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IRISH EXPORTERS FORECAST STRONG DEMAND FOR MULTILINGUAL WEBSITE TRANSLATION AND SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
Dublin, Thursday, 24th November 2011: Multilingual website translation and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are forecast to be in strong demand by Irish organisations operating overseas, according to research released today by leading global communications provider, Cipherion Translations. The research, conducted amongst Cipherion’s client base in tourism, hospitality, life sciences, exporting, technology and multinational sectors, reveals that 58 per cent of companies will require website translation services in the next year and 35 per cent will be rolling out international Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaigns.
The research also indicates that French, German, Spanish and Italian will remain the focus for exporters and multinationals, with over 70 per cent of respondents indicating a future requirement for these languages.
According to theUK’s Centre for Retail Research over 85 per cent of European online retailing spend of €202.9 billion will be made by non-English speaking consumers in 2011.Commenting on these figures, Mark Rodgers founder and CEO of Cipherion said: “Despite the current economic turbulence, online spend in these markets is growing by double digits, with French and German consumers already spending approximately €80 billion online, so there is plenty of room for new market entrants.” He added: “In the Press there is some hype about the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) countries. However in reality the four largest European markets (France, German, Spain and Italy) still represent the greatest opportunity for most Irish exporters.”
Rodgers, who also heads up the Irish Internet Association’s (IIA) International Strategy Working Group believes that many Irish organisations, large and small, are missing out on lucrative, international business opportunities by failing to have their websites and critical marketing collateral available in different languages. “Many Irish business owners have yet to fully grasp the concept that their website is the gateway to a vast global market and provides one of the most powerful tools to help them communicate and sell to this non English-speaking marketplace,” he said.
Joan Mulvihill, CEO of the Irish Internet Association agrees. “We see a great appetite for internationalisation amongst our members. Over the summer, we ran a sold out “8 Ways to Sell Internationally” seminar for e-commerce businesses looking to expand to new markets. It’s definitely challenging but the rewards are worth it and we have some great Irish case-studies such as Zatori (who run TheCostumeShop.ie),MicksGarages and Chain Reaction Cycles. More and more requests are coming from our online retailers on how to target the UK and other European markets.”
As organisations grow internationally, an ability to overcome language and communication barriers becomes a critical success factor. More than just basic translation, it is vital to focus on communicating tone and marketing messages. And more than just translating a website, exporters need to focus on how to market these translated websites to international customers using SEO and SEM.
The Cipherion survey revealed 76 per cent of international organisations indicated that translation quality was the single most important criterion when selecting a translation services provider. Mark Rodgers explains: “When communicating to a German or French audience, Irish exporters need to take the same level of care with their translations as they do with their English communication. Too many first-time exporters are left with poor online conversion rates, directly attributable to translation mistakes. If the quality of the German translation is not what the customer expects, they react with a click to another website. The same seven second test to engage the customer applies – so the quality of your translations and messaging need to be perfect.”
Cipherion, a leading Irish translation and global communications company, today celebrated its fifth year in business by announcing a 98.3 per cent customer satisfaction in its annual quality review. Founded in 2006, Cipherion has a wide range of clients across tourism, hospitality, life sciences, exporting, technology and multinational sectors.