Are You Committed to Achieve?

In my career, I've been lucky to work with some very brilliant people. What I've noticed is that they all have one thing in common–they are all highly dedicated individuals, infused with a sense of greater purpose for the mission of their department, company or sector at large. These people are the game-changers, they are so driven that they drive change. They just can't help it.

Commitment is a rare quality, rarer than one would think. Most people simply focus on their daily tasks, their paychecks and are at best loyal to their company when the need arises. Committed individuals, on the other hand, are on a mission. They want to hone their craft. Each and every day.

Committed individuals have fun at what they do, they enjoy learning new things and taking on new responsibilities. They view issues as an opportunity to sharpen problem-solving skills and address shortcomings to better processes. Committed individuals are all about kaizen, and tend to have a philosophical outlook on things. Committed employees are highly productive, organized, focused, are able to energize their teams and have well-balanced lives.

Commitment is going the extra-mile for your project, your team, your customer. It's about having a 360° vision of your work. If you know how your tasks fit in the cogs and wheels of your organization's clockwork, however huge the latter, then you are poised to provide top-notch service. 

How does commitment translate in the world of business copywriting and translation?

One story springs to mind. It's the story of relationships built over the years with one of our prime clients. This client is a dynamic business association that promotes local socioeconomic interests. A few years ago, the association was thoroughly revamped to face new market challenges and a new team took over to give it a fresh start and a competitive edge. It was at about that time that Merry Frogs started to collaborate with them on translation contracts.

Now, the cool thing about translation is that you get to peep into nearly all aspects of the company. After a few months translating administrative documentation, industry reports, and marketing campaigns, well you pretty much get the gist of things. That's when you can start to make a difference—if you are committed to build a lasting bridge with your client.

We built that bridge with our client. Stone by stone, by understanding the goals behind each and every translation and meeting them. As our work relationship progressed, the association started to put their trust in our service quality and reliability. This gave us leeway to take initiatives and make propositions. To become a team player. A partner. We don't just deliver great translations, we connect as teammates to help our client achieve high rates of success for their campaigns. We provide an extra-layer of safety check for potential issues; we contribute our writing skills and marketing insight to pimp up our customer's communication as part of the translation process. That's how we commit to their achievement. And ours.

And we do even more. From the very beginning, we felt deeply involved in our client's cause. We started to follow our client on social media. And we regularly share the success stories of the association to raise awareness on its accomplishments. That's because commitment is catchy, and you get inspired when you work with dedicated people. After all, a bridge works both ways. 

Make the most of online word-of-mouth

Is your business really ready for tourists in the age of social media?

What does summer and Christmas season have in common? Well, we want both to last forever. And they're also both peak tourist seasons.

Unfortunately, they don't last forever. What happens when the tourists get back home?

They tell the tales of their travels and adventures to friends, coworkers and family. But they don't have to get back home to do so nowadays. They share their stories while visiting your shop. The magic of instantly uploading photographs and videos on social networks, and ta da! That's the magic of technology and that's also free publicity. Appropriately targeted as well. The entourage of the customer you've already won over is exactly who you want to reach.

By sharing good times and recommendations, customers inspire their peers to travel. With a swipe on a touchscreen, these people can in turn check out your wares and start dreaming. And dreams are the seeds that blossom into travels. Maybe these trips will lead to your shop... if your website was able to inspire the visitor...

We're in the age of social media. The era of instant and content-rich information traveling across the globe within seconds. Today the world is at your fingertips. We “see” other people's experiences. We get inspired by friends of our friends. We trip advise.

To fully reap the visibility offered by social media, tourism companies and shops need to showcase their wares and services in the language of their visitors. Sow the dreams of travel that lead to the door of your business. Make your shop a must when visiting your town. Leverage online word-of-mouth.

Besides your website, your social media outlet – e.g., your company's Facebook page – must engage a conversation with your customer. How can you achieve this? You need to spur conversations and bond with your customers. Translating word for word literally just won't cut it. You need to convey a meaningful message. You need to adapt the cover to get your content through. Luckily, a tourism company only needs to add a couple of sentences in the target language at the end of its social media posts to get the message through to the world while keeping the exotic appeal of its own native language.

Here's one more thing: online visibility has a global reach. Appeal to customers from places near and far, and don't miss out on the rising tourist tide from emerging markets. The world is limitless, dream big!

Contact us to learn more on how Merry Frogs can help you with your website and social media translation.