Star Wars fans across the globe are celebrating May the 4th, also known as ‘Star Wars Day’, but what can this franchise teach businesses about going global?

1. “In a galaxy far, far away…”

The opening of each Star Wars film begins with the static text, “In a galaxy far, far away….” followed by the Star Wars logo appearing to move away from the screen over a field of stars.

We’re not suggesting that you should try and take your business into outer space, no country beyond your domestic boundary is too far for you to explore for business opportunities.

The advent of the internet has introduced the world to a whole new experience of internationalisation – more of the world is online than ever before.

Websites are reaching a much broader audience and are providing a global platform for businesses of all shapes and sizes. With all of this in mind, it’s becoming more important to consider digital localisation.

2. “Judge me by my size, do you?”

Yoda, who at barely two feet tall, doesn’t believe size matters and through the use of the Force, he is able to lift large objects much heavier than himself. It doesn’t matter how small you are, you can still succeed.

Many SMEs  are convinced that their business is too small to trade beyond their domestic border and fail to embrace the global marketplace – this isn’t the case.

Although SMEs don’t have access to the Force, what they do have is a great deal of help available out there to assist them in reaching customers outside their domestic borders, such as the Department for International Trade, as well as local Chambers of Commerce.

The recent “exporting is great” campaign just shows the vast array of global opportunities for UK firms.

3. If you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did – you will become an agent of evil.

The Dark Side of the Force is a quicker and easier way of getting what you want. But it’s not the best.

Similarly, the Dark Side of translation – aka free online translation tools – can’t rival skilled, professional human translators when it comes to conveying an accurate translation.

When these free tools encounter a word or phrase for which it lacks a sufficient number of translations, the tool opts for a translation that sounds unnatural or is simply wrong – if you go down this road then you too could be left with red-faced results.

When you have a large or time-sensitive project that requires translation, then professional machine translation, tuned to your industry vocabulary and checked by professional translators is the ideal option. Not only will this keep your translation requirements safely away from the Dark Side, in the long run, you’ll also see a reduction in costs and turnaround time.

Final words of advice

Put a plan into action when going global. Remember help is available out there to guide you in the right direction, with various different options to ensure your business is ready to take on new opportunities beyond the frontiers of your home market. Oh, and May the 4th be with you.