Expanding your company is a good way to continue to grow and develop brand recognition. This can be done in many ways; for example, you could develop new products that appeal to a specific age group or create options to attract more buyers. Another important approach to consider in broadening your market is appealing to non-English speakers. This population, depending on where your market is located, can be quite a large and powerful buying force. Many of the marketing strategies you currently employ can be used to attract non-English speakers with slight alterations, such as appropriate translations and branding changes.
Consider the following approaches to more effectively market to non-English speakers who may want or need the products or services your company offers:
- Identify your Market
The first step is to identify what language groups are already using your products, or what languages potential customers in your area speak. For example, if you have a large company outlet in Texas, having a marketing campaign geared towards Spanish-speakers can help your business grow. Websites like American Fact Finder can provide detailed demographics about a community’s population, income and even languages used. By identifying which languages are relevant to your market, you can then begin to focus your campaigns around these languages without spending time on those that are not as large or may not prove as beneficial.
- Creating New Content
Some phrases sound catchy and interesting in English, but do not convey the same appeal when translated into different languages. In such cases, it is better to hire a writer that specializes in your target language. This will sound much more natural to non-English speakers than merely translating company catch phrases. This extra effort will come across to non-English speakers, especially when compared to companies that only translate their content literally without taking into account the language’s rhythm and word choice.
- Marketing Around Culture
All languages have an associated culture. For example, people often think of American English together with baseball games and hot dogs. Once you have picked a language to target, take time to learn about the non-English speakers’ culture. By doing so, you can establish a marketing campaign that resonates with that specific audience.
If you follow these three tips, successfully marketing to non-English speakers will be easily attainable. Remember, it is always important to be genuine. Blindly translating all your marketing materials will not appeal to your new audience. Identify your audience, create new original content and focus on marketing in a way that complements that people’s language and culture.
Do you have any tips to share for marketing to non-English speakers? We would love to read your ideas in the comments!
