In our globalized world, it has never been easier for companies to expand their activities abroad. Perhaps it’s a little too easy, given the repeated incidences of companies that suffer linguistic and cultural marketing fails.
One only has to mention Colgate, for example, whose new toothpaste “Cue” turned out to share its name with a popular French pornography magazine. On the German market, where the German word “Mist” translates as “manure” and other rather more vulgar synonyms, it is unsurprising to learn that foreign goods such as the “Mist Stick”, a hair curler by Clairol or the “Silver Mist” model from Rolls Royce had rather limited appeal to consumers. You’ll find some other hilarious translation fails in our latest blog post.
These types of blunders cost a great deal of money and often lead to reputational damage. However, with some basic research and knowledge of the target market, they can be avoided.
Market research and cultural consulting are popular tools that are used in this context to gain a better understanding of the market before a product is launched abroad. This ensures that companies offer a product that caters precisely to the needs of its customers. However, both market research as well as intercultural consulting are costly in terms of time and money.
But there is also a cheaper way: a language service provider can act as your expert accomplice who will give you cultural and linguistic advice as well as the content you need to avoid putting your foot in it. In this blog post, we reveal exactly how a language service provider can support you with regard to market research and cultural consulting.
What is market research anyway?
Who is my potential target group? How does it behave? What does it like? Market research studies are designed to gain a better understanding of the market and target audience so that you can make customer-focused decisions.
This involves carrying out surveys, observations and tests with the target group in order to reveal information such as age, gender, job, but also the opinions, expectations and motivations of customers.
Market research is conducted in multiple phases and is therefore costs a great deal of time and money: The focus and methods of the investigation must be defined, the investigation documents must be compiled, and the tests and surveys must be conducted, evaluated and presented. Based on the results, decisions are then taken regarding the product development as well as the phase of product introduction.
While many companies rely on studies before launching a product in their home country, they often neglect to do the same for international markets due to the high costs of market research. Instead, they simply assume that foreign target groups function in the same or at least very similar way as those in the home market. However, this is rarely the case. Directly translated product names, brand names, slogans and text often lead to the marketing fails mentioned above because they are either misunderstood or incorrectly interpreted by the target audience.
What is cultural consulting?
A company that expands abroad must not only overcome linguistic hurdles but also cultural ones. Cultural consulting is therefore becoming an increasingly popular alternative to large-scale market research studies. External consultants check the products and services for cultural appropriateness – do the message, the color and the product address the international target group correctly? Do they play on cultural stereotypes that have the potential to cause marketing fails?
A cultural consultant will make you and your product fit for the cultural market launch and, if required, will help formulate the entire international marketing campaign. Although all this comes at a price, at least you won’t end up paying twice. That’s because your trusted translation agency can be just as effective in providing you with intercultural advice.
The advantages of collaborating with a language service provider
Translation service providers have one major advantage: they work with mother-tongue translators and copywriters who are thoroughly familiar with the linguistic and cultural norms of their home country, which enables them to function as cultural consultants. This means they can help you on your internationalization journey not only with suitable and convincing texts but also with intercultural advice.
Understanding the target group
How does your target group behave? What does it expect? Professional translators know what makes their fellow citizens tick, what is currently in vogue and which messages they might misunderstand.
Speaking of misunderstanding: in Denmark, the formal form of address is only used for the royal family. In Germany, it is used for almost every stranger. But what about China, Morocco or Brazil? Native-speaker translators know when a formal or an informal tone is appropriate. Striking the right tone for your target group can determine your success.
Speaking the right language
Someone from Bavaria will not respond well to a German dialect specific to the north of Germany but is far more likely to open their wallet when targeted by advertising formulated in German as spoken in Bavaria. Content compiled in the correct dialects can also open up new doors for you when it comes to launching a product abroad. Our qualified translators are also specialists in this field.
Avoiding cultural mistakes
It’s hardly surprising that a car model named “Killer” does not inspire confidence. Nevertheless, American Motors went ahead and launched its US “Matador” model in Spanish-speaking Puerto Rico. The same applies to Ford’s unfortunate attempt to introduce a car named “ugly hag”, or “Fiera”, on the Spanish market. Our employees will pinpoint these types of linguistic no-no's and can make them available for discussion.
Adapting content for the target market
Adapting to the respective target market is the key to your international success. In translation jargon, the magic word is “localization”. Instead of translating your content directly, which can lead to the marketing fails alluded to above, we adapt or localize it for the target audience. The goal is to produce content that sounds as if it was written specifically for the relevant target group rather than for the domestic market.
In our localization projects, we also pay attention to other important factors such as the correct choice of symbols, currencies and date formats. As a result, you can be sure that the content you publish is appropriate for the respective country.
Saving costs and time
Professional localization incorporates all the linguistic and cultural aspects that would have been recommended in market research studies and as part of cultural consulting. Since you need to translate your content one way or another for your product launch abroad, choosing a language service provider as a one-stop shop will save you valuable time and money. Our in-depth knowledge of target groups and culture will help you grow your business without limits!
Use your translation agency for cultural consulting
High-quality translations form an intercultural translation agency allow you to dispense with expensive and time-consuming market research and external cultural consultants.
As an expert for intercultural marketing, ACT Translations would be delighted to share its advice and copywriting expertise with you. We conduct thorough checks on your copy, product names and slogans to ensure that your company never features in the list of translation fails.
