International Marketing
How do i make sure my content is globally acceptable?
With experience working with clients and audiences around the world, We Need To Talk highlight what you need to do to ensure that your content suits multiple international and national markets.
What Language should I talk in?
English is considered the world’s official business language, so many choose to only create and distribute English language content. However, for businesses who require more than this, translation services can be contacted to target their content at international customers.
Diverse Copy
Even if you communicate solely in English, content written for international regions should be suitable for all readers. Content that claims to be for ‘everyone’ can fall flat if it makes generalisations about experiences that are for example purely European or Western.
Lost in translation - pigs might fly
English is a rich vast language, but what works well with a native speaker may not work with literal translation.
I remember once talking in my ‘Franglaise” when I was living in France with a German friend who only spoke German and French. In conversation I said ‘pigs might fly’ which confused her greatly. Eventually we identified that although she thought I was completely crazy, in Germany it is perfectly fine to say ‘when chickens have teeth’ to explain a situation that is highly unlikely to happen!
Made me acutely aware of trying not to use phrases, idioms or alliterations.
Industry Banter
Terminology can be also completely usual within an industry, but writing copy to attract new customers should be clear and concise to ensure that new readers can understand, without too much use of industry banter.
Time zones, working days and national holidays
Timing has a huge effect on the performance and measurement of content. When publishing content for different markets, consider different time zones. Different markets may have different working days and national holidays that need to be considered.
Let it be read
Finally, there’s no point in creating well researched, brilliantly written content if it isn’t reaching your audiences where they’re reading or searching for content. Ensure that any great content on your website is used throughout your social media to bring people back to increase traffic back to your website.