Hola!
Nǐ hǎo!
Anyoung haseyo!
Over 67 million people in the United States spoke a language other than English at home in 2018. That number has grown by now. That doesn’t mean they don’t use English, in most cases, they just have a different primary language. Still, that’s something that you need to take note of when planning your law firm’s marketing.
Handling Immigration and the Question of Languages
Let’s face it, because of the nature of your practice, there’s a good chance that you will be dealing with clients who do not speak English fluently.
Think of the family of an immigrant from India who came over to the United States as a software engineer who was recruited by one of the tech giants. They want to join him since he has a good and stable life in the US. You can help them to have a family reunion in the States.
Or maybe consider a family from the Philippines that wants to establish a new life in the states. They need all the help they can get to start a new life and your law firm is uniquely positioned to assist them. By having your marketing in the languages of the people you are helping, you’re making your service more accessible. Of course, that also means more clients for your practice.
Starting with Multilingual Marketing with Translation Services
When you are starting with multilingual marketing, the first thing that you need to do is to establish your content in English. Once that has been established, you can just create versions of the content in other languages with the help of a professional translation service.
To create a multilingual marketing strategy, there are several things you need to focus on.
- Identify your audience
- Choose the language of your marketing versions
- Fit the context
- Pick a platform
- Decide on a marketing channel
- Set metrics
It’s time to look in detail at these main tasks.
Identifying the Audience
Who do you need to market to? As an immigration lawyer, there is not just one type of client for your services. There are several client types that you can target and you have to think about all of them when formulating your strategy.
As an immigration lawyer, you may target people who are already in the United States and those who are still in their home countries. Remember, there are over 44.9 million immigrants in the United States as of 2019. Many of them would like to bring their families into the States too.
Is there any difference between the client profiles who are in the United States and those that are in their home countries?
If there are many differences in the client profiles, then you need to extensively customize the versions of your content in the new language. If the audience that you are targeting for all languages are very similar, then all you have to do is translate and maybe localize your content a bit.
Choose the Language
If you have been practicing for several years, then you would have an idea as to what languages you need to target in your marketing. This would depend on where most of your clients come from. If you tend to serve clients from Mexico and Latin America, then it’s a given that you need to conduct marketing in Spanish. You already have a very large audience because out of the 450 million population of Latin America ( including the Caribbean) 42 million want to move to the US.
Fit the Context
Now, using the language of your target audience isn’t enough. You also need to consider the cultural context of your audience. If you are targeting potential clients in Asia for example, then you need to consider the different cultures in that part of the world for the type of marketing campaigns that you will run.
Aside from the cultural context, you also need to consider the brand context. You are marketing a law firm so you have to mind the language should match the gravity of the field you are in.
Pick a Platform and Work with a Translation Services Provider
Once you are sure about the language and your target audience, you need to pick the platform or platforms for your marketing efforts. For starters, you need a website. If you already have an English website, then you hire a translation services provider to create versions of it in your target languages.
It is better to work with a company that does translation services than deal with individual translators because they have processes in place that guarantee the quality of the work. It’s also best to work with ISO-certified companies and those that are members of the American Translators Association (ATA). We checked the process of a few companies and we’ve seen the one implemented by Tomedes Translation Services, a company that offers translation to global businesses, is a good example–you can funnel all your translation needs through their service or by assembling an in-house team of translators.
They allow clients to upload documents online, which is a great convenience for someone who is busy running a law firm. Working with a large translation services company also guarantees that a translator with a legal background will be tapped for an immigration law firm website content.
Decide on the Marketing Channel to Use
Once you have decided on the platforms, the next step in the multilingual marketing of your law firm is to decide on the marketing channels to use. You can decide to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO), social media, or email marketing, which is supposed to be 40 times more effective than social media marketing.
Set Your Metrics
After you have picked the channels you will use for your multilingual marketing, you need to set the metrics so you know if your efforts are successful or not. Some metrics include qualified leads, conversion rates, customer engagement, and marketing spending per customer. The average conversion rate across all industries is 2% to 5%, so you should aim for a higher percentage.
These are the things that you need to work on to get the multilingual marketing for your immigration law firm going. With expansive and properly translated marketing channels with the help of translation services, you will be able to reach more people that need your help.