Expanding to new markets means translating marketing materials. But translation alone isn't enough. A word-for-word translation of your marketing copy loses impact, brand voice, and cultural relevance. Worse, it can offend—a phrase that works in English can be tone-deaf or wrong in another language.
The best approach is a combination: professional translation as the foundation, localization for cultural fit, and a workflow that keeps your brand consistent across languages and formats.
Let's walk through the process and the platforms that make it manageable.
Translation vs. Localization: Know the Difference
These terms get used interchangeably, but they're different processes.
Translation is literal: converting words from one language to another while preserving meaning. "Our product is fast" becomes "Nuestro producto es rápido" in Spanish.
Localization is cultural: adapting content for a specific market's preferences, humor, values, and market expectations. For a Spanish market in Spain, your messaging might emphasize European values. For a Spanish market in Latin America, you'd emphasize different priorities.
Example: A US tech company might say, "We're disrupting the industry." That phrase is culturally American—bold, competitive, aggressive. In Germany, a more direct approach ("We're improving the industry's efficiency") resonates better. That's localization.
For marketing materials, you need both: 1. Professional translation ensures accuracy 2. Localization ensures relevance
What Needs Translation in a Marketing Expansion
High priority—must translate: - Website copy (homepage, product pages, pricing, terms) - Product descriptions - Email campaigns - Case studies and testimonials - Ad copy - Help documentation and FAQs - Social media captions and posts
Medium priority—consider translating: - Blog content - Webinar slides - Whitepapers and research reports - Press releases - Landing pages for paid campaigns
Lower priority—evaluate by ROI: - Old blog posts - Internal documentation you're sharing externally - Recorded videos (subtitles vs. full localization)
Start with high-priority materials. Translate everything on your customer-facing website and primary marketing channels first.
The Workflow: Step by Step
Step 1: Audit and Organize Your Content
List everything that needs translation. Categorize by language, priority, and format.
Spreadsheet format: - URL or source - Content type (website page, PDF, presentation, email) - Language pairs (English to Spanish, English to Japanese, etc.) - Word count (to estimate timeline and cost) - Priority (must translate before launch, nice to have, future phase)
This sounds basic, but it prevents half-translated websites and missed content.
Pro tip: If you're updating your English website, don't translate old versions. Translate once, from the final version. Translating drafts wastes money.
Step 2: Extract Content for Translation
Different formats need different handling:
Website pages (HTML/CMS): If your website CMS supports multiple languages, export content as simple text files. Many platforms (WordPress, Webflow, HubSpot) have translation plugins that handle this, but they often produce mediocre translations. Better approach: export, translate with a professional tool, then import back.
PDFs and documents: PDFs are tricky. The format matters as much as the content—a broken layout looks unprofessional. Use a translation tool that preserves PDF formatting (tables, headers, images) instead of converting to text, translating, and rebuilding.
Presentations (PowerPoint, Keynote): Similar issue. Slides have limited space, and a longer translation (many languages are longer than English) won't fit. You might need to resize fonts, reflow text, or redesign slides. This is part localization, part translation.
Email campaigns: Translate the full email including subject line, preview text, body, and CTA buttons. Subject lines are critical—they determine open rates. Consider having a native speaker review these specifically.
Spreadsheets (pricing tables, comparison charts): Translate the content but also check that the math and layout are correct in the target language.
Step 3: Choose Your Translation Approach
You have three main paths:
Path A: Fully professional (agencies) Cost: $0.15–$0.25 per word Timeline: 2–4 weeks depending on volume Best for: High-visibility content, regulated industries, brand-critical materials Effort: You send files, they send back translations. Low hands-on work.
Use this for: homepage, main product pages, brand messaging, case studies.
Path B: AI with human review (AI platforms + freelancers/internal team) Cost: $0.01–$0.05 per word + human review time Timeline: 1–2 weeks depending on volume Best for: Most marketing content, time-sensitive campaigns, medium-volume translations Effort: AI translates, you or a native speaker reviews and tweaks.
Use this for: bulk of your marketing content, landing pages, product descriptions.
Path C: Hybrid (AI for volume, agencies for critical content) Cost: Mix of both approaches Timeline: Flexible, depends on prioritization Best for: Large marketing teams, multiple language pairs, ongoing expansion Effort: Organize by priority, use AI for most of it, reserve agencies for highest-impact content.
Most scaling companies use Path C: quick translations for most stuff, professional polish for what matters most.
Step 4: Localize Beyond Translation
After translation, localization happens. This requires native speakers who understand the target market, not just the language.
Questions a localizer asks: - Does this phrase work in the target market, or is it culturally tone-deaf? - Is our pricing/offer sensible in this market (considering local economy, competition, expectations)? - Do we need to adjust product positioning for this market (different customer needs, competitive landscape)? - Are there regulatory or legal phrases we need to add (GDPR, local data laws, etc.)?
Example: A US fintech company launched in Germany with "We're disrupting banking." German market feedback: "Disruption sounds chaotic. Germans want stability. Emphasize efficiency and security instead."
They didn't just translate—they reframed the positioning based on local market feedback. That's localization.
Who does this: A native speaker with marketing experience in the target country. This isn't a translator; it's a market consultant.
Cost: $50–$150/hour for local market consultation. Less than a full translation rewrite.
Step 5: Maintain Brand Voice Across Languages
Brand voice is the hardest thing to preserve in translation. English marketing voice (casual, friendly, direct) doesn't translate literally.
Solutions:
Create a brand voice guide for translators: "Our tone is confident but not arrogant. Direct but warm. We explain complex things simply."
Include examples: "We built this so you could focus on what matters" (not "We constructed this to enable you to concentrate on what is important").
Use glossaries: A glossary is a list of your key terms and how you want them translated. Examples: - "Feature" = "Merkmal" (not "Funktion") - "Affordable" = "Kosteneffektiv" (emphasizing value, not just price) - "We're on a mission to..." = use your exact mission wording, not a rephrased version
Do a brand voice review: After translation and localization, have a native speaker review tone. Does it feel like your brand? Does it work for the market?
Step 6: Handle Formatted Materials
Presentations, PDFs, and designed graphics need special care.
For presentations: Don't just translate slide text. Consider: - Text length (German is 30% longer than English) - Slide layouts might need redesign - Images with embedded text need new graphics for other languages - Font support (some languages use non-Latin characters)
Translated presentations often need a designer to adjust layouts for longer translations.
For PDFs: Use a translation platform that preserves PDF structure. If you rebuild PDFs manually, you'll spend 4–8 hours per document on layout alone.
For marketing graphics: If your graphics contain text (banners, infographics, social media graphics), you have options: - Create new assets for each language (professional, time-consuming) - Use a design tool that supports multiple languages (Figma, Canva) to swap in translated text - Skip graphics for non-primary markets (faster, less polished)
Step 7: Set Up Maintenance Systems
Translation isn't one-time. Your website and marketing materials evolve.
Build processes: - When you update English website copy, what's the process for updating translations? - When you add a new feature, is it automatically translated, or does it wait? - Who reviews translations for quality before they go live?
Avoid inconsistency: Without a system, some pages update in all languages, some in English only. Inconsistent translations erode trust.
Use version control: Keep translation files in version control (like you do with code) so you can track what changed and who changed it.
Format Preservation: The Hidden Complexity
This is where most translation projects stumble.
You send a PDF to a translator, they return plain text. You rebuild the PDF, formatting breaks. You spend 4 hours fixing what should have been automatic.
The best translation tools preserve format automatically: - Tables stay tables - Headers stay headers - Multi-column layouts don't break - Page breaks stay intelligent
This saves hours and eliminates the "the German version looks janky" problem.
Platform Approaches
Traditional agencies (Gengo, Stratus, LanguageLine): Good for: Professional quality, certified translations, regulated industries Weakness: Slow, expensive, no direct control over translator
AI platforms with format preservation (Bluente, others): Good for: Speed, format integrity, custom terminology, affordable scaling Weakness: Requires human review for tone/nuance (not a weakness, just a reality)
In-house translation (hiring native speakers): Good for: Ongoing programs, complete control, cultural immersion Weakness: Expensive, slow to scale, quality depends on hiring
Most scaling companies use a hybrid: AI for volume and speed, professionals for critical content and localization.
Bluente's Role in Marketing Translation
For the document and presentation side of marketing translation:
Bluente preserves formatting precisely. A PDF with tables, headers, and layouts translates without rebuilding. Presentations and Word documents stay structured. This eliminates the "the translation looks broken" problem that plagues marketing teams.
Custom glossaries ensure marketing terminology stays consistent: "feature" translates the same way across all your materials, "affordable" emphasizes the same value angle in every language.
For the workflow side: marketing teams upload materials, specify languages and tone, get translations back with formatting intact, and approve them in one tool. No back-and-forth with vendors, no rebuilding layouts, no missing translations.
The platform fits into the larger marketing localization process—it handles the document translation piece efficiently, so your team can focus on localization strategy and market adaptation.
The Complete Workflow, Summarized
Audit: List all content needing translation, prioritize by impact
Extract: Get content into translatable formats
Translate: Use AI for volume, professionals for critical content
Localize: Adapt for market, review brand voice, adjust messaging
Format: Ensure PDFs, presentations, and designs work in target languages
Review: Native speaker quality check before launch
Maintain: Set processes for ongoing updates and consistency
This isn't linear—steps overlap. But the structure prevents the common mistakes: half-translated sites, broken layouts, tone-deaf messaging, and inconsistent brand voice.
Final Checklist Before Launch
Before going live in a new market: - [ ] Homepage and top 5 product pages translated and localized - [ ] Pricing page accurate for local market (currency, VAT, local payment methods) - [ ] Call-to-action text resonates in the local language and culture - [ ] Testimonials and case studies are relevant to the market (or translated from originals) - [ ] PDFs and downloadable materials are formatted correctly - [ ] Support email templates and chatbots are translated - [ ] Legal pages (privacy, terms) are accurate for local laws - [ ] At least one native speaker has reviewed the full site - [ ] You have a plan for ongoing translation of new content
This isn't just translation. It's market expansion, done right.
Related Reading
Localizing AI Disclosure Labels for the EU AI Act: A 2026 Marketing Guide
5 Best DITA Translation Approaches Ranked by Reintegration Risk
Sources and Further Reading
Primary standards, regulations and specifications referenced above:
ISO 18587 — requirements for post-editing of machine translation output
How do I translate a PDF without losing formatting? — practitioners describing this problem in r/pdfequips
Last reviewed 29 August 2026. Written by the Bluente document engineering team, who build and test the format-preservation pipeline described above. We update these guides when the underlying standards, regulations or file formats change.
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