Translating Your Email Campaigns to Suit Your Local Markets

Digital marketing channels like social media, SEM, PPC and emails are playing increasingly important roles in promoting brands, products and services. Email marketing is one of the longest standing channels around and should be a core part of any international digital marketing strategy. 

What is an email marketing campaign?

Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy where you send emails directly to customers, keeping them informed about products, discounts and other news. Depending on your business goals, your email marketing campaign could have any number of objectives. These range from building customer loyalty and attracting potential customers, to promoting products and services or announcing events.

The content, layout and frequency of your campaign is entirely up to you, making it a great way to let your brand identity really shine. Although creating and designing emails can be a tedious task, a number of platforms offer email templates which make for a relatively cost-effective campaign.

International email marketing campaigns

Email marketing is great for engaging with international markets and expanding your target audience, making it ideal for anyone targeting the global marketplace. However, this strategy does come with its own unique set of challenges.

Since your email marketing campaigns will be aimed at different international markets, you will need to take into account the local language and culture. This is essential for a successful campaign, creating content that connects with your readers and portrays your brand in the right way.

It also essential that you consider any regulations in place. For example, companies marketing within the European Union recently updated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), changing how businesses handle personal data. The changes in place have reinforced the fundamental right of individual privacy, strengthening personal data protection even further.

Localising your marketing campaigns

Since marketing is all about connecting and engaging with your audience, any email campaigns you translate will also need localising. This approach goes beyond the basic word level, taking into account the cultural, economic, political and social background of the target audience. From details such as currency, units of measurement and telephone numbers, to layout, colours and imagery, everything is adapted to suit the audience’s expectations.

The aim of localisation is to create a text that feels familiar to the reader. By taking into account every aspect of the email, you can produce a translation that resonates with your audience and has the right impact.

If a British company decides to run an email marketing campaign in China, then the content would likely need to be localised. This would involve the language, but also the colours and imagery used since colours in China have important meanings. For example, while the colour red signifies good luck, the colour white is associated with death and mourning. The way your brand uses colour could change the way the new audience perceives your brand.

Choosing a professional

Using in-house translators can help keep costs down, but if the work is not up to scratch, then this could also have serious repercussions on your brand image. This is because marketing materials involve much more than a straightforward translation. As explained above, if the campaign is to be successful, then the translator will also need to localise your campaign.

If you decide to translate your content, then make sure to use a professional translation agency that specialises in marketing. This will ensure that your project is in safe hands, letting you focus on your business while the agency gets to work localising your content for best results. Many translation agencies will offer localisation services, so all you have to do is find the one that suits your needs the best.

A successful email marketing campaign

When creating an international email marketing campaign, translation is essential. However, there are several other points you need to consider in order for it to be a success.

1. Adapt to different audiences with market segmentation

The customer or target audience is at the centre of any marketing strategy, including email marketing campaigns. Depending on your market, your audience will change. While this change can be subtle, it can also be drastic, so you need to take these changes into account for each of your campaigns. This means that you will need to create a unique market segmentation strategy for each specific market.

Identifying a specific audience through market segmentation will help you get to know the people you are targeting and how best to engage with them. From different time zones and the time of day that they check their emails, to local consumer habits and the most appealing subject lines, there are a range of unique cultural aspects that need to be taken into account.

It is also important to consider the degree of attachment that your audience has to your brand, as well as age range. These factors can also differ from market to market, and as such will impact the way that language is used.

Market segmentation will allow you to fine-tune your message so that you can communicate directly with your readers. This will result in personalised content that resonates with your audience, building trust and driving sales.

2. Different messages for each market

How you run your email marketing campaigns is entirely your choice. One option is to create new campaigns for each individual market. This approach requires bilingual people to take part in creating each email template and is a very time-consuming approach.

Translating and localising the same campaign into different languages is often a much simpler approach that still delivers great results. You can create one global email with a single message, which is then translated for each market through localisation.

This approach still allows you to take into account your audience’s cultural, economic, political and social background. Although the original message is the same, it is adapted to create a new version that delivers the right impact on your new audience.

For example, in some markets, discounts are less accepted than in others. While one audience will view a discount as a bargain, another might see it as a sign that the brand is ‘cheap’. A skilled localisation expert will be able to take into account these differences and adapt the message to create the right image for your brand.  

Helping you turn heads and generate leads

At Intertranslations, we offer localisation and translation services across a number of sectors, including marketing. Thanks to our team of translation and localisation professionals, we offer our services in over 350 different language combinations.

If you want to create an engaging global email marketing campaign, then contact one of our localisation specialists today. We can help your brand get noticed for all the right reasons, building a positive brand image that drives your sales in every market.