Marketing translation
Description
Marketing translation combines linguistic accuracy with creative interpretation. Unlike literal translation, it focuses on capturing the persuasive intent of the source message – how it sounds, feels and motivates – rather than translating word for word.
It requires an understanding of culture, idiom, audience psychology and market nuance. A well-translated marketing message reads as though it were originally written in the target language. Poorly adapted content, by contrast, can weaken brand identity or even alienate local audiences. Effective marketing translation often involves collaboration between linguists, copywriters and cultural consultants. It is frequently supported by transcreation, terminology management and AI translation tools that help scale creativity while maintaining brand integrity.
Example use cases
- Advertising: Adapt taglines, slogans and creative copy for local markets.
- Digital: Translate website, social and email content for multilingual audiences.
- Storytelling: Localize narratives, tone and emotion for cultural resonance.
- Launches: Create aligned messaging for international rollouts.
- Retail: Tailor product descriptions and promotional materials.
Key benefits
RWS perspective
At RWS, marketing translation is where creativity meets global reach. We combine human storytelling with intelligent technology to help brands engage authentically in every market.
Our creative teams bring creative, linguistic and cultural expertise together – supported by Trados for workflow efficiency and Language Weaver for secure, AI-enhanced translation. This Human + Technology model ensures that every piece of marketing content, from social posts to global campaigns, feels locally crafted and globally consistent. Through our international marketing services, we help organizations adapt not just language but emotion, humor and tone – ensuring every campaign resonates as powerfully in Tokyo or São Paulo as it does in London or New York.