Marketing translation: the art of knowing your target audience

The issue of marketing material translated into a target language and not having at all the same impact in the audience that is the objective of your communication is a question that comes sooner or later to all translation or localization providers confronted with marketing material.

Maybe the same approach as for a technical manual will not work as efficiently.

A different approach could be much more efficient:

Copywriting and Transcreation

Yes, you do have a compelling message for your local audience. You have a product that you want to sell, new ideas to communicate efficiently...and it works...

However, your message does not seem to "translate" right in different geographic markets.

Copywriting is the science of formulating your sales pitch in the way that it speaks to your target group. The message must convince the potential buyer that what your company is offering is indeed a better choice than what your competition is providing.

Transcreation is the process of taking your message in one language and rewriting it in another. All the facts should be retained, but the communication should be recreated in a way that the target audience understands the message as familiar and natural.
Finding the balance between the need to create a message that is globally consistent and the need to reach the right audience is not an easy task.