Marketing Tips – How To Reach A Non-English Speaking Audience

Being able to reach a diverse market when it comes to marketing without breaking a sweat means one thing you should certainly consider is how you reach out to non-English speakers. Depending on your market, there is likely to be an untapped wealth of potential business. Our marketing tips can help bring a large and influential buying audience to your brand. 

This doesn’t mean tipping your whole marketing strategy on its head, however. Some thought, slight alterations, a possible branding change and appropriate translations should get it done. Knowledge of local dialects and cultures can make all the difference. Non-English speakers will likely have many of the same needs, wants and demands for the products or services you supply to your English-speaking market. However, your marketing content may not speak to them. Even something as basic as tone of voice can be very important and could impact the end result.

Here we guide you with three key things you can do to reach out

Step 1: Know who currently buys

Identify the language groups already using and buying your products and the potential languages they can speak and understand. When you know the languages prevailing in your market, you can tailor marketing to include content focussed around these languages. Instead of taking an all-language approach that can quickly become muddled, focus on those most likely to be beneficial in your target area.

Step 2: Not everything works in all languages – even marketing tips!

It’s essential to understand the nuances of the languages you use. Not everything that works in English will translate directly; it’s necessary to understand what is and isn’t acceptable in different cultures so you don’t accidentally make a faux pas that does you far more harm than good. Catchy English phrases can lose a lot in translation, and some English ideas are simply not welcome in other languages. Also take account of regional dialects and minor languages within a country such as Catalan in Spain and the Welsh language in the UK.

It’s unlikely you will be an expert in many of the languages called for, so it is undoubtedly better to use the services of a writer able to write proficiently in your chosen languages; it’s essential to come across naturally and not just as a direct translation. Your company going the extra mile with naturally spoken and targeted written content will help you stand out from the crowd. And remember that you don’t have to come up with a completely new idea for every piece of content so consider repurposing your most popular content. There are even tools to help you repurpose content and make your life easier.

Step 3: Culture marketing tips

Creating a marketing campaign that hits the culture of the area you are targeting will be far more effective than churning out the typical English habits to those who can’t understand or relate to their relevance. Learn about the culture and language nuances that will make your content resonate more effectively with the different language and country cultures if you want to reach out effectively.

Your primary focus should be to market your products and services in a way that relates to the language and culture of the people you target. Blind translation of your marketing material without thought to all of the written, verbal or image content isn’t the answer. It could be a simple case of changing to a more ethnically or culturally diverse image, using a more local dialect that doesn’t work in English to bring in your new audience.

If you have found these tips helpful, take a look at our 31 Ways You Can Improve Your Business blog to help you achieve more as a small business.