In the life-cycle of any start-up, there are a number of phases. The start-ups we have been working with for years now have moved past the launching phase and have entered into a phase of business sustainability, or establishment. This phase is as big a milestone as moving from the start-up phase to the growth phase.
On our side, we have witnessed a number of successes, and we’re going to talk to you about some of the signs that show a start-up is ready to move past its first growth phase: the end of beta versioning and a priority placed on quality.
What is a Beta version?
For all new businesses the story is the same: you must get your product out to the public as quickly as possible in order not to use up the entirety of your funding before you’re able to find your place in the market.
That’s why web start-ups always launch their product as a beta version, or a test version, to see how the market reacts. Updates are handled live, and too bad for any small bugs! Start-ups are, by definition, less structured than multinational corporations; errors and setbacks are just a part of the path to success.
This is particularly noticeable during the product/market fit testing at the launch of the start-up. This is the phase where a start-up must evolve its product until it corresponds perfectly to its target audience.
Then comes the growth phase, where the challenge becomes about successfully scaling.
Scaling at any cost!
This phase is the most important, because it is during this step that your start-up will need to succeed in implementing its business model and that it will need to define its structure.
If the growth curve takes off, it’s a sign that you’ve reached your goal.
Most start-ups in this “growth hacking” phase find clever ideas to change the scale of their business. More than an innovative marketing concept to sell their product, it is often the qualities of the product that allow start-ups to be growth hackers.
If you succeed in this step, your start-up will no longer be a start-up, even if the spirit persists!
It’s once the stability and sustainability of your business is assured that we, at TradOnline, notice a change in the priority of your translation needs.
Sustainability = quality!
If, during the growth phase of your start-up, your priority was to quickly translate the largest number of product sheets on a tight budget, once the sustainability of your business is assured, you begin to place more importance on quality. And that‘s a wise decision!
Ok, better quality… but how?
If we take one of our clients, a player in the textiles industry, as an example, it is during this phase that they put more time and importance on the editorial side, not purely on descriptions. In other words, whereas before they were happy with a translation for “Red Cars pyjamas in flannel, 100% cotton”, today they won’t hesitate to call on our linguistic expertise to write more attractive product descriptions.
Editorials: content written specifically for your target audience
Yep, TradOnline isn’t just a translation agency! We can also draft content for you, especially useful if you lack an in-house content creator. More and more of our linguistic experts have taken specific training it drafting for the web.
Draft interesting descriptions… but why?
Simply put, to attract more clients! It isn’t enough to just have a good product in order to sell it successfully. And if you want to improve your conversion rate, you’ll undoubtedly need to look at what is keeping your customers from going to the checkout.
It may seem obvious, but it doesn’t hurt to say it again, your customers are more likely to purchase your product if you tell them about its competitive advantages rather than just giving product specifications. And in order to better understand you clients, you’ll need to learn a bit more about who they are.
In order for our content creators to work in the best conditions, we recommend our clients provide persona sheets or an outline of their core target audience. With this information, our drafters can put themselves in your customers’ place and create descriptions that will convert your prospects into clients.
Style is very important. We wouldn’t create the same content for a 20 year old woman hooked on new technologies as for a 35 year old mother recently converted to organics.
SEO: don’t miss out on good indexing!
It’s necessary for your content to resonate with your target audience, but it’s better if it also resonates with the Google web crawlers! On average, search engines generate 30% of your traffic.
The base of a good indexing is to avoid duplicate content. It’s easy done, as long as you aren’t copying and pasting content from another e-commerce site, like that of your supplier for example.
To optimize the natural indexing of your product descriptions, put your trust in us; it’s our speciality! Together, we can create your keyword matrix and define your priorities.