Translation Unifies Multilingual Branding and Marketing - Show #115

Inge Carr is the owner of Altair Strategic Marketing, through which she provides Fractional and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) services. Her vast experience consulting throughout the US, Canada, and Europe and fluency in five languages, gives Inge tremendous insight into how companies can successfully align corporate strategy with branding and marketing, especially internationally, to drive revenue.

Inge was a member of the team who created an award-winning campaign focused on marketing Canada to Olympic visitors. She reminds us that people coming from other countries to Canada may connect with different messages. And it’s not dependent so much on a person’s country of origin, but why the person is traveling.

By hiring a market research company, the team was able to determine what experiences people wanted and how they wanted to hear about it. For example:

1. Northern Lights

UK and Germany: “See the grandiose lights with standing room only.”

US: “It’s standing room only for the greatest light show.”

France: “Incredible light show and training of the dogs.” (This was the direct translation but I’m not sure what it’s supposed to mean!)

2. Glamping

The US is the only country interested in “glamping,” or luxurious camping. It’s not talked about in other countries.

3. Sailing Nova Scotia

UK, Germany, and France: “Have a wonderful lunch of lobster and scallops and enjoy the view for dessert.”

US: “Lounge around all day and have a 5-star meal for dinner.”

 

Inge also mentioned that a great translator simultaneously provides multilingual marketing insight to companies without a hefty Olympics-sized budget. (I certainly agree, at Rapport International our translators do it all the time.)

Among the team’s challenges were initial social media posts that did not perform as well as expected. Yet they knew to keep tweaking them until they increased their response rates.

In another role, Inge worked with an insurance company struggling with 20 different brands and a fractured brand experience. Representatives from each of the brands worked together to build a unified brand that worked across multiple languages. And although there were no language specialists in the meeting, each team member had deep experience with translation, so they resolutely kept translation issues in mind.

If you are interested in seeing how Rotary International unified their brand in multiple countries and how they handled language translation and cultural adaptation, tune in to The Global Marketing Show, episode #17.

Inge’s final words of advice: make sure to hire a professional translation organization to get the support you need. If you can’t clearly communicate your value proposition and messaging, you won’t emotionally connect with your audience. And since 90% of decision making is driven by emotion, you will also miss out on sales and lose opportunities.

Inge’s favorite word is Dutch slang for “ATM”: “Flappentapper" (flappen - tapper)! Just say it to laugh, she says. It literally means:

Flopa: currency or bills

Topper: the server who dispenses the beer at a bar

I’m adding that word to my lexicon!

 

Links:

Website: https://www.altairmktg.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/icarr

Email: icarr@altairmktg.com

Phone: 760-655-6451

 

Connect with Wendy - https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendypease/

Music: Fiddle-De-Dee by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com