Marketing translation and transcreation

Marketing translation: making your message resonate in every language

Marketing sells emotions, desires, and aspirations. A literal translation kills the message. A tagline that performs brilliantly in French can fall flat in English if translated word-for-word. Marketing translation (and its creative counterpart, transcreation) demands a dual mastery: copywriting expertise and cultural sensitivity to recreate the original message's emotional impact.

Since 2000, Asiatis has translated and transcreated for international B2B brands and communication agencies. Our marketing translators are native multilingual copywriters: backgrounds in communications and marketing, SEO expertise, and a deep understanding of their target market's cultural nuances.

Our marketing expertise

Marketing translation vs. Transcreation: when to choose which?

Concrete example: A B2B software company's tagline "Simplicity at work". Literal French translation: "La simplicité au travail" (flat and uninspiring). Transcreation for the French market: "Libérez votre potentiel" (Unleash your potential - focuses on empowerment and results).

Cultural adaptation: beyond language

Cultural adaptation (often referred to as marketing localisation) goes far beyond simple linguistic translation. It considers cultural sensitivities, social codes, and local values:

1. Cultural references: replacing incomprehensible allusions (regional history, sporting events) with culturally relevant equivalents.
2. Colour codes and symbols: white signifies purity in the West but mourning in China. Red signifies danger in Europe but luck in Asia. We adapt according to local visual codes.
3. Humour and wordplay: humour is notoriously difficult to translate. We recreate the humorous effect using local codes.
4. Societal values: highlighting culturally significant values. Collectivism and harmony in Asia ("together we succeed"), individualism and performance in the USA ("be the best").
5. Local formats: dates (MM/DD/YYYY in the USA vs DD/MM/YYYY in Europe), currencies ($ vs €), clothing sizes (US vs EU), and units of measurement (miles vs km).

Our marketing translators are native to the target culture and live in the country (or have lived there extensively). They understand local sensitivities, current trends, and professional codes.

Transcreation: a creative process with strategic variants

Unlike translation (1 source = 1 target), transcreation is a creative process that provides several strategic options:

1. Detailed creative brief: you provide the campaign objective (awareness, conversion, product launch), target audience (industry, socio-professional category, behaviour), desired tone of voice (premium, casual, emotional), and constraints (maximum length, mandatory SEO keywords).
2. Creation of 3-5 variants: our transcreators (multilingual copywriters) propose multiple creative options, each with a strategic rationale (why this choice, expected impact, differentiation vs competitors).
3. Presentation with back-translation: each variant is accompanied by a literal back-translation (translating back to the source language) so you understand the exact meaning, even if you do not speak the target language.
4. Validation and refinements: you select your preferred variant or guide us in refining it (making it shorter, more emotional, less aggressive). Iterations are included.
5. A/B testing recommended: budget permitting, we suggest testing 2-3 variants in the actual market (landing pages, LinkedIn Ads) to empirically identify the highest performing option (click-through rates, conversions).

Pricing: hourly billing (€100-€200/h depending on seniority) or project-based. A complete advertising campaign (tagline + signature + 3 headlines) typically ranges from €800-€1500 (5-7 days including creative iterations).

Multilingual SEO and persuasive copywriting

Our marketing translators do more than translate: they optimise for conversion and local SEO rankings:

• Local keyword research: keywords do not translate literally. We use Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, and Ahrefs to identify terms actually searched locally.
• Natural SEO integration: inserting keywords into strategic tags (H1, meta descriptions, URLs) and content (optimal density of 1-2%, avoiding keyword stuffing).
• Persuasive copywriting: utilising AIDA techniques (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), emotional storytelling, social proof (testimonials, data, white papers, case studies), and urgency/scarcity (limited offers).
• Optimised Call-to-Actions (CTAs): culturally adapted action buttons. "Buy now" (USA) vs "Discover" (France, less aggressive).

The result: your marketing content converts (generating sales, leads, sign-ups) and ranks (local Google positioning), rather than just being "translated".

International network: 150+ languages, cultural natives

Asiatis manages a network of native multilingual copywriters across 3 continents (Paris, Canada, Singapore), covering over 150 languages. Each marketing translator lives in their target country or has lived there extensively, ensuring a native understanding of current cultural codes and professional nuances.