October 8, 2020

How to Create a Multilingual Communication Strategy that Minimises Your Translation Spend

Translation – good quality translation, at least – is definitely a service that you have to budget for. How much does it cost to translate a document? Document translation through a translation company can run from around £0.10 to £0.16 per word, generally. If you’re expanding your business overseas, the cost is an important consideration, since you’re already juggling expenditure across multiple regions. Below, we’ll look at ways to get high-quality translation solutions, while being mindful of your budget. Thankfully, there are several ways to keep on top of your budget without sacrificing translation quality.

How to use your translation agency on social media

Since it’s common for a translation agency to work per word, social media can turn into a surprisingly high ongoing cost when it comes to translating your messages for international audiences. Social media needs to be updated regularly if you want to stay relevant and keep engaging the attention of your consumer base. According to the experts at Tomedes, even LinkedIn should be updated regularly, so you’ll need to budget for that too – from the cost of posts to translating entire articles.

According to a survey from Hubspot, accounts with more than 10,000 followers saw peak clicks per post when they posted 31-60 Facebook updates per month. Accounts with fewer followers saw a decrease the more they posted, peaking at clicks per post in the one to five posts per month range.

What this all means is that the scale of your post frequency needs to be higher the more followers you have. Even if you have fewer than 10,000 followers, according to the Hubspot survey, you should ideally be posting at least weekly. If you’re posting in multiple languages that need high-quality translation solutions, the translation costs can quickly add up.

To keep costs manageable, it’s important to make sure you’re aware of your social media schedule and what post frequency yields the most clicks per post. Look at your analytics to see how many posts you need to achieve the best click rates. You don’t want to post more than is necessary. Stick to that post schedule and budget for that frequency of posts.

Another way to keep social media translation company costs scaled is to look at what the most popular social media site is in your target region or demographic. Then stick to that website primarily. Know where your customer base is hanging out so that you don’t waste time and money.

Regular social media updates do cost money to translate, but with over half of the world now using social media, it’s a cost that should certainly be in your budget.

Organise the documents you need for the translation company

Another way to get a handle on your budget as you work with a translation company is to organise all of your documents ahead of time. Then calculate how much it will cost to translate each of them so that you can work that into your budget. By taking the time to know what you need to be translated, you can prioritise the essentials.

It’s surprising how many documents need to be translated if you run a business in multiple regions. You will likely have to translate a wide variety of business documents, like technical instructions, memos, presentations, financial reports, or emails. You might have to translate legal documents like contracts. Also, there’s the translation quality of ads, brochures, flyers, and other marketing messages to keep in mind.

Focus your marketing strategies with translation quality in mind

Another way to keep translation company costs down is to create ads from a perspective of multiculturalism. This means writing ads so they are easy to translate across different cultures.

For example, you can also write ads in such a way that they’re easier to translate. For instance, you might avoid local references or idioms that only make sense in the original culture, cutting back on the time and difficulty of the translation. A simple rule of thumb to follow is if a message doesn’t make sense outside of the native region, you may want to avoid it. Internationalising your adverts in this way can save both time and money.

Find bilingual employees to help monitor translation quality

If you work regularly in multiple international markets, you might find it useful to hire bilingual employees. These employees may be able to help guide you in keeping ads as multicultural as possible. They can also help you navigate local cultures and customs so you are not unintentionally offensive.

There is one common question people who work with a translation company have: how can I make my translation accurate? One easy answer to the question of how to evaluate translation quality is to have bilingual employees review each translation after it comes back from the translator. You might have them make a translation evaluation based on certain criteria or review it against a set of standard translation quality metrics, all at no additional cost.

Don’t be tempted to use your bilingual employees to undertake the translation work itself – it’s always better to rely on experienced professionals for that. A translation company will be able to provide specific expertise for your sector and message type, whether you need marketing, legal, or even medical translation. For local expertise, search for terms like “translation company London” or “translation companies UK” to provide the linguistic expertise and cultural insights that your business needs.