In today’s fast paced society, globalization has become one of the most important things for any company. For many companies in growth, globalization means expanding business practices to countries across the globe. With this growing need, language and translation have become a vital part of a business’ success.

To fully understand the importance of language, let’s take a look at some of the most important facts about the industry. The global language services industry was worth over 35 billion in 2013 and has a forecasted growth estimated at 10 billion US dollars by 2018. The largest language services market is in Europe, holding 50% of the world market followed with North America at 37% and Asia at nearly 10%.

At a glance, these numbers easily demonstrate the growing need for translation and localization on a global scale. As a marketer, it is important to realize that targeting different cultural groups consists of transmitting a message that fits that particular target market. In other words, this means that investing in translation to globalize your product is essential to the growth and success of your business. With over 6,500 languages worldwide, translating and managing content has become more and more difficult. Each country has its own unique culture and various marketing concepts that fit their individual needs. This generally means that although language is extremely important, so is culture. In order to successfully market your brand, it is important to educate yourself and understand purchasing behaviors in order to adapt and convey your brand image. By targeting a variety of language speakers, you are gaining exposure and creating brand awareness in different cultures. Translation allows for better receptiveness, thus permitting potential buyers to see that you are willing to go above and beyond to cater to their needs.

Let us now take a look at why implementing certain translation and localization tools allows you to maintain a competitive advantage over others. Do not allow yourself to fall behind in current trends that will eventually hinder the advancement of your brand image. Implementing a translation management system and a translation memory allows you to be more cost-effective while translating content in many languages. These two tools allow you to save time and money by streamlining the translation process and by keeping archives of already translated content. This allows you to avoid repetitive translation, have a better overview of resources but also keep your content consistent which naturally conveys a stronger brand image.

With the right tools, marketing in different cultures allows you to gain a competitive advantage over your competition while creating a positive image for your brand. This truly demonstrates how important translation is on a global scale and how in order to achieve success, companies need to invest in it.