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Translation Strategy Is Growth Strategy Achieving a more dominant global position through a better approach to global content.
Translation Strategy Is Growth Strategy 2smartling.com
W ith 95 percent of the world’s
consumers living outside
of the US1, today’s companies
recognize that expanding into
international markets is — or will
be — a part of their strategic
growth trajectory.
But, according to Hilka Klinkenberg,
founder of Etiquette International,
less than 25 percent of US business
ventures abroad are successful;
because US companies do not
always do their homework, or they
assume the rest of the world
does business the way the US
does business.2
A key component to succeeding
globally — in a way that will scale
business and grow a company’s
bottom line — is ensuring that
the content made available in
new markets resonates with the
audiences and cultures present in
each geographical location. In other
words, companies need to focus on
consistently creating native brand
experiences for their customers.
FAST FACTS: What consumers are saying
• 72.1% spend most or all of their time on websites in their own language.
• 72.4% are more likely to buy a product if it has information in their native language.
• 56.2% believe that the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price.3
1 US Chamber of Commerce: 95% of the World’s Consumers Live Outside the United States2 Inc. Magazine: 5 Tips To Growing an International Company
3 Harvard Business Review: Speak to Global Customers in Their Own Language
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In this white paper executives
will learn:
• How a brand’s translation
strategy is directly tied to the
success of its growth strategy;
• Why brands need to stop
thinking about translation as a
one-off, and to start strategizing
with a global mindset; and
• What brands need to
consider to implement a
successful translation and
growth strategy.
Translation Strategy Is Growth Strategy 4smartling.com
Traditionally, translation into
multiple languages has been an
unwieldy and costly initiative for
companies, and their marketing
and product teams. And because of
this, the approach to translation has
often been a last-minute, ‘lift-and-
drop’ effort to translate a few pages
of English content on a website, or a
few buttons in an application.
But delivering high-quality,
native-language content goes
beyond translating words on a page.
The content must be localized to
reflect cultural nuances and to
ensure accurate context for each
target demographic.
In today’s competitive marketplace,
brands can no longer afford to view
translation as a final ‘check box’ on
a global brand campaign. They need
to start thinking about translation
in terms of growth strategy.
The Traditional Way
“ Translation is not a matter of words only: it is a matter of making intelligible a whole culture. ”– Anthony Burgess, Author
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4 International Business Guide: 10 Successful American Businesses That Have Failed Overseas
Translation Is a Means to an End — and That End Is GrowthIf a company has translation needs,
or is doing translation work, it
is because it is trying to either
enter into new global markets or
enhance its position in existing
markets by increasing acquisition
and conversion rates. Therefore, its
translation strategy is actually its
strategic approach to growth.
An effective growth strategy starts
with a company-wide shift from a
siloed mindset to a global mindset,
and ensuring that all of the
departments within the
organization (not just the
marketing and product teams)
are aligned on scalability.
It will then be possible to
consistently deliver native brand
experiences — that feel familiar,
comfortable, and compelling
to their customers — across all
markets the brand touches.
The struggle is real... even for the big players
Best Buy, a large US retail chain, struggled with its international expansion efforts — first in European markets due to poor marketing strategy and a failure to notice the unique buying trends of local consumers who prefer smaller shops to large box stores. Then they were forced to close their locations in China and Turkey for failing to differentiate product lines and not adapting to local consumers’ preferences.4
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Global Growth Is Not for Everyone... but Creating Global Content IsGlobal growth can be rewarding if
executed correctly, but it can also
be daunting and success is not
guaranteed, regardless of how well-
funded a company may be.
Take Lyft, for example. After
years of planning to expand into
new markets, the transportation
network company shifted its growth
strategy to again focus 100 percent
of its efforts on the US market, due
to the regulatory and governmental
challenges transportation
companies commonly face when
moving into global markets.5
But with 41 million Spanish
speakers in the US and another
11 million that are bilingual,6 even
companies like Lyft — whose
growth strategy remains within US
borders — need to rethink the way
they go to market, and to create
content that resonates with their
target audiences.
5 San Jose Mercury News: Lyft Forgoes Global Expansion in Favor of US Market Domination6 The Guardian: US Now Has More Spanish Speakers Than Spain – Only Mexico Has More
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GoPro, Inc. is the world’s leading
activity image capture company
— transforming the way people
document and share their
on-the-go lifestyles.
With users in over 150 countries,
GoPro recognized that it needed to
find ways to better support the needs
of its growing global customer base,
and they intended to start by speaking
their languages.
With the holiday season only two
months away, GoPro needed to quickly
and accurately translate its website
into six languages (French, German,
Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and
Spanish).
With the right technology platform,
GoPro was able to translate its site into
all six languages in just three weeks.
As a result, GoPro saw its holiday
sales double from the previous year.
Growth Done Right: Successful Brands at a Glance
Six languages
Three weeks
2x holiday sales
THE RESULTS
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The Foursquare community is made
up of over 55 million people, who use
the app to get recommendations and
collectively ‘check in’ millions of times
per day.
As Foursquare’s user base grew and
its capabilities were being tested
beyond US borders, the company
realized it needed to expand its
language offerings in order to
capitalize on the growth, and to
effectively communicate with its
growing international user base.
With a cloud-based translation
management platform, Foursquare
was able to launch its website and
mobile app in 11 new languages in just
12 months.
As a result, it saw an immediate
increase in downloads and usage.
Today, because of a tremendously
successful global expansion,
Foursquare continues to enhance and
grow its business worldwide.
Growth Done Right: Successful Brands at a Glance
11 languages
12 months
Immediate increase in downloads and usage
THE RESULTS
9 Translation Strategy Is Growth Strategy smartling.com 9smartling.com
Getting Started: Turning a Translation Strategy into a Growth Strategy
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A successful global growth
strategy is fueled by content that
resonates with people — in any
language, all cultures, and every
market that a brand aspires to
serve. That requires commitment
to quality and consistency across
every part of an organization.
These three tips will help CEOs
to develop a framework for that
company-wide commitment, and
for building a global growth — and
global content — strategy that will
drive measurable benefits.
Embrace a global mindset Practice organizational readiness and enhance
productivity
Capitalize on cost savings
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From the outset, companies need to
change their thinking from “What we
are doing in the US is good enough for
the rest of the world and we will just
translate it,” to recognizing that they
need to think about their content
marketing strategy in a global context.
From the start of any content
project — whether it is a software
product, a mobile application, an email
campaign, or a piece of support
documentation — a company should
consider how much can be done at
scale and tailored for local markets,
and then identify clear owners
for each aspect of the content-
development process.
Taking on a global mindset requires
an entire organization, owners and
non-owners, to be focused on this
initiative — so it is key to ensure every
department within the company is in
sync on the effort.
Embrace a Global Mindset
1
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Companies redefining their global
growth strategy must commit to
freeing employees from what have
historically been complicated
processes — content translation
and localization.
Instead, teams should be free
to focus on producing the best
possible content to drive native
brand experiences across every
target market.
Let’s say 80 percent of home-
language content is appropriate and
can be translated as is across multiple
markets. Leveraging technology cuts
down the ‘heavy lifting’ of translating
that content, eliminates time-
consuming, manual processes
typically involved with traditional
translation, and also ensures
consistency and adherence to
organizational best practices. Once
that process is streamlined, content
creators can focus on the other 20
percent — customizing and localizing
it for key markets to strengthen the
native brand experience of
each touchpoint.
Practice Organizational Readiness and Enhance Productivity
2
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Traditionally, companies would need
to invest significant resources into
localizing their content as part of a
global growth strategy. But new,
modern technologies enable
organizations to create effective
native brand experiences at a fraction
of the price. As a result, that money
can be invested elsewhere — to fund
R&D, more marketing and sales
campaigns, or whatever the brand
needs or chooses.
Capitalize on Cost Savings
3
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With the majority of the world’s
consumers residing outside of the
US, companies looking to grow their
customer base and expand into new
markets, need to look beyond the
borders of the western world. And
this means they need to have an
effective global growth strategy in
place to do so.
A successful approach to global
growth for an organization begins
internally by cultivating a company-
wide culture that adopts a global
mindset at the start of every new
project. And it continues externally
for companies dedicated to creating
content that resonates as a native
brand experience, every time the
brand interacts with new or
established audiences.
In Conclusion
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Learn More
Native brand experiences resonate with buyers and customers in any language, all cultures, and every market — and are essential to global success. Does your brand deliver? Access your FREE Global-Ready Success Kit and prepare for a new phase of global growth.
Ready to get started? Smartling can help you to develop a global content strategy that will propel you into new markets, fuel global growth, and increase your bottom line. Contact us today for a demo of the Smartling Global Fluency Platform so that your brand can be fluent everywhere.
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About Smartling
Smartling uses technology to transform the way content is created and consumed around the world. Smartling’s Global Fluency Platform helps brands to access new markets, more customers and greater value.
The Global Fluency Platform allows ambitious brands to achieve a more dominant global position. Smartling enables brands such as British Airways, InterContinental Hotels Group, Uber, AdRoll, Shinola, Spotify, Pinterest, Hasbro and SurveyMonkey to provide truly native brand experiences.
Smartling is headquartered in NYC with over 100 employees. For more information, visitwww.smartling.com.
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