Marketing nuggets and multilingual strategies for internationalisation

Translations Universe is committed to offering multilingual services that have a direct response to the markets and that promote the internationalization of companies abroad.

For the same amount of resources invested, in order to optimize the ROI (Return on Investment), companies are constantly trying to improve the services complementary to sales, in order to increase the perceived value of the product/service.

Once the mission of the companies operating abroad has been identified, the promotion of these companies is enhanced on the basis of the product sector or the services offered. This is done through strategic planning of the objectives to be pursued on foreign markets.

In the medium term, a company that optimizes its resources and wins on the foreign market almost always sets itself objectives and operates on a S.M.A.R.T. (Specific - Measurable - Ambitious - Realistic - Time based) basis. The objectives to be achieved must be targeted, measurable over time, broader in scope, achievable and achievable in a given period of time. "Where all think alike, No one thinks very much" [W. Lippmann] - is an expression coined to highlight the need to enhance aspects of a product/service.

We recommend strategies that aim to meet the needs of the market of interest, in order to optimize the resources to be invested:

1 - The promotion of actions aimed at improving one's visibility abroad must go hand in hand with a careful study of the cultural and linguistic habits of the reference market. Each country has its own economic network that reflects the culture of the people who operate in the market. The culture of the market of reference passes directly from its language, is not independent and must be studied as a winning key to permeate the market. Translations Universe combines the ability to localize promotional content with a study of the culture of the market with which it interacts in order to create appeal in the user who will choose your products or services;

2 - Market analysis: The target market has facets that set it apart from any other market. In order to help brands to get products out of their warehouses, a market analysis must be carried out. Let's then plan the marketing action starting from certain data: the number of potential customers, the price ranges in which they operate, the sales prospects of the product/service following the analysis of competitors and existing statistics. This process of market segmentation will improve the positioning of your company and, therefore, optimize the resources invested in your presence abroad;

3 - It is important not only to localize the contents of e-commerce but also the terms and conditions of sale, specifying the characteristics of the service offered in the country in which the user makes the purchase. The data related to the sales tools, the laws in force in the State of the seller, the shipping and return procedures must be clear and reported in the sections of the sites where the user navigates;

• 4 - O.p.e. (Onsite product event): Bringing a product to market and creating an event is a strategy that many companies are adopting to associate retail marketing with internationalization. This involves an investment in terms of choice of locations, selection of the native staff who will attend the event, advertising in the language. These marketing activities will have to be structured by leveraging the aspects that create interest in the end-user, the culture communicated correctly, that sounds natural to the ears of the interlocutor. The Poka-yoke (ポカヨケ) is recommended for this purpose;
• In this general framework, we place the value of the assistance provided on the linguistic and cultural basis of the user making the purchase. Valid language support will avoid confusion at the time of purchase and therefore limit any actions taken by a dissatisfied customer (returns, refund requests, replacements, etc..). We take charge of, process and process the orders received, summarizing from time to time the requests and needs expressed by the customer at the time of order. This attention will lead the customer to evaluate as unique their buying experience.

The above are some suggested strategies to approach a foreign market. The Mission, that is the need for a company to operate on the market, must be structured following an internal¹ and an external² analysis. The first must bring to light the strengths and weaknesses of its product/service, assess the competitive advantages on the market and measure the quality of aspects. The second one analyses the needs of the reference markets to understand the size of the market and its potential.

Our international knowledge will put the company at the center of the study around which to develop the language strategy to be adopted to meet the market of reference. Therefore, the terminology used must be the result of the analysis of the product, of the place where it is manufactured, of the call to action to be satisfied, by the people behind a given product/service, of the process of its realization.

It is clear that the language strategy must go hand in hand with a marketing strategy, in order to be able to differentiate itself from competitors and offer different proposals embroidered on the basis of the market segments in which to operate. Therefore, we place ourselves between the language industry and the marketer's perspective, in order to identify what the client needs and how to communicate it to him.

The analysis prior to the inclusion of a product/service in a target market also takes into account the differentiation of the communication strategy in relation to other different competitors. It is necessary that the internal and external analyses lead to a personalization of the communication strategy, which is in line with the reference market but which differs from the competition, in order to create a distinctive element in the promotional language. To do this, a guideline will be elaborated and studied, in terms of language register, to be adopted and pursued in the promotional campaigns to be adopted for internationalization.

Let us set an example of wanting to take action to tag the Chinese market. The Chinese market has different rules and structures from those in Europe and involves planning and developing marketing that takes into account the nature of its business. We take into account the absence of some communication channels (e.g. Google) and the presence of others. It will be necessary to develop a strategic plan and prepare to communicate in the language, through specific sales channels. Entry into this market is in itself complex and often additional to the joint action of several companies, gathered in a delegation, to meet the import needs of the Chinese market. It is important to have a clear idea of the specificity of your product/service before submitting it to the institutions that will organize the matchmaking with local companies, in order to avoid matching it with disinterested importing partners.

To this end, priority will be given to companies that have the ability or the means to understand and communicate in Chinese, in order to be credible and competitive in the reference market. The company's size must be structured and able to meet the needs of customers in this large country. Entrusting the communication, in Chinese, to Translations Universe means choosing an expert partner who will enhance the distinctive features of a company, search for the identity of its product/service and highlight its uniqueness. This will allow you to increase the competitiveness of the service offered and communicate the value of your company.