Last updated 20 August 2008
Your international business development can easily be jeopardized with bad sales and marketing copy.
In international business development using your domestic sales and marketing materials will jeopardize your international results.
For all of your foreign clients you will need to have your sales and marketing materials written for your foreign country.
But how can you avoid translation blunders? Well let’s side-step the question of translation.
There is one important rule for getting high power sales and marketing communication:
- You need the right person to do the job.
And the same rule applies for copy that gets results in a foreign language.
- Not just any “right” person.
If your business is worth anything, you need to have all of your sales and marketing materials written, or at the very least proof read in detail, by a professional who is an expert in your particular business and good at writing sales materials in his own country.
The professional may be called different titles in different countries. He might be called a “copywriter”, or a “communication expert”, or a “marketing expert”. You will have to double check that this professional does actually write good sales copy for his job.
This will give you quality sales copy in the foreign language.
Having the right professional write your sales copy is often much better than having a professional translator translate your sales copy into a foreign language.
The right person will look at all of your marketing and sales materials to understand all of your current sales points. He will then “translate” these sales points culturally to the his own market and write you good sales and marketing materials in the foreign market.
The Right Foreign Writer’s Profile
Just to emphasize this again, ideally the person writing your sales and marketing materials should:
- Be of mother tongue in the foreign language
- Currently live in your target market
- Be a active professional in writing good sales copy
- Have a significant professional background in your business
- Be highly fluent in your language to fully understand your marketing communication to your current markets
If the writer does not meet any one of these points, your sales copy will lose its power to generate foreign.
If two or three points are missing…maybe you should revise your objectives.
Real World Challenge
In the real world, businesses do not take the time to get their international sales and marketing materials written by someone meeting all of these qualifications.
Companies don’t want to spend the time to find the right person, don’t know where to find him, or don’t want to wait for the translations.
Companies also imagine the translation budget will be way out of their means without trying to find the right solution to fit their budget.
And yet you might be closer to finding the right person than you think.
Guerrilla Solutions To Get Good Foreign Copy Fast And Cheap
If your international business development is on a tight budget, why don’t you ask questions when doing your foreign market research over the phone? Start networking “over there”. Ideally you need to find a writer living and working in your foreign county. So starting there makes sense.
Keep networking, find out where such people are located, what their job titles can be, whether other professionals also need to do good writing. Keep looking.
You might find a foreign sales agent who would write your sales copy for you for a higher commission selling your product to clients in his country. A good international sales agent might already be doing this for his clients.
If you start off by limiting your foreign sales content to a single landing page and a monthly foreign communication tool for example, you will find it easier to find the right solution quickly. As you become more familiar with the international landscape you will know where to look for better solutions.
Thinking outside of the box and using both the phone and the internet will help you find the solution you need to get great sales copy in a foreign language.
This will give you sales copy guaranteed culturally blunder-free.
And more importantly, your sales copy will have the power to get you international clients.
Don’t forget to check out the Cross Cultural Negotiation 101 Guide for articles and tips on international negotiations.
Other articles on Cross Cultural Communication you may like to read:
- Your Guideline For Successful First Time Cross Cultural Negotiations In Any Culture
- The Most Important Tip For International Sales Negotiations
- How To Prevent Most Cross Cultural Miscommunication By Examining Your Own English Communication
- How To Learn From Intercultural Communication Difficulties
- How Digital Age Communication Wrecked Havoc In Multicultural Communication
- How A Third Culture Kid’s Natural Cross Cultural Vision Can Power Your International Business Expansion
- 3 Types Of International Communication For International Business Success Online
More From Cindy
Interested in reading more on my personal opinions and experiences with cultural communication and international sales?
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This is part of the Get International Clients Business Guide 5 Connect With Your International Markets Be sure to check out the other useful tips to connect with your international markets. |
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
let me tell you something. If you have any intention of entering a market without more than a working knowledge of the language then you are totally crazy.
Another point is, and especially if Its from English to the other language, you are far better off using a natural english speaker who has studied and lived in the country for at least seven years. ( ’cause thats how long it takes to master a .
If you cannot understand the translation thoroughly even when read back to you. Then dont proceed.
The other points of qualification that you mention are sufficient to get a job as CEO of a company. Budgets always have discretionary budgets. If a company has plans to enter a foreign market without sufficient funds- then it is doomed from the start.
AS we say; ” if you can’t sell it at home you’ve no chance of exporting it”
Ray