We will be talking about translating your marketing materials this week. And by translating your marketing materials we mean any published content that will be representing your company or brand. You’ve probably seen some of the pictures of mistranslated signs we’ve posted on our Facebook page with confusing diagrams and sometimes downright humorous directions.  While having a mistranslated sign may be inconvenient; imagine that mistranslation being showcased on a much larger scale.

A Pepsi slogan fell victim to the mistranslation gods when the saying “Come alive with the Pepsi generation” translated into “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead” in Taiwan.  Not an offering Pepsi’s marketing team thought the brand could live up to.  Kentucky Fried Chicken’s famous “Finger lickin’ good” slogan translated into “Eat your fingers off” in China… ouch.

Clearly things can go drastically wrong with a poor translation if you’re in the marketing arena and that lost-in-translation moment could turn into a lost return on investment or profits if left alone.  Of course having a good translation service take a look at your campaigns can be of great benefit and value to your company and pay for itself over and over again.

Link Translations offers a variety of marketing and merchandising translation services.  You’re not going to get someone who runs your copy through a machine that spits out a translation on the other end.  We offer real translators who know how important it is to convey the meaning and feeling behind your message.  Link Translations’ staff of over 5,000 translators understands that your brand rests on your marketing campaigns and no matter what language your ads are in, your brand has to be strong and unified.

However we go further than just translating your campaigns, we also will back translate marketing copy to make sure the message has the same feel and we’ll provide translators for focus groups when it comes time to measure your campaign’s success.  We also know that the same word may translate differently and have different meaning depending on where your campaign lands around the world.  That’s why having real translators that are familiar with the culture, fluent with the local dialect and comfortable with the audience will benefit your company. This approach will take your translation beyond words on a page or over the airwaves and have a true impact on your target audience.

Don’t get left eating your fingers off.  For translating your marketing materials, go online to http://www.link-translations.com/merchandising-marketing-translations/ and learn more about the services we can offer to your marketing team.  While you’re there go ahead and get a free, no-obligation quote (http://www.link-translations.com/quote/) to get you started.