Unlocking global marketing engagement for customers worldwide

Consumer behavior has transformed in the last decade as technology influences access to information, buying habits and pace of the purchase cycle. This has shifted the way companies approach marketing to engage customers worldwide. While brand loyalty can still be a strong motivator, capturing that loyalty lies in engaging the customer to create positive experiences. The marketer’s role is all about engagement – because engaged customers keep coming back.

Utilize your digital presence to engage customers worldwide

Digital platforms are a big part of purchasing behavior and should be considered when devising your marketing strategy – especially on a global scale. Even if you’re not in the realm of ecommerce, consumers these days rely on company websites for product information, user reviews and general company details to validate it as a reputable organization.

Customers first need to be able to find or reach you, then they need to understand you and finally, they want to connect with you. And they do it all – for the most part – in the palm of their hand. Online visibility is paramount to brand awareness – but also, 75 percent of buyers will choose a product in their own language. As you can imagine, understandability plays a huge role in the message resonating and eliciting a desired, emotive response. Capitalize on this with global marketing content that will not only build a connection with your audiences but also, prompt action.

This means then, to engage customers worldwide companies must connect with their audiences on an emotional level. Their message must resonate and motivate. This is why companies use transcreation services over regular translation.

It’s not an easy task for companies to create engaging and emotive marketing campaigns. Add in the need to reach multiple audiences, all speaking various languages, with different cultural beliefs and nuances and you’ve got a challenge ahead of you.

Don’t just translate, transCREATE!

Transcreation is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of merely translating the words in a tagline, for example, you’re completely re-creating them for a new culture. This helps ensure that the essential emotive intent or meaning resonates with the people whose hearts you’re trying to capture.

Think back, you’ve likely encountered a brand message that came across abrasive, awkward or just downright wrong – which can be funny or, in the case of these branding fails, horribly embarrassing. In these instances, the likelihood of you engaging further is slim to none, as they clearly don’t “get you.” Essentially what they’ve done is closed the door to your business – not something you want when trying to engage customers worldwide.

Transcreation is, as you can imagine, a more involved process than just translating copy. It’s important to remember that transcreation upholds the very things your company is known and celebrated for – your brand identity. It’s just done in such a way that harmonizes with a given culture’s expectations. To start, determine how your company wants to be known globally – quirky, elegant, powerful – or something else? The copywriter linguists can then weave it into the copy, dialogue and imagery so your brand voice comes through loud and clear, resonating with other cultures.

It’s not just a handoff, it’s a collaboration

When implementing a transcreation workflow into your program there are a variety of tools and resources that help the transcreation process go smoothly.

Glossaries and style guides offer clarification of specific terms to utilize, brand tone and voice and, ultimately, the brand personality, look and feel that should be portrayed in the marketing messages. In transcreation, though, these are taken with a grain of salt, as certain adjustments may need to be made to better resonate with a particular culture or audience.

Another helpful resource is a creative brief. Access to the brief may spark some ideas that are more culturally appropriate for the target language and provide insight to the reasons behind chosen messaging or creative approaches.

Being available is perhaps the most important thing a client can do to help ensure a smooth transcreation process. No one has more intimate knowledge of the company, brand and project than the client, and sharing this knowledge is key to a successful project. One that is sure to deliver materials that engage customers worldwide.

We’ll leave you with 3 transcreation tips to help you engage customers worldwide

1.    Transcreation can be a very subjective process. Together with in-country language teams, create the tone of voice and communication style for your products and brand that you want to achieve in each local market.

2.    Create a terminology list that flags idioms, puns and potential product names or descriptions that have no direct equivalent in your target market.

3.    Support this creative process by supplying the creative brief for the product or campaign and any visual mockups you have.