Marketing translation rates

The impact of marketing on today’s society is huge. We are surrounded by people, companies and images that are trying to promote certain products and brands using a great variety of techniques such as catchy logos, well-chosen words and colourful pictures. In this context, translation plays a vital role, as most of the big brands are international and they desperately need to promote their products in as many countries as possible.

There is no doubt that marketing translation is extremely difficult; we can go as far as saying that it is the most difficult field of translation. Just as your advertising material was carefully written and created by marketing and copywriting experts, the same degree of professionalism, creativity and cultural sensitivity is required for the successful translation of these materials into other languages. Thus, marketing translation rates are difficult to establish. They depend on a variety of factors that we will explain, so you can get a broader picture of this issue.

Let’s say you are a client searching for the perfect translation service for marketing and advertising. You will have to choose carefully after making comparisons between different marketing translation rates. You will have to make a lot of research regarding the translation companies that you plan to use in order to make the best decision for your business. Marketing translation is more than an accurate translation of the words; it requires extra effort, creativity, cultural awareness and marketing experts. Here are some tips that might help in case you want to know more about marketing translation rates:

Localization

In a global economy, one of the most important marketing tools is localization, which is almost impossible without the translation of the content. For instance, if you are selling in the U.S. market and want to expand into Germany, you probably need to translate your content into German. In this case, marketing translation rates are going to be higher because you require an extra service. Prices will vary in this case according to the complexity of the content. For those on a low budget here are some tips:

– use clear, concise language

– avoid jargon, idioms, and metaphors

– keep the structure clean and simple

Nevertheless, these advices rarely apply to marketing campaigns, which normally use a creative, catchy language. The truth is that advertising and localization deserve an investment because they are actually the future of your business. Marketing is one of the most important factors that determine the success of a product, so attention to all details is important.

Communicate with your translation service

From the beginning, you need to explain a number of things to your translation company in order to obtain the best results. To make localization possible, you must provide the translators with all the information they need. You can create a guide that clearly states the purpose of translation, the tone of the message, the level of formality and other specific needs that you might have. The translator will have to adapt the language according to cultural differences. In this case, marketing translation rates will be influenced by:

a. The complexity of the text and the creativity required

Marketing translation rates are also influenced by the quantity of creativity that the translation must invest. In advertising, it’s important to make an emotional connection with the reader. This is usually done by using idioms, familiar language, catchy phrases, logos, song lyrics or popular sayings. For the translator, it can be almost impossible to find an equivalent in the target language that has the same emotional impact on the reader. For instance, the English idiom “it’s raining cats and dogs” will be really difficult to translate in some languages such as Chinese.

The translator must come up with an equivalent that has the same effect on the reader. Due to this particular challenge when it comes to marketing translation, the price of the translation will usually increase. For technical translation, the rates stand between 10-25 cents per word. Marketing translation rates are much more variable due to the complexity of the text and the high level of creativity involved.

b. The language itself

If difficult and rare languages are among those you need for your campaign, you will have to expect higher marketing translation rates. Asian markets are one of the most important ones at the moment and translation in this case means hard work. They have a completely different culture, which must be properly understood by the translator. This is why you should always choose native speakers even if the costs may be higher.

For Muslim countries for example, besides the language difficulties, cultural awareness is necessary. The message that tries to sell your product must be adapted to their way of thinking in order to avoid difficulties. For European languages, things are a bit easier because European countries have a lot of common elements. This is why the marketing translation rates in this case can be lower than for Asian or Arabic countries.

c. Extra services

If you need SEO translation, keyword research or proofreading, you should discuss them with your translation company from the start in order to get a complete picture of the costs involved in your marketing campaign. Most of the translation companies provide this type of services. As it was mentioned before, you can create a guide for the translator, in which you can include all the extra services you need, your expectation in terms of style and other useful information for the translators.

d. The quality you expect: cheaper is not better

The same thing that applies for restaurants or hotels, applies for translation services. The cheapest it is, the lower the quality of the services gets. If a huge part of your marketing campaign is translation, the logical thing to do is to invest in something that guarantees quality and impeccable services. The prestige of the translation company you choose is important. Usually, those who are popular are so because they gained their good reputation by providing good services to their clients. Also, they might really understand how marketing works and what makes a company or a product well-known by people. Thus, when it comes to marketing translation rates, things might go wrong if you choose the lowest price you can find.

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