MarketingProfs' Members Register for B2B Forum 2010 for just $695! (good until 11/30) »

Ask your question ... sign up today! It's FREE!
Advertising/PR     
 
This question has been closed, and points have been awarded.
How Do We Advertise To Non-native English Speakers
Posted By: thecustomer on 1/14/2005 6:47 AM (CST) 129 Points
Hi

http://www.morningpapers.com turns spoken english into accurate typing.

It's potentially very useful for folk who now live & work in the UK, but don't have english as their native language.

It's not a market I've tried to reach before.
How can we find & promote ourselves to them?

thanks

Will

Posted by: Peter (henna gaijin) Accepted Answer
1/14/2005 12:05 PM (CST)
A question back - what do you do that specifically helps ESL people? Can you handle accents well, or correct grammar?

I looked at the web site and there was nothing there that says you do anything special for people who are ESL. So the first step would be to come up with what the benefits are specific to them.

If there are no specific added benefits for ESL people, then there probably would be no real benefit to trying to segment them out and promoting directly to them.
 
Posted by: thecustomer Author Response
1/14/2005 12:44 PM (CST)
Hi Peter

that's a very fair question, based on what's in the website pages.

The answer is that we do handle accents extremely well - from estuary London ('rite?) to north Belfast (nasal, rapid fire) to Caawrnarl, and everywhere between.

And we fix grammar - we have to do it for everybody, because the structure of a spoken sentence is different from a written one. And it's a remarkable person that can speak a paragraph of prose - so there's um's & ah's to take out, and phrases to shift from one part of a sentence to another, and so on.

All of which is a big plus over dictation software, where you train it, then get 95% of what you said.

So really, we're not doing anything differently for ESL customers!

Given that we have a service that ESL folk could use (hope you agree) where could we promote it?

Will
 
Posted by: Frances* Accepted Answer
1/14/2005 5:36 PM (CST)
I would start by approaching the ESL courses in the UK, and put up some ads or hand out fliers to students... Depnding on the nature of the course, you could focus on helping to write job applications, or business letters, emails, invitations, etc.

Some other points that may be worth thinking about:

The most valuable service in helping ESL speakers to produce good written communications in English would be to offer translation from their mother tongues!

Also, it's sometimes easier for ESL speakers to get their points down in writing than in speech - so another valuable service would be simple editing.

But I doubt you'd want to go in these directions...

A possible problem with your idea is that it'll work only for those ESL speakers who have a pretty good command of the English language... otherwise the telephone dictation won't be comprehensible - to your software or your staff... So you'll have to be careful how you position this service...
 
Posted by: kingy* Accepted Answer
1/17/2005 9:38 PM (CST)
It's definately worth advertising to students especially those in Universities as they are often have lots of non native english speakers, being a student at Essex Uni I know it is there. There may be some research saying the percentages of foreign students in universities accross the country, though you may have to find out from each university individually. Essex's is: http://www.essex.ac.uk/planning/Statistics/Web2003-04/T7_Origin.xls

Also if you can give sufficient reason you can get the site in question linked from pages that will be seen by many foreign students such as the one below:
http://www.universitiesnet.com/overseas.htm
Link for feedback to contact them is at the bottom of the site.

Hope this helps.
 
Posted by: blanalytics Accepted Answer
1/21/2005 9:24 AM (CST)
The first thing you do is conduct some survey of your target customers and try to find out what their media habits and preferences are. Make sure you are specific enough to be able to identify the specific media or publications that they use most often. Then go where the fish are. Before going off and doing the research, you might see if there are any secondary sources of information on the subject.
 
Posted by: thinkmor Accepted Answer
2/14/2005 12:28 PM (CST)
Hi Will

I'd recommend giving a limited FREE trial to segments of your target audience that are likely to benefit from your service.

Do you have current customers? do you ask for referrals? offer them an incentive they will value and this will probably be your cheapest method to get new customers to trial.

Are there any regions that are using your services more than others? Figure out the 80/20/30 rule and see if it applies. If it does - in any sort of ratio - focus on this segment and profile the customers and find similar ones, through referrals, email or regular lists.

Are there any particular industries that use your product more than others?

Contact National Associations that make up your target audience e.g. Welsh, Scottish, Irish, County specific etc and offer them trials for a limted time. Get them to endorse or write testimonials to add to your PR arsenal.

Your PR strategy will be key in laying the foundations to your launch (re-launch). Can you invite celebrities like Billy Connoly or particular entertainers that can empahsise the capabilities of your software?

Who are your direct and in-direct competitors? Have you thought of non-competitive alliances and partnerships? e.g. dictation microphones

If you need additional help please feel free to contact me directly.

Hope this helps.

Zahid Adil
 
Posted by: mgoodman Accepted Answer
2/23/2005 3:40 PM (CST)
I'm not totally convinced that non-native-speakers (of English) should be your primary target audience, but for now I'll accept that as the ground rule for this question.

I'd try to reach your target audience in their native language(s). It will require more work on your part, but I can't imagine it wouldn't be most effective. It will tell them that you really appreciate their unique challenges in communicating in English. In fact, I'd even give some examples of how you can take specific characteristics of the individual native language (i.e., mistakes they'd likely make, or idioms they'd use) and correct them in the written English-language output.

There's a guy who has already done a lot of work identifying common grammar problems for various non-native English speakers (by native language), and it may be worth contacting him to see if he would share his work ... or license/sell it at a reasonable price. (Check his website at www.comfit.com -- or contact me for direct phone/email.)

Your communication can demonstrate how a phrase common in the native tongue is usually expressed in English, and how you would "fix" it automatically. That should be a very impressive demo, I would think.

Good luck. Hope this helps.
 
Posted by: Shelley, MProfs Moderator Response
3/6/2005 7:27 AM (CST)
Everyone, I am closing this question since it's growing a few cobwebs (and because I can). Thanks for participating!
 


Get more answers ... ReTweet this!

Would you like to post a response?
Welcome to Know-How Exchange!
This is a collaborative community. We welcome everyone's participation.
All you need to do is login. Enter your account info in the box above (top right).
Not a member? Not a problem. Register here (it's FREE and EASY).




Know-How Exchange powered by MarketingProfs


Sponsored Links

Buy a Link Now

Just Released ... Download Today!
Just Released ... Download Today!
Look inside
Included with Premium Membership
User Name:
Password:
Remember Me
Forgot your password?

Top 25 KHE Experts
(Advertising/PR)
Jay Hamilton-Roth (43473)
W.M.M.A. (31505)
mgoodman (25971)
CarolBlaha (19996)
michael (17966)
thinkmor (11658)
PhilGrisolia=Results (11575)
darcy.moen (10787)
stevea (10362)
NuCoPro (9474)
Peter (henna gaijin) (9467)
telemoxie (8723)
mbarber (8199)
Mushfique Manzoor (7932)
Puru Gupta (6790)
SteveByrneBranding (6482)
Gary Bloomer (6295)
SRyan ;] (5966)
shghosh (5797)
Deremiah *CPE (5479)
Pepper Blue (5368)
ASVP/ChrisB (5176)
Tracey (5120)
Mikee (4878)
amandavega (4775)
Recently Posted Marketing Jobs
Director of Marketing and Communications
Demand Generation Manager
Marketing/Advertising Faculty
Director of Marketing
Market Analyst
Sr. Field Marketing Manager - Business Intell.
Associate Vice President of Marketing and Corporat
Marketing Manager
[more jobs]

Join over 355,000 members ... SIGN UP!

My email address is and I'd like my password to be .

Already a member? Sign In!

My email address is , and my password is .


HACKER SAFE certified sites prevent over 99.9% of hacker crime.