo or slogan may be confusing or otherwise not resonate with an entire population of
potential consumers, you may want to change it altogether rather than develop different
branding for different markets.
2

If, on the other hand, you are expanding adapted appropriately while maintaining its
an existing campaign into a new market, intent, style, tone and context.
it may make more sense to allow your
For instance, when developing a successful
translation provider to suggest words,
campaign depicting the close bond between
images and metaphors that will convey the
people and pets, it may be appropriate to
original message most effectively in the
change the images to those of different
target languages, even if the exact phrasing
animals depending on each country’s most
or imagery is different from the original
common beloved animal companions.
campaign. This process, referred to as
“transcreation,” will ensure your message is

Ideally, the writer of the source materials should be trained

in writing global-friendly content, which will enable easier
translation without significant changes to the original ideas.

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TIP 3
Budget appropriately
Translation of marketing content takes time! the copy, rather than following the order of
Don’t expect the same timeline or costs the source. A skilled translation team will
as when translating technical, legal, or look at the context of the content and its
general business documents. Marketing intended message and use their professional
content, by its nature, tends to be cleverly judgment in preparing a translation that
nuanced. That said, its meanings are captures the feeling and intent of the
3 more open to interpretation. Standard original.
translation of copy often does not effectively
Standard translations are entirely sufficient
convey the subtleties of the original and
for some applications, like catalog
is therefore not appropriate for marketing
descriptions, instruction manuals, safety
content. Rather, “adaptation” may be used.
information and other copy that is largely
Adaptation can involve changing words or
factual and non-persuasive.
sentences or rearranging the structure of

Image

A quality translation company will use the most appropriate

method of translation for each aspect of your project, rather
than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

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TIP 3, CONTINUED
Budget appropriately
Headlines, taglines and copy require extra attention and multiple revisions to get the
translations to reflect the desired message and feel. If it’s not possible to translate the content
while preserving the original intent, it may take additional time to find new images or craft new
messaging. The need for these extra revisions and additions can make these kinds of projects
more costly, too.

3 In addition, style consistency is much more important for marketing projects than when
translating technical documentation or other business work. Because of this, a single project
shouldn’t be split among too many translators. So, in addition to the content itself requiring
more time to translate, the need to use a smaller translating team for marketing and branding
content will add to the project’s cost and duration.

Make sure you account for the extra time this specialized
treatment or transcreation and adaptation will take when
establishing your project’s deadlines and budget.

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$9k $3k
$6k
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TIP 4
Define the desired style and tone
Once you have an idea of the purpose, scope people. Marketing messages that are out of
and target audience for your project, examine touch with the community standards of their
and evaluate the most effective style and target audience will not resonate, will not be
tone for your marketing communications. effective and may actually harm your brand.

Additionally, consider the cultural context

Are your communications formal or
of your target market. To a culture that
informal?
values professional international soccer, an
Do you have different audiences for
4 different types of communications?
advertisement featuring Lionel Messi will
be instantly recognizable, where the same
Should the translated content mirror advertisement may fall flat in a baseball-
the English style or be more localized? centric nation. It may be easy to preserve
the effectiveness of the message in the new
Often, situations that are lighthearted in one market by keeping the same tone and style
culture may be traditionally very serious in while substituting a comparable local sports
another, even if they involve similar groups of celebrity.

Incorporating global considerations in your initial marketing

strategy, rather than developing a domestic strategy and then
translating it, can be a more effective and economical way to
tailor your style and tone to each target market.

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TIP 5
Create a style guide and glossary

A style guide is a set of standards for the writing and design of your documents, images
and other marketing materials. Developing a customized style guide in conjunction with your
translation and transcreation team ensures consistency within your campaign and across your
larger-scale branding. It sets out what your organization has decided are best practices and
stylistic choices.

If your company is in multiple markets, each should have its own style guide that covers
punctuation, formatting, regional branding elements, the desired tone and level of formality,
preferred formats and layouts and other localization and adaptation issues (how phone
numbers are designated, for example).

A glossary is a list of approved, frequently used words, key terms, and expressions, along with
their translations.

It can include preferred explanatory translations for industry jargon or other words for which
there is no direct translation. It can also specify internally preferred translations for words or
expressions that have multiple, commonly accepted translations.

A glossary can also explain words that have specific local or

industry meanings, such as to “friend” someone on a social
media network.

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TIP 6
Share the knowledge

In order to produce copy that aligns with your company’s vision and marketing strategy, your
translation provider needs to know about the research and strategic decisions you’ve made!

Your provider should understand the objective of the

marketing materials, the makeup of your target audience and
the preferred style and tone for the project.

Create and share a global creative brief A much more effective strategy is to develop
outlining your overall brand strategy and share this information in conjunction
and goals. Even the best translators will with your localization experts from the very
underperform without being privy to the beginning. This will empower them to most
context of your overall strategy. Many brands effectively communicate your message to
create strategy briefs in house or have them localized markets and best employ their
created by an outside marketing agency professional knowledge and opinions to
but never share them with the translation reach your objectives.
team because translation is frequently an
afterthought.

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TIP 7
Review
For websites, multi-region campaigns, or other large endeavors, make sure your translation
provider is on the right track by reviewing a sample of the translation for style and tone early
in the process. A review team should be set up in advance of engaging a translation service.
Ideally, this team will consist of one reviewer for each language, engaged from the beginning
of the project and consistently checking in along the way. Because consistency is key,
reworking the style of a translation project is very time consuming. It is better to make sure
that your translation team is capturing your style and tone in an appropriate manner as early as
possible in the process.

If you don’t have the internal resources to review a project in the translated language, plan
ahead and engage a consultant to do so. This is significantly cheaper than retranslating
substantial amounts of text (and infinitely better than realizing, too late, that your translation is
off the mark, nonsensical, or hilariously ineffective).

Language is subjective, and reactions to marketing text and

imagery can be strong.
If there is ambiguity, you may want to test Also, allow enough time in your schedule
the marketing on a control group or test for additional reviews and a final refinement
panel. Many professional marketing research step. The feedback from the consultants or
companies can arrange for this kind of trial. reviewers should be analyzed, harmonized (if
The process is the same as in English, so more than one reviewer is participating) and
expect strong opinions and feedback. fully implemented.

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TIP 8
Follow local laws and customs
What’s allowed and prohibited in advertising differs greatly by country and region. It’s essential
that your entire team understand what the local restrictions are on advertising images, text and
video. In addition to prohibitions on nudity, violence, or language, there may also be regulations
forbidding certain kinds of direct marketing, comparisons to other brands, or “puffery”
(exaggerated praise or claims promoting a product).

Many countries, especially in Europe, also utilize helpful standard and International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved symbols to convey a message without
having to translate it. For example, the recycle, shelf life, and ironing symbols can be used
throughout the European Union (EU), thereby saving a lot of space and also complying with
local regulations. Symbols such as those used to designate hazardous materials also enjoy
widespread international recognition.

If you are translating a brand name or other protected symbol,

ensure that you take appropriate steps to use the locally
8 appropriate trademark, copyright or other designations to
ensure your intellectual property status is protected.

Be careful when using non-standard

symbols, custom designs or logos.
Sometimes, a graphic depiction or
symbol that seems perfectly ordinary and
straightforward may take on a different
meaning in another culture or may be
too confusing to effectively convey your
meaning.

A sign in a French subway, which was intended

to indicate an emergency exit route. Its use of
confusing icons result in a less-than-clear message.

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TIP 9
Take extra care with names and slogans

Brand names, even those that are slogan, “I’m Lovin’ It,” until 2003, and it was
meaningless or made up in their original kept in English for most countries. A slogan
language, can mean something different or or tagline may need to change slightly or
sound like other meaningful words when significantly in the target language to properly
translated into another language. Take convey your intended message.
9 care not only to examine your marketing
When McDonald’s did translate the slogan,
messages but also your brand and product
the company was careful to use transcreation
names when entering a new market.
and adaptation principles to help convey its
Slogans and taglines are extremely meaning in a manner consistent with local
challenging and time consuming to localize. linguistic norms. For example, in Chinese,
It’s hard to get a slogan to work across all they chose to use the phrase “I just like (it),”
markets, which is why a global slogan is rare. because traditionally the culture does not say
McDonald’s didn’t create their first global the word “love” aloud.

If you’re planning to use a slogan or tagline in your translated

material, a review by a consultant familiar with local culture
is imperative to prevent such mistakes.

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TIP 10
Be aware of space limitations
Most languages take up more space than English, so if English is your source language, you
will need to plan accordingly. Packaging and instruction sheets with limited space may need
to be revised once translation and localization are completed. This may involve revisions to
the overall design of the materials to preserve the aesthetic appeal while ensuring readability.
It may also take extra time and result in additional expense, so be sure to consider it in your
budget and timeline.

When designing an entirely new campaign, it can be beneficial to think ahead, even if your initial
campaign is only for your home market. Considering localization and translation from the very
beginning — during the initial design phase and layout — can allow you to leave adequate room
for any future target languages, reducing the necessity and cost of later redesigns.

10

With the right team, brand awareness and cultural insights,

your marketing campaign can create the right buzz and build
your business in your target language market.

Learn more about Acclaro’s start-to-finish multilingual marketing approach

www.acclaro.com/marketing-translation.

www.acclaro.com 1-866-468-5106 [email protected]

 Acclaro is a translation service and platform that helps

the world’s leading brands succeed across cultures.

Through a fine-tuned process, top industry talent and

leading technologies, we make a long-term investment

in our clients’ global brands.

Working in over 125 languages and with offices around

the globe, Acclaro helps clients open new markets

and gain a competitive edge by expertly adapting their

brands and products with fast, high-quality translations.

ASK ABOUT OUR High-Quality Translation and Localization SERVICES:

MARKETING CONTENT WEB SOFTWARE & APPS DOCUMENTS MULTIMEDIA INTERPRETATION

www.acclaro.com 1-866-468-5106 [email protected]