So you know how a professional translation service can significantly improve your fees as marketing agency and develop the ROI of the clients that you work with – but how do you choose business translators?
While there are many companies out there that can translate documents, provide translated market research data, and tailor content for an international audience not every company is equal.
Here are the main things you should look out for when choosing a translation service online.
Quality Translation Experience
It’s pretty easy to say you’re great – but proving it is another challenge entirely!
Most of our clients look for 3 essential pieces of experience:
- Sector (Specific vertical market or similarity in translation recipient)
- Task (Website, Brochure, technical manual)
- Language
If we can tick all three magical boxes and land in the centre of this Venn diagram then it’s a great start!
We’ve found that, although every client is different, translation experience can be qualified in this way – so if we’ve done a technical manual in Chinese for an engineering company, we can transpose that experience into different sectors.
With over 50 million words translated for 1,000 different clients – we’ve got an incredible amount of client experience you can rely on.
From your perspective as a marketing agency – we have 10 years of experience in translating for some of the biggest marketing agencies and market research companies in the world. Through our work with companies such as Kantar and Millward-Brown we have provided document translation, intricate market research data, and helped to expand the horizons of many of their clients’ businesses on an international level.
Going global to develop your own fee-income as a marketing agency isn’t something that should be taken lightly either and you need language translators that understand your challenges and not just the words in a document.
Avoid Freelancers
Many businesses think that using freelance translation services saves them money and that it is a more cost effective method of exporting their service.
Whilst this cost-benefit is true in many professions, including marketing agencies who according to eConsultancy – 48% of who outsource “app development” – the same can’t be said for translation.
While freelance translators might be cheaper in some cases the results are erratic, they can be difficult to work with, and they don’t generally have the diverse experience you need. Putting your business in the hands of a freelancer who might simply leave at any moment isn’t a sound business plan.
The biggest issues with freelancers in a discipline like translation is…
Who checks the work?
How do you know whether the text is going to really resonate if you can’t check it? Language is not perfect by design, it’s an evolving and interpretive discipline and as such individual translators on a freelance basis may not be best placed to represent your client’s brand overseas.
By using a professional company who has several people working together to achieve your goals is a much better investment!
Get Expertise in Different Areas
Some translations services simply focus on one business challenge. This can be contracts and legal translation for example or it can be working on the marketing side of the company.
When choosing a translation service online you should opt for one that has all bases covered. Why hire two or three different services when you can hire one to work across a range of different services which includes translation emails, documents, websites, marketing materials and technical documents.
Translation is something that needs to be effective across all areas of the business not just one!
Brands aren’t built by marketing communications alone – they are reputations built on customer experiences over a period of time, which means all touch points of a company must be consistent.
Build a Partnership
Using a translation service is more than just a quick translation fix.
At Bubbles we believe in building a partnership with our range of services that can be sustainable in the short and long term. Our recent analysis shows that our top 100 clients have been with us for over 4 years and the top 50 average out at 5.5 years – testament to the benefit of a partnership and (we hope) great customer service.
With our commercial approach and outlook we can work on all aspects of your agency no matter what sector or field your clients are involved in – with 9 core sectors that we have experience working with and over 1,000 clients to date Bubbles has all bases covered.
When hiring a translation service for your marketing agency you need to think both about the immediate future and the long term objectives for your clients and this means choosing a service that will work with you every step of the way. It’s also important to choose a company who can save you the hassle of some of the design work too – we’re always happy to put the content straight into indesign – giving you more profit! What you get with an established company is consistency and a level of service and communication that is far beyond what a freelancer can offer!
Using anything but an experienced, well-known, and committed translation service can be costly to your agency and damage the brand name of your own business and those you represent as well.
At Bubbles we have over 10 years of experience in over 280 languages and we have worked with some of the biggest brands around to diversify their consumer base and expand to different markets around the world.
