what is marketing translation & How It Enlarges Your Brand

Introduction

what is marketing translation?The meaning of marketing translation refers to a type of translation that is both semi-technical and semi-artistic. It focuses not only on delivering your message accurately but also on conveying the feel of your brand just as it would be in its original language.

What Is Marketing Translation and How Does It Differ from Standard Translation?

What Is Marketing Translation? To help you understand the difference between translations as we all view it and marketing translation, you have to understand the distinction between linguistic precision and cultural resonance.

Why use marketing translation?

According to studies, the purpose of marketing translation is all about adapting the interpretive / emotional messages in the content. It is not about the standardized, professional translation, the one in booklets, newspapers, manuals, etc. There are different standards governing both translations too. For example, manuals necessitate ISO-compliant terminology while ads translation necessitates dialect-specific equivalents.

Importance of Marketing Translation

The importance of marketing translation does not stop here! Marketing translation extends to cover many aspects to ensure its content truly touches right where it is supposed to. For example, a localized translation that ignores optimizing SEO in localized keyword research has 63% less organic reach!

Another example would be the focus on demographics, psychographics, and consumer behavior instead of the correct wordings. Marketing translation moves in between cultural nuances, adapting your original tone into the target culture, while respecting its values, preferences, taste, and understanding.

This encompasses creative rendition of all that is marketable, including idioms, humor, and culturally specific references away from misinterpretations or offense. It furthermore ensures consistency, drawing your brand’s identity across all materials and markets.

More importantly, marketing translation services emphasize persuasion and influence elements that keep your audience equally motivated to take desired actions everywhere.

Why Literal Translation Fails in Marketing?

Literal translation can sound unnatural, confusing, or even funny. It fails to comprehend cultural sensitivities, leading to offenses, misinterpretations, or reputation damage.

It cannot build your brand’s emotional connection and thus fails to evoke the response you desire. Worse, it can harm your image, projecting you as unprofessional and undermining your credibility.

Detailed reasons why literal translation fails to:

• Cultural Errors: 49% of translation for brands failed in Asia (2018–2023) due to a literal approach. KFC’s “Finger-lickin’ good” in China was scary when first translated as “Eat your fingers off!”
  Source: CSA Research – The Impact of Translation on Global Brand Perception

• Idiomatic Errors: Idioms and expressions do not have direct equivalents and require transcreation.

• Color Symbolism: Red in China means luck, but in the Middle East it implies danger! Such notions could easily get ignored.

• Metric System & Formats: 23% of users leave sites that do not localize their units (e.g., miles & kilometers, inches & cm, etc.)

What to Do Instead?

You can opt simply for transcreation. It is a sophisticated process that entails cultural-specific translation and even creation of your content, along with more refinement to perfectly fit a new culture like a national.

Or you can COLLABORATE with ClickTrans’ expert marketing translators from all around the globe. We understand your target culture and its consumer behavior and guarantee you the same success everywhere!

ClickTrans employs A-class level transcreation services for your marketing translation to seamlessly document your soul in all tongues.

Get a free quotation here!

The Role of Transcreation in Marketing Success across Borders

Transcreation is every marketing agency or translation providers’ master key. It is the legal safety nets. It ensures you avoid offenses and optimizes your content on different platforms, considering relevant hashtag trends and their correct equivalence elsewhere as well as the respective character limits.

Most importantly, transcreation ensures:

• Cultural Relevance: bridging cultural gaps and adapting the target audience’s specific values, beliefs, and customs. Doing so, it achieves 1.5 X higher ROI, which in turn increases engagement and conversions.

For example: Coca-Cola’s focuses on togetherness in the MENA, especially in Ramadan. In contrast, in the U.S., it targets individualism!

• Emotional Connection: creating an emotional bond with the target audience by speaking just like them.
• Brand Perception: strengthening your brand image through polished yet professional and culturally sensitive language.
• Global Brand Consistency: maintaining your consistency and persona traits across different markets and platforms and ensuring uniformly worldwide.

Transcreation Examples from Global Brands

Global brands adapt their work across new terrains every day. They rely on transcreation to create new stamps of and preserve their core ideas in different cultures and languages.

Top Industries That Need Marketing and Advertising Translation Services Today

As global markets expand, marketing and advertising translation services have become essential for industries aiming to connect with international audiences effectively.

In higher education, 57% of universities trans-create their entire portfolio, virtual tours,  etc., even going over dialect-specific parent communications.

E-commerce is nothing short of that with 72.4% of consumers making a purchase when information is in their language. So, if you are expanding globally, product descriptions are a must-have for more purchasing power.

In addition, pharmaceutical companies and all healthcare providers employ accurate and culturally sensitive translation of all their medical information, patient materials, and marketing campaigns.

And the gaming industry is another major player, with multilingual user interfaces (UI), dialogues, software and hardware products, user manuals, technical documentation, etc.

Other sectors include government, tourism, and hospitality that translate websites, services, brochures, and marketing materials.

FAQ

What is marketing translation and how does it differ from standard translation?

Marketing translation is both semi-technical and semi-artistic. It focuses not only on delivering your message accurately but also on conveying the feel of your brand just as it would be in its original language. The distinction lies between linguistic precision and cultural resonance.

Why does literal translation fail in marketing?

Literal translations can easily sound unnatural, confusing or even humorous in other cultures. It simply fails to comprehend cultural sensitivities, leading to offenses, misinterpretations, and even damages to a brand reputation.

What is transcreation and how does it contribute to marketing success across borders?

Transcreation is a sophisticated process that entails cultural-specific translation and even creation of your content, along with more refinement to perfectly fit a new culture like a national.

Conclusion

What is marketing translation and what is transcreation? They are essentially advanced translation processes that go beyond the word level when translating marketing content to create brand campaigns that are relatable and effective everywhere.

If that aligns with your next step, then now is the best time to come hand in hand with ClickTrans!

ClickTrans guarantees more successful marketing campaigns and clearer messages across languages, while preserving the same level of compelling and persuasive impact as in the original language.

Take a look at how ClickTrans supported hundreds of clients in various industries, maintaining their goal in each continent and successfully sustained their objectives through various other solutions that you can explore here!