Companies Increasingly Translating Their Marketing Message
More companies are looking at the U.S. Hispanic community as a new market. Strategies to attract Spanish-speaking customers include language-specific websites, smartphone sites, and texting campaigns. Charles Whiteman, senior vice-president of client services for MotionPoint, says, “What we’re seeing are clients who are looking for growth outside their normal market, and often that market speaks a different language." MotionPoint provides website translation services in 34 languages. Whiteman notes that the number of his clients asking for Spanish-translated websites has increased steadily over the last year. He says that when a company puts up their website in Spanish, they are telling Hispanic consumers that they are important. MotionPoint uses both machine and human translation in its website business. The machine technology gives the company the ability to automatically update a site’s content within 24 hours of a change. Trisha Habucke, digital marketing manager for Ford Motor Company, says this service has been important for her company. She says that Ford’s 10-year-old Spanish website was considered “a very poor experience,” with some items in Spanish and others in English. In 2009, the company updated the site, translating all of the content into Spanish. “The technology that MotionPoint provides enables us to translate millions of words within 24 hours,” says Habucke. “Prior to having them, it was all manual translation.” Two other major companies increasing their presence in the Hispanic market are Papa John’s International Pizza and Best Buy. Both already have Spanish-language websites. In October, Papa John’s launched a new smartphone-optimized application, and Best Buy is considering a similar service in Spanish. Jessica Pantanini, chairwoman of the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, says that just translating a site is not enough. “So many brands try to simply translate their site. You’ve got to make sure that you’re connecting with your consumer in a relevant way in language. What’s the right spin, the angle. You’ve got to have the right strategy.”
From "Courting Hispanic Customers With Texts and Web Sites en Espanol"
New York Times (NY) (11/18/10) Vega, Tanzina
Source: ATA Newsbriefs - November 2010
