How to use translation to your company's advantage in 2019

Many companies approach translation services in a reactive capacity. The growth of their business creates opportunities to harness the potential of globalization and before they know it, a new partnership sees them trying their hand at expanding overseas. It’s a story that the business translation experts at Tomedes are familiar with and one that works well for many companies. 

However, it’s also possible to take a more proactive approach to translation and localization services. As part of an expansion strategy, these services can reap excellent rewards for businesses that are prepared to use them to expand their empires. 

Using translation services in 2019

Translation services, like so many other industries, experience trends. One of the key trends in 2019 will be video translation. This affords companies the opportunity to do everything from demonstrating their products to engaging customers. When used effectively, video translation can contribute to a powerful international expansion strategy. 

The statistics speak for themselves when it comes to using video for business purposes. Single Grain reports that 72% of companies say that video has improved their conversion rates. Meanwhile, the American  Marketing Association states that video will be the driving force behind 85% of US search traffic in 2019. Video translation services can support the delivery of such results overseas, as well as domestically. 

Social media translation services

Another key trend for companies looking to get ahead on the global stage in 2019 is social media translation. Facebook alone has 2.2 billion active monthly users. YouTube has around 1.9 billion and Instagram comes in third with around 800 million. 

Social media translation can include anything from video content and memes to marketing messages, quizzes, polls and everything in between. Relying on inaccurate machine translation for such purposes is unprofessional, so businesses looking to adopt effective social media strategies for their overseas plans need to use professional human translators. 

The right social media strategy can ensure excellent brand engagement while also putting customers front and centre of a campaign. It requires careful thought and attention to detail for each and every country in which the campaign is going to run. Accurate translation is essential. 

Staff engagement

As well as using translation to engage your customers, you can use it to engage your staff, keeping them more positive and motivated as a result. From company-wide emails and newsletters to staff awards in multiple languages, translation is the proactive business manager’s friend, particularly where parts of the company are based overseas. 

The future of translation

Translation is one of those services that you can adapt to meet the needs of your company even as your strategy shifts. Ultimately, it’s about thinking proactively about what you want to achieve and how translation and localization services can help you to do so. With that in mind, what will you use translation services for in 2019?