It’s easy to think that marketing is all about flashy graphics, creative copy, and promoting your goods and services in a good light. While all of that is mostly true, each business’s marketing campaigns and tactics differ based on the industry they’re in and their overall goals.
The life science industry is no exception to this. Whenever a new medical product - anything from a set of cabinets in a healthcare office, to a diagnostic tool or a prescription - is introduced to the market, there will be a marketing plan put into place to reach its target audience. But because the life science industry is so highly regulated, marketers have the additional job of keeping medical terminologies accurate and consistent during global distribution.
However, language is dynamic, meaning no two cultures consume and understand content in exactly the same way. This creates a challenge for marketers, as all global healthcare professionals must receive the same marketing message, or else the health and safety of their patients will be at risk.
Localizing life science translations is absolutely crucial, because if the marketing materials are not translated and localized properly, they will be confusing and difficult to understand. Providing unclear medical marketing materials can result in poorly trained healthcare staff, leading to potentially catastrophic and unreliable patient care.
The adaptation of healthcare marketing materials goes much deeper than translating word for word on a page. Instead, it’s using in-country, native-speaking linguists to adapt the content in a way which the target audience can embrace and understand.
When creating life science translations, it’s imperative to keep the following factors in mind.
Adapting Language to the Target Audience
Typically, if you are creating healthcare marketing materials aimed at the consumer, you’ll use language that is pretty easy to understand and speaks of the general benefits of the product.
Chances are, if you’re distributing life sciences marketing material on a global scale, you will run into direct-to-consumer laws that will require you to change your messaging in some way or the other. Healthcare providers tend to respond best to precise and specific information concerning the results of a clinical trial, the ease of use, prescribing regulations, and positive outcomes for patients.
Direct-to-Consumer Advertising Laws
Unlike the United States, not many countries allow direct-to-consumer advertising, meaning that all drug-related advertising materials must be directed towards healthcare providers. You’ll need to consider these laws when developing this content - and identify whether or not you need to change your messaging to be focused on the right audience.
Choosing an Appropriate Linguist
Medical copywriting is a niche skill, one that is incredibly important for accurate life science translations.
Content that is aimed towards doctors and other healthcare professionals tends to be very technical and detailed, requiring a high-level of experience and competency that not all linguists have. Not only is it the linguist’s job to consume the material and understand what it is saying, but they have to fully grasp the intended significance of the content.
We only use native-speaking linguists with a very specific experience within the life sciences industry to localize and translate all content. This highly-specialized field requires knowledge of medical terminology as well as relevant industry standards and regulations in their region that can impact the messaging in any way.. With their experience, they’ll be able to not only understand the technical medical intricacies in the content, but through localization, they will ensure the material’s overall meaning and impact is not lost.
For more information on our comprehensive life science translation services, get in touch with us today!