Different companies experience different challenges, but there is one roadblock that every businesses encounters when trying to reach customers – the language barrier. Regardless of the quality of a marketing campaign or sales pitch, they are virtually useless if the recipient can't understand the language he or she is reading or hearing.
Reaching out to prospects via text message marketing is an effective practice, but what good does it do if that prospect can't read the message? While many companies have adjusted their hiring practices to look for multi-lingual employees, AT&T is launching a service that can break the language barrier regardless of the sender and recipient.
The telecom giant is in the process of testing a new technology that translates text messages and displays them in the recipient's native language. Mazin Gilbert, vice president for intelligent systems research at AT&T Labs, spoke to the online publication Technology Review about the service and how it will help keep more people connected.
"If my friend sends me a message in Spanish, then AT&T recognizes the language and translates it to English," Gilbert said. "Then I can send back in English, and it is translated into Spanish for her. We can go back and forth and have a conversation – we're trying to break down language barriers between people."
This is big news for mobile marketers because it opens up new channels and allows companies to reach a greater number of people. Instead of keeping messaging local, this service can allow businesses to globalize their reach and diversify their customer base.
However, doing so will only be effective if mobile marketers have the right tools. Swift SMS offers the solutions marketing professionals need to launch powerful text messaging campaigns. As this service grows and more carriers pick it up, Swift has the ability to reach across carrier lines and hit a greater number of recipients.
