Why are advertising campaigns not effective? 3 reasons related to the challenges of marketing translations

Many companies invest significant budgets in Google Ads and Meta Ads campaigns, hoping to quickly increase sales or brand recognition. However, despite well-configured target groups, attractive promotional materials and budget optimisation, the campaign often fails to deliver the expected results. This leads to a search of culprits among graphic designers, content managers or ad configuration specialists begins.  

We need to remember however, that one of the most frequently overlooked causes is… a linguistic error, or more precisely: an incorrect translation of advertising texts. How can this be prevented? Where to look for professional translation? Learn about the 3 causes of ineffective advertising campaigns related to marketing translations. 

Badly translated keywords in Google Ads  

The success of a Google Ads campaign depends not only on the budget available to the marketing department. Success relies on details, and these also include language. Phrases translated one-to-one, essentially duplicating keywords that work well with Polish audiences are not necessarily appropriate for the foreign users of the search engine. 

Professional translations of marketing texts – including keywords – take into account more than just language. An important element of such translation is the localisation of content for SEO. It allows the campaign to be tailored to the actual way services or products are searched in a particular country. 

Read more: https://lingy.uk/blog/marketing-campaigns-in-foreign-languages-choosing-the-proper-keywords/

Misplaced advertising slogans and marketing copy on social media banners  

In Meta Ads campaigns (Facebook, Instagram), short advertising copy placed on graphics or in the content of a post plays an important role. Unfortunately, like key phrases in a search engine, they are often translated literally. Cutting costs related to translation efforts results in diminished impact of the message and the potential customer’s trust in the relevant company. 

The effect of bad translation? 

The slogan becomes incomprehensible. It loses its emotional potential. It evokes laughter or consternation. 

In this case, we are not just talking about the translation of the texts used on the banners, but about so-called transcreation – i.e. the creative transfer of the message in such a way that it is understandable and attractive to the local audience. At an online translation agency – such as lingy.uk – the marketing translator is not just a linguist. He is also a specialist in the field of the culture of a particular country or region.  

Inadequate content in promoted posts – social media marketing 

Even the best-written promotional post in English can lose its power when translated verbatim. This results in the content that very often contains linguistic or stylistic errors, does not match the tone of the communication of the local target group, does not take into account cultural differences (e.g. forms of politeness, humour, taboos). 

Marketing translations should be carried out by people who are not only fluent in the foreign language, but also understand the local culture and communication style. Only then will the content in Meta Ads campaigns sound natural and evoke positive associations. It will then be much easier to interact with the user.  

Marketing translation – an investment in campaign success  

Many marketing professionals focus on the technical side of advertising campaigns – configuration, targeting, testing. Lack of time and budget for translation makes the linguistic aspect to be treated with lower priority. To tackle the challenge of translation, online translating engines are often employed. But it is precisely these tools that generate errors influencing the resulting campaign. 

Badly translated keywords, culturally incompatible advertising slogans and misplaced content in posts are not just minor linguistic mistakes. For the user, these are valid reasons to end the interaction. As a result, these are real causes of diminished effectiveness of an advertisement campaign. 

At lingy.uk, we believe that marketing translations should be seen as an investment in the success of a campaign, rather than a quick add-on at the end of the process. 

Take care of the language. Ensure results with our online translation agency  

If you are planning a campaign in another country – contact us. We will help you ensure that your marketing content is not only correctly translated, but also that it is effective and reaches the right audience. Just like the original, which helped you to establish yourself in local markets. Find out how specialist marketing translations can make a real difference to your campaign results.