Now more than ever, all the smartest art organizations are developing a communication strategy in Spanish to expand their businesses. Here’s what you need to know in order to do it too.
In this article, you’ll learn about the real benefits of translating your artistic content into Spanish and how you can apply 7 practical strategies to see your art business grow in the Spanish-speaking market. Let’s start by answering a couple of questions:
Why have a communication strategy in Spanish?
With more than 580 million speakers, Spanish is one of the most influential languages in the art world. It’s the official language of 20 countries, and according to Nielsen’s Diverse Intelligence Series, in the U.S. alone there are 62.3 million Hispanics, making up 19% of its current population.
Spanish is widely spoken not only in the Americas, but also in Europe and even in some parts of Africa and Asia. There’s no way around it. Communicating in Spanish WILL open doors for your business in the arts industry in every corner of the world.
What results will it bring to your creative business?
If you’re still in doubt, by adding Spanish to your communication strategy you will:
- Increase your visibility in more than 20 countries in one shot.
- Reach new audiences who are looking for exactly what you’re offering.
- Witness your creative work recognized internationally.
- Set yourself apart from the crowd, seeing as very few artists and cultural organizations are targeting this underserved demographic.
- Bring more value to your audiences by making an authentic connection with them in their native tongue.
- Build worldwide relationships with other artists and creatives.
- Increase people’s participation and improve cultural understanding.
Wouldn´t it be awesome if some of those 580 million Spanish-speaking art lovers attended your next art festival or exhibition and could interact in their own language? You can make that happen. Let´s take a look at some pandemic-proof practical steps you can take to expand your art business this year.
THE TIPS
1. Translate your website (or at least the essentials of it)
Your website can expand your art on a global scale. All you need to do is leverage it by making it accessible to Spanish speakers. Do it and you´ll see how your museum, fair, or festival reaches a much wider audience.
1 in 5 Hispanics are more likely to engage with content if it´s in their own language. By presenting your website in Spanish, your Latinx public will discover who you are and what you have to offer. Also, a website with a clear and powerful message in Spanish will ignite other artists’ passion in your work and build bridges for global dialogue and collaboration.
Art should be more accessible, right? So lead the way with a website in Spanish. You’ll pluck the heartstrings of every Hispanophone by speaking their language and show the world how inclusive you are.
You might be wondering…how much is it going to break the bank to have my website translated into Spanish? It´s actually less expensive than you think. If you have original content in English, you only need to find a professional and creative English to Spanish translator who understands your work to be your voice in Spanish.
2. Focus on what your Hispanic audience needs to know now
If you want to go easy on your wallet, you can prioritize. For example, you can translate only your homepage and your services and contact sections. In the arts industry, images (or sound) can be even more powerful than words, so having just the most relevant information in Spanish can still catapult your art across the globe.
Once you start seeing the results of having your basic info in Spanish you’ll view it as an investment and can translate more content as you expand.
To make this happen, find a creative English-Spanish language expert to help you translate and adapt your content in Spanish. You may be thinking, why bother hiring a human when machine translation is available for free? The answer is simple. Because you will lose your audience (and money) in an instant More than 7 out of 10 Spanish speakers are more likely to choose a service or product if it’s personalized for them with care. Use machine translation to get the gist of an article that looks interesting, but don´t risk your reputation with an algorithm-generated translation that can go terribly wrong.
3. Have a multilingual contact form (and freebie if you have one)
Trust me, I´m talking from experience here. As an art lover and native Spanish speaker, if you’re a performing arts center, cultural institution, or biennale with a great website version in Spanish, I want to know more about you, so I immediately sign up for your newsletter. However, if your sign-up form or follow-up email suddenly forces my brain into English-only mode, I wonder: Didn´t you care enough about me as a Spanish-speaker to make that additional effort? I guess you’re not as inclusive as I thought… what a bummer.
Those forms and emails are your secret move to win the heart of your Latin American public. If a Latinx feels appreciated in an English-dominated world, they will become your number one fan and will eventually buy your work.
Also, translate your freebie if you have one. Remember, it´s a gift for your audience. If it´s well-written or recorded (if you decide to use audiovisual content) in Spanish, your audience will not only cherish it but will also share it with other art lovers. That means more visitors, more supporters, and more revenue for your art business.
Make sure your creative language expert in Spanish understands your art so they can put your artistic product in the spotlight and bring you results.
4. Build a bilingual social media presence (and use Spanish hashtags)
In the last year, there was a 71% increase in social media activity in Spanish. More and more Spanish speakers are looking for content in their own language.
A Spanish speaker is 70% more likely to read your Instagram or Facebook post if it´s in their native language. Remember, if you want to win over Latinxs, speak to them in the language closest to their heart.
Having social media feeds in Spanish is a great tool you can use to target specific audiences in Latin America, Spain, and part of North America. This will even reduce your marketing expenses as your communication strategy will be better focused.
A smart move here is to recycle your most engaging English posts and have a translator with an artistic background help you find your voice in Spanish. Don´t forget to use Spanish hashtags to make those posts even more visible for that specific segment of your audience.
5. Add Spanish subtitles to your videos
You’ve probably seen the research that 85% of Facebook videos are watched with no sound. So why not add Spanish subtitles to show your Latinx art community that they matter to you?
Subtitles will make your art video’s engagement fly through the roof with Spanish speakers by busting open that language barrier. Your film, performance video, or art promotion material will be more inclusive and will inspire audiences across cultures, bringing you more followers and earnings.
Also, if your audience understands both languages, Spanish subtitles will give them added value; they’ll love practicing their second language and you’ll get your message across twice. Being bilingual myself, I find bilingual art videos a treat and tend to watch them twice and share them with all my fellow artists.
To get the job done right, make sure you hire a bilingual language professional with experience in subtitling for the arts industry, who has loads of creativity. You’ll see it pays to cater to the needs of this expanding demographic.
6. Host a virtual multilingual event
One of the effects of the current pandemic is that almost everything is happening online now… from family reunions to international summits. It’s the same in the Latin American community. In fact, in 2020 there was a whopping 1,370% increase of Zoom meetings in the Hispanic population.
Some of those meetings are bilingual thanks to remote simultaneous interpretation (RSI). By using real-time translation platforms, simultaneous interpreters can help you have a real conversation with art lovers and experts across the globe despite geographic and language barriers. With simultaneous translation, everyone in a meeting can speak and listen in their own language in real-time. It’s the perfect tool to forge connections with other people in the cultural and creatives industries.
As a simultaneous interpreter, it took me a while to feel comfortable working with this new technology. But helping English and Spanish speakers to communicate in their own language from the comfort of their own homes has been a game changer.
This online multilingual communication revolution has opened a whole new chapter in the era of international art events. Your next visual arts conference, gallery opening, or music festival can be truly international with performers and speakers from all over the world, no matter where they are and what language they speak. Isn´t that cool?
To make the magic happen, find a consultant English-Spanish interpreter (also called simultaneous translator) with experience in online events. They will tell you what simultaneous interpreting platform will suit your needs and how to set up everything to get you going.
7. Grow your podcast engagement with a Spanish version
In an era of information bombardment, creatives are looking for a different and deeper connection when talking about art. That’s why podcasts are blowing up right now. Unfortunately, most of them are only in English. This means the Hispanophone population is way underserved. Creating content in Spanish is a great opportunity to catch your audience’s eye (and ear!)
You don´t need to create Spanish audio from scratch. Be smart by translating your script and posting it with your original audio in English. People searching for related content in Spanish will find you easily. And if, on top of that, you already have your website and some social media posts in Spanish, the Latin American art community will love you.
If you´re not afraid to think outside the box, you can even have your original audio dubbed. That means a professional translator and voice actor will give life to your podcast in Spanish, wowing a mass audience not many people have thought of catering to. Don’t forget to look for language experts that understand your art to make sure your Spanish content is powerful and engaging.
To wrap up
Communicating in Spanish is the perfect language-inclusive strategy to sell your art globally. Any of the practical communication strategies I’ve shared with you today will bring your art closer to the Hispanophone community. Now more than ever, your online presence is crucial, and translating your content into Spanish will increase your visibility and make a splash with a diverse and growing audience. Your artwork will become more relevant and recognized around the world. So use take advantage of these hot tips and join the Latinx scene now.
If you need advice on how to expand internationally and inspire millions of art lovers in Latin America, get in touch. I´d be happy to help you!
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