8-Point Guide to Creating a Multilingual Lead Generation Strategy

Since we've already defined what is lead generation, we ask have you ever considered that you might not be maximizing your lead generation strategy?

Think With Google reported that 82% of online shoppers said they will likely buy a product if it was marketed in their mother tongue.

So to enhance your lead generation and make it multilingually ready for your international users, we asked around the language industry and came up with an eight-point guide.

If you want to learn more about this, then keep on reading!

Professional Translation Agencies and Language-based Companies on Lead Generation Methods and Tips

Even though English is considered "the language of business," it's not enough to be monolingual in this competitive, globalized economy. Suppose you want to make a lasting impression on your users. In that case, you will need to personalize your lead generation by connecting to your target market on a cultural and linguistic level.

Due to this, we've listed below eight multilingual lead generation methods and tips that you should know when marketing to an international audience.

1. Research Whatever You Can on Your Target Market

This is important. It might seem like a no-brainer, but many international marketing campaigns failed due to a lack of research.

The first thing you should work toward is making a feasibility study. You need to research your target audiences, like their culture and language. A translation agency or language expert can assist you in your research, such as looking into local laws and regulations, logistical costs, competitors' strategies, and other information that will be relevant to your marketing goals.

At first, the information you've gathered might seem useless, but even simple tidbits of data can be helpful for your lead generation strategy. It could be as simple as which search engine and social media platform your target locale use often.

For example, you learned that there are close to 900 million Chinese-speaking netizens in China and Hong Kong, which you think is a potential market you can enter. Through market research, you found out that Google is banned from Mainland China, and as for Hong Kong, most of their netizens use Yahoo. So you've saved time and money not promoting your website on Google but on search engine websites that your target persona uses.

This brings us to the next consideration you have to take into account:

2. Partner With a Reputable Translation Agency or Language Expert

Another reason why many international marketing campaigns have failed over the years is that they neglected to incorporate culture and language into their marketing properly.

One of the first people we interviewed was William Mamane, the CMO of Tomedes, a translation agency that assists small and medium businesses in their language support and developing lead generation tactic worldwide.

Mamane explained that culture and language should be an integral part of your marketing plans instead of an afterthought. There's more to translation than just simply replacing one word or phrase that has a similar meaning in another, especially if you're planning to connect to international users.

"Translating for your target market relies on a deep understanding of the local customer's behavior and preferences. It takes expertise in translating a brand's marketing message in a way that your target users can connect," Mamane explained.

Due to this, it's essential to seek out professional help rather than simply relying on free online translation technology, like Google Translate, because they've been notorious for not providing accurate translation. You might end up insulting your target users or confusing them about what your brand is about.

Miscommunication can be costly and detrimental to your international expansion when marketing your business abroad. So when seeking out professional translation agencies, we've come up with some questions your will need to consider:

• Can they easily incorporate their translation into your digital marketing like websites and apps?
• Do they have a vast network of linguists and translators from across the globe and are native speakers of the language they translate?
• Lastly, can they effectively work with your company to develop a marketing and lead generation tactic? if you can't effectively work with the translation agency, it could lead to issues in creating your strategy

3. Go Local to Go Global

It is an essential principle—there's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to marketing globally. If you're going to get into the international market, you have to tailor your marketing strategy and lead generation method for your specific foreign audience.

In our interview with April M. Crehan, the Manager of Communication and Content Creation of Lionbridge, a language services company. She explained that you must have brand consistency when marketing on a grand scale. This includes consistent and high-quality translated digital content with a local-target-oriented approach.

Due to data privacy concerns, you will need to comply with privacy and data-related local laws to avoid lawsuits. Not only that, but you will need a grasp of the local customs regarding business operations and consumer expectations.

This is why we suggested that you first do research and conduct feasibility studies on your target locale. It's better to understand local nuances and implement them in your strategy.

4. Have a Clear Brand Image

Many entrepreneurs and small business owners don't think about their brand image. They presume that brand image is an unnecessary expense that doesn't add value to their service or product.

However, brand image is crucial if you're planning to go global. This is because when localizing your brand, you have to retain a sort of standard while catering to the preference of your local audience.

Another person we interviewed was Rama Ramaswami, the Content Director of Gartner, an international market research and consultancy company, who explained that establishing customer trust is vital for any brand. She explains that building brand trust involves three factors: warmth, authenticity, and dependability.

"A brand demonstrates authenticity by aligning its stated values with actions, such as taking steps to support corporate responsibility. Authenticity is more powerful in driving customer trust than is warmth but most effective is dependability — a customer's belief that a brand will deliver all the forms of value that it promises," explained Ramaswami.

It might seem like a challenge, especially for brands that have yet to prove themselves in new markets. So this where having a clear brand identity will help establish yourself with your target audience.

One way to go about this is by creating content in the native language of your target locale that answers common questions and gives solutions to their problems. As mentioned, 82% of online shoppers said they would most likely buy products in their mother tongue.

So by having reliable content, it shows your audience that your company is credible and well put together. This is why you'll need a language expert or a translation agency, especially when you're launching your brand in a country or region where English isn't commonly used.

5. Create a Flexible Marketing Plan

Once you've got all the information you need, it's now time to come up with a strategy. It's easier said than done when creating a flexible marketing strategy.

Harvard Business Review wrote an article that discusses customizing for the global market. It looked into different well-known international brands and how one has to consider the economic value vs. the product's efficiency, the cultural context and nuisances, and more. There is a degree to which standardization would be acceptable. However, much of it depends on the brand's positioning and promotion to the target market.

6. Build a Strong Content Creation Strategy

The pandemic has made digital marketing a necessity. So creating content has become an essential part of digital marketing and lead generations.

Compared to previous years, it has become very competitive. Recently, there has been much emphasis on the buyer's experience online.

Part of that involves a lot of content. For example, you want to buy a new phone, but you decide to do a bit of research because there are so many phones in the market.

You might do this because you don't want to waste money on something you don't like, you want to know the latest phones in the market, and the kind of features or you're just on a budget but still want to get the best one out of a deal. Whatever your reason for doing this, you look up the latest phones online. By doing this, you read and watch reviews about the newest models and evaluate their features, prices, etc.

As you can see, much of your journey in buying a new cell phone involves content from the review articles to the videos you watch. Your buyers will also rely on the same type of content you use before purchasing anything.

And so, building a content creation strategy is one of the considerations you'll need to do, which involves professional translation agencies or language experts who will be working with you on content development. It'll depend on the kind of content you're planning to use in your lead generation method and strategy, like creating a website, blogging, videos, and many more.

7. Keep in Mind the Logistics and Expenses

All your strategies should be within your budget and logistics. It shouldn't exceed it. Again another obvious consideration, but many companies make this mistake when expanding internationally.

This is because your marketing cost will depend on the market or markets you're planning to enter. Your decision to market your brand in the native language of your target locale will be a long-term investment.

So you won't get immediate results at the start of your marketing efforts. Still, by starting to promote internationally, you're tapping into a market that your competitors might not have gotten a hold of yet.

But creating a multilingual lead generation approach can be expensive as there are a lot of factors, such as research, translation agency, creating content, and more. After you've estimated the budget on how much you're willing for this endeavor, be sure to stick to it.

My advice for those on a tight budget is to start entering one foreign market at a time. By focusing on one local for a certain period, you're not risking a lot and can closely monitor your marketing efforts' progress.

Another thing, when canvassing for a translation agency, you'll need to base it on their credibility and accreditation. Do they have a one-year warranty policy, good customer service, great reviews from previous clients, and more to make sure that you're getting what's worth your money?

8. Have a Test Audience Before Launching

Now, this is something a lot of people overlook. Let's say you're creating a multilingual website because it's part of your lead generation scheme. By having a test audience from your target locale evaluate your website, you get constructive feedback on what to improve, like mistranslations, localization issues, user experience problems (UX), and many more.

Testing your multilingual website should be one of your priorities if you want a lead magnet website. Valasys wrote a checklist below to determine if you've created one:

• Solution-Oriented - Showcasing your expertise in offering solutions to your customers' problems.
• Audience Specific - In this case, your content must be tailored based on your target market's cultural and linguistic preferences.
• Exceptional Content - We cannot emphasize how essential this is in your website.
• Sophisticated Appearance - We might say looks don't matter, but the reality is far from the truth. The aesthetic look of your website should be based on your target locale's preferences, appealing and encouraging users to stay on your website.
• Impressive - It should make your users feel like they aren't wasting their time.
• Attractive CTA - In your research, you should already understand the local consumer behavior and what would psychologically trigger the user's need to purchase your products and services.

So if you were to have your multilingual website up and running without any feedback and there were problems that you would not be aware of.

It's not only about creating a multilingual website. If you're creating content like a blog or videos, you should ensure that your target locale will understand your brand message, the kinds of products or services you're offering, etc.

Having a test audience ensures that you're not wasting time and money on your lead generation strategy and that you have quality leads. Suppose there are any issues with localization or mistranslation based on the comments of your test audience. In that case, the translation agency you hired could correct any problems before you launch your website or upload your content.

Key Takeaway

At the heart of creating a multilingual lead generation strategy is the customer. When creating your plan, think about the kind of people who would avail of your products and services. No one likes their culture and language to be taken for granted, especially when it comes to marketing when there are professional translation agencies that could help localize and translate your brand and product to suit the locale you’re targeting.