The food and drink sector is one of the largest ones in the world, which is unsurprising given how important nutrition and hydration are for each and every one of us. This is precisely why business has consistently boomed, and with manufacturers and distributors based all over the world, the demand for quality translation services has never slowed down thanks to the ever-globalised nature of the industry.
Irrespective of culture, location or identity, the fundamental language of food is the same. However, effectively marketing food and drink products in such a competitive space is not quite so straightforward – in the UK alone, there are approximately 140 thousand registered food services businesses operating. With such a challenging market to broach, manufacturers and distributors need to focus on creativity and quality when it comes to developing their branding, and strategically penetrating overseas markets which could provide ripe opportunities in an otherwise crowded sector.
Here are some of the areas in which language service providers are helping to drive this sector’s success:
International Certification and Licensing
Providing food and drink products to any international or domestic market means following stringent regulations, and of course these will vary from market to market. Specialist translation is key to ensuring a frictionless entry to market and having an in-market partner with knowledge of this sector is a major asset ALM currently provides for our clients in this industry.
Marketing Needs
Localisation, translation and transcreation are all linguistic services required to cement a brand’s success in overseas markets. As mentioned before, the competition can be brutal in this sector, and setting a foot wrong because of poorly translated marketing collateral can have dire consequences for food and drink brands. Campaigns vary significantly from country to country, and with the support of language service providers, marketing teams can create bespoke messaging which will resonate well with each of their customer audiences.
Packaging
Tailoring the packaging for each individual market is as just as important for boosting local market sales as ensuring local market regulatory obligations are met. For example, all markets require packaging to display a product’s ingredients. However, the presentation of these details may vary from country to country and adhering to customer expectations will obviously have a large impact on sales.
Online Presence
Having a strong online presence is one of the fundamental expectations consumers have of food and drink brands these days. Website translation and localised social media campaigns are two of the fastest ways for businesses to gain a foothold in a new market and establish trust in a fresh customer base.
Partnering with an expert
Languages play a significant role in food processing and production and partnering with an expert at the early stages of your project provides invaluable insights; from helping you to navigate the regulatory challenges you will face and arming you with the market insights needed to engage with your local audiences.
ALM has spent twenty years supporting businesses grow internationally. Are you in this sector and ready to take your next steps? Speak to one of our experts today.
