3 Key Ways to Get
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3 Key Ways to Get More Out of Brochure Translation
Some
people approach translation of product or service brochures as a straight word-for-word
project. Yet nothing could be farther from the truth. It's important to focus
on the benefits your foreign- language audience wants to get from your products
or services, before the descriptions are translated.
The benefits that
your English-speaking audience wants from your business, may not be the same for
your foreign-language customers. One way to find out: conduct a survey. Right
before you translate your company brochure, consider doing a bit of market research
into the benefits your foreign-language market is looking for from your products/services.
1. Start calling or e-mailing a select group of customers.
You'll
want to choose people who you speak with on a regular basis and who are opinionated.
They're not hard to find. These wonderful gems are on every businessperson's client
list.
2. Ask questions on how they use your product/service.
After
decades of only promoting one use for baking soda, the makers of Arm & Hammer
baking soda started asking customers how they used the product and they discovered
an array of new uses. Now it's commonplace to find baking soda toothpaste and
special packaging for baking soda packets to freshen refrigerators, opening up
a new streams of income for Arm & Hammer. Conducting this kind of research
with your foreign- language audience could open up the same kinds of channels
for your firm as well.
3. Draw out their emotions.
Once you
have this information, look for the emotions behind the answers. Are they angry
about new regulations? Loving a new kind of computer software? Use these emotions
to guide your decisions on which benefits grab their attention the most.
After
you have this information you can use it to update your brochure with the benefits
your foreign- language audience craves. If your brochure already has the benefits
they're looking for, consider working with your graphic designer to highlight
the benefits they want the most. You can do that by using:
·
Highlighted Boxes
· Bullet Points
·
Bold and Underlined Typeface
You could also simply re-list the benefits
of your products and services in order of importance to your foreign-language
audience.
You may be tempted to skip these steps and just translate your
existing brochure as is. Beware of that impulse. Because of the difference in
culture and language some segments your audience may view your services in a much
different way than others. Consider focusing on drawing out and playing to those
differences. It will take your translation dollars much further than you ever
anticipated.
(c) 2004 Allendy Doxy, LetSpeak.com®, All Rights Reserved.
Please contact us if you would like to reprint this article.
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3 Key Ways to Get
More Out of Brochure Translation 
