English is now a minority language. To attract the large set of potential investors whose first language is not English, companies must not only reach them with news and investment propositions, but also express themselves in the language that those people prefer to use. Here Tim McKinnon, founder of ABN Newswire, poses the question - if you’re not talking in the native language of your target audience, can people be expected to really hear you?
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Did you know, that in a world driven by communication, the need to express oneself is clearly vital? As the interconnectedness of the international community becomes much more intertwined and close-knit, the possibility of needing to communicate to someone in a language other than one’s own becomes highly likely. This need is even more pronounced when it comes to company communications.
With the surge of the internet and the rapid growth of social networks and communication tools, individuals, groups and companies are now able to reach further and with greater impact into communities they may have never before been able to connect to, let alone envisage doing business with.
As our reach extends so does the desire to provide services to a wider market, along with demand from extended markets. So how does a company with a product or service ensure that it’s capitalising on a business in a target market? It needs to communicate. However, communication is constantly evolving, as is the means by which we can communicate.
In the context of a shrinking world, communication requires that companies adapt and accommodate strategies that help them assimilate or integrate with their target markets.
While an ‘online bridge’ which now connects once distant markets globally has reduced communication capability to virtually seconds, there is still, for many companies, an immense chasm separating them from exponential growth, a result of a significant oversight in their “corporate communications strategy”. Many companies who are trying to generate increased company interest, increased market value and general company exposure are lacking an integral component in communication, particularly those with global aspirations, and that component is translation.
“While content in English still dominates the web, "billions of people don't read English at all or well enough to make buying decisions," concludes a survey by Common Sense Advisory, a business research consultancy.”
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While content in English still dominates the web, “billions of people don’t read English at all or well enough to make buying decisions,” concludes a survey by Common Sense Advisory, a business research consultancy. In reality, businesses must translate and localise products into a host of different languages, and that requires translation.
Take for example the inventor and the invention. You may have the greatest invention in the world, something that could revolutionise the way we operate, yet, if you have no means to communicate or lack the means to communicate in an appropriate format, the value of the invention is fundamentally worthless. The ability to express the value of a product or service, in a manner understandable to a target market becomes the ultimate test of success.
“The ability to express the value of a product or service, in a manner understandable to a target market becomes the ultimate test of success.”
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This has become even more apparent in the lack of multilanguage strategies. While access to target markets in faraway lands has become accessible, to many companies, the strategic building blocks are often not in place, resulting in lost opportunity.
Think about how to attract investors outside of your existing portfolio. Is English their first language? Can you expand your communications strategies to include this large set of potential participants in your company’s dialog?
It is worth thinking about, after all, English is now a minority language.
Considering your approach to translation?
Tim McKinnon is the CEO of ABN Newswire, the leading Pan Asian and Global Business Newswire offering offering translation services and global distribution of press release and company announcements and an electronic network for broadcasting important corporate information, video and multimedia, to local and foreign media, investors, analysts and financial institutions.
If you’d like to speak with Tim, please contact him via tim.mckinnon@abnnewswire.net or +61-2-8205-7353.
IRM can assist with multi-language websites or translated key pages on English language websites.
Many thanks to Tim for this thought-provoking post.
Online Investor Engagement Specialists
