So business is booming and you are thinking about taking your brand for an international tour. First and foremost, congratulations on your success! All that hard work paid off!
Now it’s time to address the elephant in the room: How do you take your brand to the next level, and establish a global presence that is more than a few bits and pieces of translated content?
You could manage it internally, but hiring in-house editors for each market is going to be a costly affair, and one that is not rapidly scalable, as it might take some time to find a Korean copywriter that meets your demands, if you are based in Paris. Another option is to use freelance linguists, but the project management aspect will likely eat up a lot of your time, especially if your knowledge of the language services industry is limited. It would probably make sense to hire somebody with experience in the field, who can deal with the external resources and keep on top of the projects. You will also need to pay for industry-specific software licences, and sort out a ton of paperwork for each and every freelance supplier (onboarding, NDAs, POs, invoices, etc.). Of course it would be nice to have your own language department, but it takes a lot of work to set up something like that, and at the moment you just don’t have the time.
Why don’t you use a translation agency? Surely they will know what they are doing! Well, they do and they don’t. The issue with traditional language service providers is that more often than not they focus on the accuracy of a translation, rather than on how effective it is. They will respond to your concerns about quality with data about the average number of typos and grammar mistakes in the files they delivered. That might be enough for a user manual, but when it comes to marketing there’s so much more to take into consideration. In addition, chances are they won’t be able to assign your content to the same translators every time, with the result that the people working on your marketing materials will have a very limited understanding of your brand and you won’t even be able to
talk to them to clarify what you expect.
At this point you might be wondering, isn’t there a better way?
Good news, there is!
What you need is a language service partner that focuses specifically on marketing. Someone that takes the time to really get to know your brand, and can work with you to help you reach your goals. A strategic partner that understands that your tone of voice is as important as your business card, and can build a team of dedicated copywriters who collaborate with you openly and value your feedback. Someone that has the know-how to help you understand which industry-specific software is right for you, and who can leverage technology to build scalable processes tailored to your needs. A strategic partner that can effectively work as an extension of your in-house team. Your own language department, without the payroll cost.
Sounds like a lot to ask? Well, at Undertow, we do precisely that.
We are a boutique language service provider specialised in marketing and advertising.
We believe that engaging communication is crucial for your brand’s success and that the three main ingredients to achieve your goals are creativity, people, and teamwork. All powered by technology. Together, we can create content that will allow you to reach local audiences without losing your global identity.
Contact us to find out more.
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