Multilingual Marketing

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has found that the UK's export businesses could be missing out on valuable opportunities because of poor language skills or multilingual market. A recent survey of 1,000 exporters has revealed that poor language skills and a lack of cultural understanding of overseas markets are amputating UK growth. The results go in hand with the realisation that English, although still the lingua franca of business, won't be enough in a highly competitive environment. 

Many exporters fail to adapt and localise their company's offering to individual foreign markets, communicating only in English. Half of them have a foreign language qualification but 80 % do not have the competence to conduct business in a foreign language. Worryingly, 63 % of exporters have no strategy to develop language skills and 77 % admit to having lost export sales over the past two years.

The BCC research shows a direct correlation between the value an exporter places on language skills within their business and their annual turnover. Only 33 % of firms who place the least value on language skills have an annual export turnover above £0.5m ($0.9m), whilst 77 % of firms who place the highest value on language skills have an annual export turnover above £0.5m. Depending on their attitudes and behaviour towards overseas markets, BCC classify exporters  into one of four segments: Opportunists, Developers, Adaptors or Enablers.

Opportunists

Opportunists account for 37% of SME exporters, and are most obviously characterised by their reactive approach to exporting, waiting for overseas customers to approach them, their tendency not to adapt and localise their products and services to more closely meet the needs of these customers and their reliance on marketing literature written in English only. Opportunists report an average decline of £50,000 ($96,000) in export sales over the last 12 months, representing a net fall of 5%.

Developers

Developers represent 17% of SME exporters. Like Opportunists, they are reactive in their response to exporting, undertaking little research before they enter new markets, though they will adapt their products and services to satisfy market needs and many intend to continue doing so in the future. Company literature, however, is only offered in English. Developers report mixed success in raising their export turnover in the past 12 months, though the net effect across this segment is a fall of 1%, worth £20,000 ($38,000) per exporter.

Adaptors

Adaptors account for 26% of SME exporters and are most obviously characterised by their global penetration, their adapted and localised products / services and their sales literature in foreign languages. Adaptors are larger than the average exporter, in terms of number of employees, annual and export turnover. Their export turnover to total annual turnover ratio is around 50%.

Export growth amongst Adaptors is favourable, with around half of those in this segment experiencing a rise in sales over the past 12 months. For the segment as a whole, this represents an average increase in turnover of £460,000 ($885,000). Adaptors are the most widely spread across the world, claiming European, Asian, Middle Eastern, the old Commonwealth and English speaking countries to be either their principal or secondary markets.

Enablers

Enablers account for 20% of SME exporters and are characterised by their proactive export approach, consciously choosing markets where they want a presence, adapting and localising their products, services and sales literature.

Enablers run the largest businesses of the four segments in terms of number of employees (including those based overseas), annual and export turnover and demonstrate the highest growth in export turnover in 2004 compared to the previous year; the growth averaging 7%, the equivalent of £290,000 ($560,000) per exporter. They are very aware of their customers, recognising that recognising that they need to adapt their business approach for their markets.

But the arena where the commercial battles are increasingly been won or lost is the world wide web. Research has shown time and time again that web users are up to four times more likely to make purchases or trade when addressed in their native language, while visitors have been noticed to stay for twice as long on a site written in their own language.

Additionally, the percentage of multilingual users greatly varies from one country to another: the majority of internet users speak a native language other than English, and some 100 millions are able to search and surf only in their native language. Because of this, web site translation and localisation is undoubtedly a key internet marketing strategy.

The rapid rise of a truly multilingual, multicultural on-line community has therefore significant implications for companies competing both in the global marketplace and in local markets where they have to deal with language-specific communities. The exponential increase of internet users who do not understand English or any other single language implies that conducting e-business in multiple languages will be the difference between existing and fossilising.

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