9 Effective Tips for Spanish Copywriting
Translation services are often differentiated as either “straight translation” appropriate for technical content for instance, whereby a more literal translation is used, OR “Copywriting-transcreation” where content is actually written from a more creative, compelling perspective, rewritten in another language if you will.
In most cases, source content which is used for marketing must be rewritten in the target language to truly capture the essence of the message in a persuasive, as well as accurate and culturally appropriate manner.
Whether you are transcreating a source text from another language into Spanish or you are writing a marketing related message directly in Spanish, here are some tips that will help you craft your Spanish language message.
- Give your headline a creative twist that makes it sound new and amazing. It should be a short title which can make the reader feel he will be benefitted from reading your article.
- Use numbered lists, such as “The 5 most efficient methods to quit smoking”. However; offering “475 ways to save time” would not be very wise 🙂
- Make the actual content as credible as possible showing, if needed, evidence of what you are telling so you don’t let your readers down after the expectations generated in your heading.
- Use short and clear sentences. A good Spanish translator/copywriter must know how to break longer sentences from the source content into several short sentences to make the translation more reader-friendly for Spanish consumers. Sometimes, it is even necessary to change the structure of an entire paragraph to make it read smoothly in the target language. So once your first draft is ready, re-read the whole text making your sentences as short and simple as possible.
- Address the reader directly; unless a third-person reference is a best alternative in a specific situation such us a brochure meant to sell a treatment to lose weight. But in general, the use of “tú” or “usted”, (i.e. you), definitely helps you connect with your reader more closely.
- Introduce the content of your copy by sharing a nice personal story with which the reader can identify with and make him/her want to continue reading further.
- Pose questions to your reader. Preferably questions which have a “yes” for an answer –do you know what I mean? 😉
- Identify with your readers as much as possible. You must completely understand everything about your target audience, know the culture and be fluent in the target language so you can address the reader directly. For example, if you are working on a Spanish translation/copywriting project of an English ad on a new car model, you need to take into account that car in Spain is a “coche”, in Argentina it is an “auto” and in Colombia it is a “carro”.
- Ensure that any images used within the creative message are suitable for the target local market and most important, are not offensive.
Hope you found these Spanish copywriting tips useful to help you capture the real meaning of your message in a persuasive and culturally appropriate manner.
