By Alan White, business development director, The Translation People

Coronavirus has caused businesses around the world to face the most impactful shake up in traditional operations many of us have ever experienced.

It started with large events around the world being cancelled. Then came widespread travel restrictions, followed by governmental instructions that employees who can, should start working from home. For business development directors who rely on face-to-face meetings and events to secure new clients, the pandemic has proven a challenging time. With the recent announcement that the UK is going into recession, they will need a robust business development strategy to ensure the business continues to thrive.

During the last recession in 2009, the companies that survived were the ones that adapted their business development strategies and diversified how they operated. In fact, many that did survive branched out and started operating internationally. During that period, between the end of 2008 and end of 2010, we supported many such companies by translating content into different languages for them; in fact, in spite of the recession, our business grew 16.4% in terms of sales – largely from businesses that expanded overseas to mitigate the effects of the economic downturn.

In developing a new business development strategy, we need to think not just for the immediate future, but in terms of contingent, long-term planning. The shift to online communications is essential and the beauty of the internet is that it offers a great number of tools with opportunities for lead generation.

Online video content

When done well, video content tends to be well received by the target audience. They can communicate how your products or services work in visual, easy-to-digest clips, which can encourage prospects to find out more and act as lead generation. Videos can also be used across multiple channels, so as well as your website, on your social media channels too. If you are looking to expand internationally, consider applying local language voiceover or subtitles to ensure they are understood by your different audiences.

Testimonials and case studies

There’s no greater testimony of a business than a personal recommendation by an existing client. Consider asking clients if they would mind providing a testimonial or being a case study for your website. Talk about how you have helped your client resolve an issue or help the business grow. It’s a real opportunity to show what you could do for potential clients. This could be a written piece or another piece of video content. Again, make sure you get the content translated to maximise audience reach internationally.

Transcreation

Most marketing material will need to be translated into the target territory’s language but consider that translation into another language sometimes involves more than just translating the original content word for word. Different target audiences and cultures need messages that are tailored to their specific markets, with their own cultural and linguistic considerations. This is especially true of highly creative content where straight translation on its own can put costly product launches at risk.

For example, Proctor & Gamble (P&G) achieved great success in the USA with its nappy branding depicting the image of a stork delivering a baby, conveying warmth and new beginnings. It opted to apply the same visuals when it launched in Japan but hadn’t taken the time to research the country’s own fable about reproduction; the Japanese favour the tale of giant, floating peaches travelling down a river, bringing children to expectant parents. For P&G’s target audience in Japan, the concept of a long-legged bird dropping a newborn from the sky just didn’t make sense.  

Getting seen on Google through local SEO

Considering that 70% of the world has a first language other than English and statistics show that up to 85% of those people won’t buy from a company without a local language variant, website translation should be high on the agenda of marketing companies to-do-lists. However, without good SEO your website might not even be found. Multi-language SEO involves conducting local research to find out what your potential customers might be searching for, which may involve different search terms than used in the UK, for example. There are many ways to improve SEO and it’s worth considering this as part of your overall multi-language website strategy, so you can be sure to optimise your local Google ranking and be found by your target customers.

Video calls with interpreters

Face-to-face interactions are essential to form lasting business connections. With a lot of international travel still restricted and many companies still working from home, the best way to do this is through video calls.

If you are speaking to an international audience with multiple languages involved, remote interpreting platforms provide qualified linguists who can translate live, in real time, to ensure your online business meeting runs smoothly so you can focus on closing the deal.

Regardless of the industry you work in, we are facing challenging times. Now it has never been more important to reassess and evaluate your business development strategy. The best way to look at it is an opportunity to reset.

There are a great number of online tools to reach new business prospects, so make the most of them. In expanding your offering to an international market, you increase your potential client base exponentially and therefore opportunities to grow your business.