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Hello!

My current role is a digital marketing specialist, which includes various activities. It’s shocking how a millennial earns money working in digital media, right? And my mother always told me I spent too much time on my phone.

Now, for the most part, I write blog posts for Ciklopea and then try to promote them through social networks. When I get stuck with writer’s block, I turn to graphic design and visual materials, whether it be photos, videos or brochures and flyers. Besides that, I’m helping Sara with some HR activities and internal events organisation.

It’s a funny story how I got this job, actually.

When our Chief Operations Officer dug out my personal Twitter account, where I cry and swear a lot, I thought I had only two options – to block her or to delete the whole account. After I slept it off, I decided to let it go since it was her decision to follow my emotional rollercoaster. Then, a few days later, she followed me on Instagram and our Managing Director did the same. The same day, just minutes later, our HR manager called me into her office “for a quick chat” and I thought to myself okay, this is it, I’m getting fired or something for what I post on social media and for my language there.

Luckily, it wasn’t like that at all. As it turned out, our management team liked what they saw and thought I would be a good fit to their marketing team.

I accepted the offer without hesitation, because I live in the virtual world 24/7 anyway, so I might make something meaningful and useful out of it.

And who would’ve thought my whining to strangers online will ever land me a job?

How did you get into the language industry?

I came to Ciklopea during my final year at university as an intern at the QA/technical department. Since I studied information sciences, where we placed a lot of emphasis on natural language processing and language technologies, Ciklopea seemed like a great place for me to experience first-hand how it all worked in the real life.

I got to learn all the details and possibilities of CAT tools and everything else about the translation and localization industry.

Of course, none of that would be possible without the necessary resources that Ciklopea provided me with, and without my mentor Nikolina who unselfishly introduced me to the job and shared all the tips and tricks with me.

You work both at the marketing and technical departments. It’s a very rare combination of skills so could you tell us how the different parts of your job influence each other?

It is, indeed, a very rare case and I don’t really think they can influence each other in any way. One job is more analytical, requires a lot of attention to details and often has strict rules and instructions, while the other is more creative, somewhat uncertain and rule breaking.

That’s what’s interesting because it reflects both sides of my personality, even though it’s not always easy to manage them.

What is the driving force of your job?

Creativity and the possibility to switch from one thing to another, so I don’t get fed up with the same routine tasks.

Also, the people I work with. I enjoy the atmosphere here and I made some really close friends. The job gets done easier when the working environment is positive and encouraging.

What is your secret superpower?

I make great pancakes. And coffee!

Who is your hero and why?

It would have to be Božo Vrećo because he always sees the beauty in things and always tries to stay positive, no matter how hard life hits him sometimes. And I think that’s what we can all learn from him. It’s what’s desperately missing in this world. Dwelling on negativity or self-pity will lead us nowhere. Life always gives us back what we offer it. So why don’t we spread love, positivity and good vibes, instead? What’s the worst thing that can happen?

What is your motto or favourite quote?

Be yourself and don’t give a damn what anyone else says or thinks about you.

It’s a cliché, I know, but it’s the truth I had to experience on my own skin. There will always be people who will try to bring you down, but you don’t have to go with them. Obsessing over someone else’s opinion of you will only do you harm. So instead of always trying to please others, try living your own life for a change, because you only have one. 😉

The three things you would take to a desert island?

A cheesecake, Marcel Proust’s Combray and a friend or two so I don’t always have to talk to myself.

Wilson, Cast Away, 2000.

Describe Ciklopea in one sentence.

The place where it never gets boring. 😉

The post My Ciklopea Story: Juraj Močilac appeared first on Ciklopea.

The theme of the conference is inspiring vendor managers, but you will be able to hear a lot more about the new ways of work.

Check out Zana’s invitation video below for more info:

Our Chief Business Development Officer Zana Čizmin will represent Ciklopea with the funky combination of digital marketing, localization and tourism on the second day of the conference.

If you are also attending the MCE conference, feel free to meet and greet us. We will be glad to chat with you.

See you in Budapest on 31 October! 🙂

The post Meet Ciklopea at Meet Central Europe Conference appeared first on Ciklopea.

Before producing content, we definitely should analyse our visitors and their behaviour on the Internet.

In other words, we need to have a clear vision of how our target audiences look and act like while browsing the Web and what kind of content drives them to engage more. Another thing we should take into consideration is whether they’re engaging with the content via their desktop computer, laptop or a smartphone. Only when we get the answers to these questions, we can start thinking about how to fulfill their desires with interesting content.

On the other hand, there’s the complex problem of making the same content relevant for different users. Let’s say you want to talk about some new tech gadget on the market. The first users that come to your mind would probably be tech lovers, geeks and experts, but how can you readapt that same content to be interesting to non-experts and newbies?

Will the professional/expert terminology and approach mean anything to lay users? And who is your target audience?

Your content means nothing without the context in which it is consumed. Of course, there is an unimaginable number of contexts in the universe and it is impossible to think of every single one, but you should cover the most probable ones.

Except for the audience, it’s important to adapt the content for different platforms and social networks. Something may work for Facebook, but that same thing will not work for Twitter or Instagram. Because we can’t transfer one message through different channels in the same format and expect it to have the same impact and results.

And on top of all this comes localization as a device of adapting the content and its context to the environment of the foreign markets, which is another contextual arena with divisions and subdivisions of its own.

It seems like the conclusion here is obvious – content cannot exist without context, or it can, but it will inevitably lose a lot of its juice (or worse) if taken out of context. And while it may be seemingly easy to create content, it definitely takes deeper thinking and more resources to make it relevant for different customers and platforms. Which means it also takes continuous readaption and improvement.

So don’t be stingy with creativity and more importantly – don’t be afraid of the change.

The post It’s All Connected: Harmonizing Content and Context appeared first on Ciklopea.

In her speech, Ms. Axam reflected on the changing role of the CMO and the need for organizations to adapt in order to fit into today’s modern marketing world by truly understanding their customers.

Our main interest was a part of the talk about the possibilities to transform the marketing team into a client centric and data driven one, i.e. to understand your clients better in the digital world.

Our takeaways

75% Executives Make Emotional Decisions

The most important thing in selling language services is to reach decision makers and focus on their needs. They have to imagine themselves in a particular business situation in order to make the right decision.

Product Focused vs. Experience Focused Marketing

The old marketing process would be to focus on the final product and the ways on how to sell it. But that is not sufficient anymore, since digital trends require constant adaptations. This is why it is important to focus on customer experience instead and put customers’ needs first. By doing so, we can finally put the pieces of the puzzle together and create a cohesive picture.

Empathy Maps

Tracking clients’ satisfaction even after closing a deal is also very important. That way, we can see how the client feels when using our services and use that knowledge to increase their satisfaction.

Social Media and Content Distribution

And of course, social media have a huge impact in the whole process, so it is necessary to create content for a specific area, stay in touch with customers at all times and listen carefully to their desires and needs.

The post The Need For Digital Marketing Transformation appeared first on Ciklopea.

Connecting with people has never been easier, considering that significant parts of our lives are now happening online. For business owners, it can mean setting up and regularly maintaining a website, which will represent them in the best possible way. However, sometimes having a website alone does not guarantee success, especially if going global is one of business’s main goals. The global markets require content that (almost) anyone can understand, which is why website localization is necessary.

It is a complex and serious task that takes time, resources, practical knowledge and a lot of patience to be performed the right way. Luckily, there are technologies designed to optimize the localization process and integrate it into website development. What makes the whole process less painful are definitely content management systems (CMS). In addition to being user-friendly, they also feature a bunch of plugins and modules enabling the users to set up multilingual website. The plugins can be easily integrated with the computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, which can help speed up the process later on.

CAT integration

Surely, you have heard of WordPress, the most popular and the most powerful CMS of them all, but maybe you still haven’t figured out all of its possibilities. Because it is an open source software, it offers developers endless possibilities for tweaks and expansions. There is one plugin in particular that has been designed for optimization of localization projects and it is called WPML (WordPress Multilingual) Plugin. It enables full integration of cloud-based translation productivity software into the CMS, making the localization process smoother, faster and leaner.

On the other hand, there is Drupal, another widely used content management platform. Just like WordPress, it has numerous modules used for website translation and localization, whether it be content or interface itself. Some of the useful modules would be Localization client module, Localization update and Internationalization (i18n) module. To be completely honest, none of them can stand alone, or at least cannot provide you with satisfying results. The idea is to use them symbiotically in order to launch proud-worthy multilingual website.

The good thing about Drupal is that it gets along with CAT tools, primarily with Memsource. This means there’s a special module that synergizes the two. Thanks to the Memsource Translation Plugin, every piece of content can be sent to Memsource Cloud platform for translation and pulled back into Drupal for review and publishing, preserving the code integrity and optimizing the localization process. It can be imported manually or automatically using the Automated Project Creation feature. It’s important to emphasize that Memsource plugin only supports Drupal 8, which is the current version of the software.

Major benefits of CAT-CMS integration

Website localization is not only cost-effective, but it can also be a time-saver, since processes are optimized and automatized. In addition, it preserves code and layout integrity, which means HTML, CSS and other codes will not get lost in translation. The layouts, fonts, image and video settings will remain intact across the localized versions.

Wasting time and resources on preparation, export and import of textual content for localization becomes a thing of the past. Also, a website can be localized to more languages simultaneously as the completed content is automatically assigned to the linguists working on all required languages.

CRM, CAT and CMS – what’s the catch?

Okay, you know what CMS and CAT are, but what on Earth is CRM now and how are these three things connected?

Well, every business should show consideration for their customers, which is why they’re trying to excel at Customer Relationship Management. However, to build and maintain a good relationship with customers, it’s necessary to get to know them.

Tracking your online traffic and collecting data on your visitors can help you get closer to your audiences, as well as to understand how they use your website. Once you gather all that important information, you can adapt your website accordingly. You can achieve it through localization of the relevant and engaging content or any other way that will show them they’re not just a sales target to you, but rather a valuable partner.

It’s Worth It

It seems that the producers of content management software have recognized the need for creating and maintaining multilingual websites intended for wide use. The main purpose of such websites is to reach the minds and hearts of audiences across the globe. And of course, the biggest benefit here is yours, since expanding your ideas outside the state borders means faster growth of your business.

No one said getting into website localization would be easy, especially not with all these modules and plugins that can leave you utterly confused, but it’s the inevitable step on the business success ladder.

But it will pay off in the end. Literally.

The post Website Localization: Why Is It Important and How to Do It Painlessly appeared first on Ciklopea.

If you’re a business owner or work at the business company, chances are you have something you want to sell. I believe there’s no need of mentioning that selling methods change quickly and in case you are wondering why your infomercial approach isn’t bringing you any revenue, that may be because everyone got bored with it. It’s time you put your backpack on and hit the road of new perspectives.

Discover your story and tell it

Power Point presentations, brochures and similar material may be your standard selling tools when meeting with possibly new clients. You come in all set, ready to amaze them with what you’ve accomplished so far, swiping through all those slides, tossing statistics and numbers, but guess what? They’ve already seen it. They’ve seen it five minutes ago, last week and even ten years ago and they’re tired of it. Your numbers, graphs, skills and company goals mean little because what’s in there for your prospective clients?

Whether we want to admit it or not, we’re all a bit self-centred and enjoy the sound of our own voice. So why not give it a try and instead of focusing on yourself, provide your future clients with something they will remember you for. Tell them a story. Personal story, funny story, true story, whichever kind of it, but I guarantee you, they will remember it more than your run-of-the-mill Power Point slides. A spontaneous anecdote might stick with them for life. Even though they might not be interested in your product for now, you will surely be the first one to pop in their head when they decide they need it after all.

Opening your presentation with a story will give you a touch of uniqueness, it will make you stand out. In the end, we’re all humans who appreciate the little things and like to feel special and when you give me that treatment, I will definitely be more interested in what you have to say. That’s the thing.

If you can make me buy your product or a service without sounding like you’re trying to sell it, that’s when you know you’re doing great job. Boosting your sales using stories is an art as much as it is a skill. So even if you master the art of storytelling, please have in mind that not every story is suitable for every client in every market.

Adapt the story for your audiences

That’s why it’s important to re-shape them or even change them completely according to where and to whom you’re trying to sell it to. There are two main reasons for that.

First, it’s not a very good practice to use the same story over and over again – it becomes dull and it gives the impression that you didn’t even try. As I said before, your clients need to feel special, like they’re getting their own personalized story and experience. The other, more important reason is the one that we’re always trying to emphasize – different clients will react differently to your presentation.

To some it may be funny, but to others it may be offensive or completely irrelevant.

For example, John from the beginning of this text has a different name in my country and in some parts of the world, he doesn’t even exist, because he’s not part of their culture. Alternatively, you can use examples from books or the Internet, but remember they need to be properly prepared and localized for the target market.

That’s what localization is really all about – helping you say who you are to the foreign audiences in the way that they will completely understand and it essentially works the same in every industry, from tourism to pharmacy, and in every medium, from website to spoken word.

The post Storytelling and Localization Can Boost Your Sales appeared first on Ciklopea.

Website localization alone is a tricky business as it is, and when you add SEO to the equation, it can easily turn into a nightmare – particularly if you’re not familiar with the rules or if you decide to go against them. I’m not going to lie – it can be tough sometimes, but there are several tips and tricks that can help you increase your online traffic.

If you find yourself at a digital cul-de-sac, not knowing where to start or which parts of SEO texts you need to localize, it’s always a good idea to take a step back and think of a general text structure. Then think of how you want the people to find your content and interact with it.

Keyword list

Searching for what we want to see in most cases happens through keywords and simple phrases. Knowing that, you’ll have to do a research on what keywords people use to find your website and then you’ll have to make a list out of them. Once you’ve set the list of terms in your language, it’s time to localize them to other target languages, since search habits differs from culture to culture. Note that there’s no such thing as a simple keyword translation – they need to be researched for each market.

Audience oriented content

It sounds obvious, but I guess you’re not producing the content just for yourself. Naturally, you want it to reach a particular wider audience and to make it happen, you need to shape it in accordance with the intended target market environment. It’s not enough to simply translate the content as it may have a negative impact on your business, it needs to be localized and thoroughly prepared for different  cultures.

Keywords in text

Now it’s time to use those keywords that you previously researched. SEO texts should contain appropriate amount of keywords so that it could be easy to find, but it’s also important not to overuse them. Google will automatically penalize the materials with an unhealthy amount of keywords and mark them as spam. Besides that, you want your texts to have a natural, understandable flow that can be enjoyed and understood by the users, not just computer-generated gibberish word lists.

Meta descriptions

Well-written, catchy meta descriptions are what attracts readers and potential customers to click on your page. Obviously, it’s the essential part of SEO localization process, but be aware of character length restrictions. Even though Google announced expansion of snippets in search results (speculatively up to 320 characters), it is recommended to stick to the original 160 characters. After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Titles

Title is the first thing anyone sees when searching for something on the Web, so it needs to be accurate, interesting and mildly provocative – but also true in the context of material. Nobody likes clickbait, neither users nor Google. Its localized equivalent, as every other, should be clear and concise, telling the reader what the text is about.

URLs

When localizing SEO content, URLs should not be neglected either. Make sure they contain the keyword and be careful not to make them too long.

ALT tags

Since it’s impossible for search engines to crawl pictures, we use alt tags to tell Google what’s in the picture. For that reason it’s important to localize them as well so that they match the website language, which should also contain the keywords.

A regular localization of textual elements is simply enough anymore. If you want to improve your business strategy and online performance, you need to get deeper into adaptation of your content, products and services. That means getting to know your target audiences, how they browse, search and behave on the Internet and what kind of content they like to engage with. Most importantly, your primary goal should be giving them only the relevant, accessible and easy to find information.

When dealing with content production, it’s always good to have in mind that it needs to be unique and attention worthy. Sometimes it can be difficult to accomplish because new content is produced every minute and it’s becoming hard to distinguish good content from the bad one. But you may be sure that the audience will always be able to distinguish the good from the bad sooner or later, most of the time sooner.

If you think content production might cause you trouble, you can always chose a partner in crime who knows all the secrets of digital marketing. I hope that now you have a clearer picture of why is it important to localize all the content on your website and not just the visible text.

SEO next time! 😉

The post Localization and SEO: A Perfect Match appeared first on Ciklopea.