Monthly Archives: July 2015
Translation:Cost Or Opportunity – Lessons From The Journeys Of Others
Grow your business by translating your content |
In todays post I try to address the question that some are always faced with, is translation a cost or an opportunity? How about we start to address the answer by asking you to go to your favorite global website and what do you see? It allows you the option of translation. Moving into new markets, the decision to translate the content on a website is a tricky one. All the complexities can be simplified down to one question – is translation opportunity or a cost? The answer – it is both. In most cases though, companies tend to think about costs and end up losing the opportunities.
Imagine catching a big opportunity |
The presentations at Localized World 2014 revealed to us how North American companies take a different approach to it than the South American or UK ones. They invest in translation as a way to succeed in an overseas market and not wait for success before investing. Companies should use techniques like ROI and the experience of others before making this decision, since waiting for success will limit your success.
Companies aiming to trot the globe accept the need for translation, but few companies recognize that being online is a type of going global. AccuWeather translates into 56 languages, why? It is because over 80% of its hits are outside the US. Even the new software distribution methods like clouds and direct downloads etc. call for an increased scope of translation.
A dilemma in today’s world is that companies are aware of the importance of translation but just not prepared to pay the bucks for it. They tend to rely on machine translations (MT), while MT can be used for user-generated content and listings. When it comes to organizational content, MT comes up short in complexity and quality. Human or computer aided translation is the answer for high quality translation but while most companies recognize the importance, they use MT to cut costs as much as possible.
MT though can botch up translations – software localization for example is a complex task requiring skills such as software engineering and project management among others. At the recent Localization World, a delegation announced a software capable of catching machine translated data passed by LSPs. Even Google shunned MT by revealing it doesn’t use its Google translate engine to translate software because it is insufficient to handle software complexities.
Does My Industry Translate? Which Industry is Likely To Use Translation?
Translation as a phenomenon is above the classifications of industries. Any industry with consumer contact is likely to require translation. A defense focused LSP had steep decline in translation revenues after the US forces withdrew from the Middle East. Such examples highlight the troubles of an industry based approach and an over reliance on a candidate.
Countries such as Spain and France require that the companies operating within them should translate their content for the local public. The Constitution of South Africa is an advocate of right of education in one’s home language. In practice, this is a cumbersome task. Translation of textbooks requires significant translation costs and complexity. Usually high quality content requires specialized language translators. Specialized language translation for African content isn’t seen as a lucrative investment.
Translation decisions should not be taken on costs but on ROI calculations. Translation is not only used as a means to fulfill a need but also as an outlet to create a newer market. To see translation as an opportunity, an upheaval in approach is needed. Whenever a company plans an international expansion, advertisement and infrastructure expenses are counted as necessities and it’s time translation is seen in the same category.
Until next time, if you have any suggestions, comments or if you like to start a conversation with me, please don’t hesitate to email me directly: rayoub@lexitech.ca
Why Companies Don’t Market to Existing Clients?
There are hordes of studies that reveal that the cost of acquiring a new customer is twice that of retaining an old one. With so many of such studies backing up this statement, why is it that many organizations fail to retain customers?
How is it possible that when metrics show an organization’s capability of generating around $400 million revenue, then why does it fail to capitalize on this advantage?
There are various inconsistencies across different departments of a typical firm, and if these are addressed appropriately and in a timely manner, then they can significantly increase their bottom line.
Data Governance Plan – Rather the lack of it
Most companies do not understand their customer. Their data accumulates throughout the organization, while their CRM systems become chock-full of duplicates. The finance department, with its databases of procurement contracts provides them no overview of the customer.
It is important to understand what the customer does – particularly when the client itself is a company. An ignorance regarding the customer reveals the organization’s lack of interest in its customers.
A lot of information and systems exist in today’s modern enterprise, and things can get quite messed up when it comes to the mounting quantities of data.
This is precisely why an organization needs to clearly define its data standards to clarify:
- Which individuals can access data, and to what extent they can control it
- Which systems need integration to reveal complete information regarding the customer
- What their data hygiene process is
The above few points are just the tip of the iceberg that an organization needs to consider to maximize usefulness of data. Without having proper data governance, a company would not be able to benefit from the data.
Reduced Focus on Demand Generation
When the topic of ‘demand generation’ is mentioned, a lot of marketers think that it refers to drawing in new business. There is no denying the fact that getting new business should be the primary focus of demand generation, it shouldn’t be the only focus.
Similar principles of demand generation are applicable in any sales situation: engagement, nurturing, and converting the customer. When selling something to an existing client, a company simply aims to expand their relationship with them. This is easy as compared to trying to get a first time customer to buy.
The potential revenue that can be generated from current clients is huge; and companies should create programs that aim at strengthening the current relationship further. This will lead to a significant increase in customer retention rates and a major enhancement of the customer lifetime value.
Insufficient Analytics
While companies have data spread out throughout its various departments, making it almost impossible for them to market to their target audience effectively. However, even those organizations have some semblance of control over their data lack the analytics required to market in an effectual manner.
The only way to solve this is by employing powerful analytics tools that are widely available. The use of these tools will bridge the gap between marketing and sales that is often found in many companies, resulting in reduced productivity and losses.
With that said, data analysis should be the top priority of organizations wishing to take their bottom line to new heights.
If this topic of interest to you, please contact me to start the conversation with me on how to help you harvest more leads/revenue from your existing clients
Until next time, of course feel free to share and distribute this post as you wish