The future is looking bright for businesses with global aspirations as according to new research, 80 per cent of companies that trade overseas plan to grow their global footprint further in the next five years.
The findings from The Translation People show a quarter (23%) of UK-based businesses that trade internationally have already experienced an increase in overseas activity since 31st January 2020, when the UK left the EU, and a further quarter have increased their targeting of new international markets.
Despite wider political and economic challenges, the findings show a positive outlook, but what steps can businesses take to help improve their chances of overseas success?
To help, The Translation People has provided five top tips for companies wanting to scale up their international footprints in 2023.
Take time to plan and perfect your messaging
Before you take the bold step into a new region, you should spend time planning your overseas strategy. In particular, you should consider whether the campaigns and messaging you have already crafted for the UK are culturally relevant and appropriate for the countries you want to target.
You’ll need to establish who you want to reach, the tone of voice you want to strike, how you want the audience to engage, and the action you want them to take, as well as checking local laws and regulations and analysing the competitive landscape. If you’re clued up on the regions you want to enter, and have content and messaging that is culturally sensitive and in tune with your audiences’ needs, you’ll subtly make them more encouraged to purchase.
In the research by The Translation People, 81% of respondents said producing content in the language of their target audiences is important to market effectively to them and three-quarters (75%) said they see an increase in international sales and conversions when their website, social media, packaging and apps are localised into the language of the target audience, so creating multilingual versions of your marketing material before anything else will ensure you make great headway in a new territory.
Use transcreation to adapt your marketing materials
To achieve all of the above, consider working with a transcreator – someone who takes a company’s English language marketing content, and uses it as a basis to create translated content that takes into account any cultural differences between your overseas and domestic audiences. Falling somewhere between translation and foreign language copywriting, transcreation is a highly creative service designed to help international marketers craft sales messaging that is culturally and factually relevant to overseas markets. A transcreator will help perfect the nuances and delivery of the messages you want to share around the world, and apply them to your marketing materials.
It’s essential to translate any content that’s in written form, including your blogs and social media posts, but you can also utilise translation services to optimise your multilingual websitesfrom an SEO perspective by analysing the specific search activity of your target audience, which may sometimes include different search terms than those used in the UK.
Additionally, translation services are available today which make it easier than ever to think about how to use video content internationally too. Three out of five businesses (58%) that responded to the research currently use multilingual voiceover and subtitling translations, which can be used for content such as marketing videos, with a further 17.6% planning to use these services for the first time in the next 12 months. Figures from Forbes recently revealed that social video content generates 1,200% more shares than text and image content combined – so using translation in this way can unlock a lot of potential for your business.
Think about your international team
The research from The Translation People revealed that 70% of businesses that trade overseas have expanded the areas they recruit from because of the pandemic and rise in remote working. While this presents a great opportunity, there are things to consider such as the retention and engagement of staff, ongoing training and the wellbeing of employees who might work thousands of miles away from HQ.
According to the research, 78% of businesses say it’s important to produce e-learning modules in employees’ home language to achieve staff morale and engagement, and 84% said they believe employee wellbeing is increased when staff have access to content in their own language. And while 66% said training and development is a challenge for their business due to language issues, many are finding ways to overcome it. For example, almost six out of ten (57%) said they now use multilingual voiceovers and subtitling for staff-facing content and meetings, and a further 16% will use it for the first time in the next 12 months.
Consider your carbon footprint
In 2020, total global business travel expenses contracted by 52%. The research from The Translation People revealed that the pandemic made more than three quarters (77%) of businesses realise they didn’t need to travel overseas as regularly, and 65% of businesses are actively reducing air travel to lower their carbon emissions.
While airborne travel was once essential for overseas operations, it no longer is. However, this has put greater reliance on online communications channels and services which allow companies to easily liaise with overseas teams speaking different languages. For example, a fifth of businesses responding to the research said that over the next year they’re going to explore tools and services like remote interpreting and live captioning for the first time.
For those who want to scale up globally without having an impact on the planet, technology is readily available to support and can have even greater efficiencies for businesses, making better use of the time available every day.
Anticipate challenges, and plan ahead
When asked what their biggest barriers were to overseas growth in the next 12 months, almost two in five (39%) respondents to the research stated supply chain issues, over a third (36%) said rising business costs, a quarter (26%) said labour shortages and 23% said overseas conflict.
While all of these have a direct influence on business, it pays to get ahead and plan. Take time to understand what’s going on in your industry at a global level, rather than just nationally, and prepare for every eventuality. Utilise different suppliers’ expertise to help you maximise potential in key areas of your business and integrate available technologies to make your operations as efficient as they can possibly be. Doing so will see you capitalise on every opportunity that overseas markets present.
