When DeepL met iCrowdNewswire

iCrowdNewswire, a global press release distributor, chose DeepL to enhance its automated translation capabilities. It wanted a solution that delivered higher quality, more ‘human-sounding’ translations than the ‘robotic’ ones its current provider produced which left its customers unhappy.

Initially iCrowdNewswire used manual translations, however these were costly and took a long time to complete. Automation was the answer, but the quality of the translations from their previous vendors wasn’t very good - which meant it quickly became a source of complaints and problems. But by implementing DeepL, these quality issues were solved at a reduced cost for iCrowdNewswire. In the words of their CTO, Felipe Botero: “we got more for less!”

Wait, who is iCrowdNewswire?

iCrowdNewswire, now a leader in press release distribution, started out with a mission to simplify media outreach. Launched in 2015, it focused on paid media releases and ad-driven press distribution to improve reach. After integrating AI tools and multilingual support, it has expanded globally, reaching targeted audiences through premium media channels and innovative ad campaigns. Today, iCrowdNewswire continues to grow, empowering businesses to engage audiences worldwide with cutting-edge technology.

Understanding the challenge

Publishing and distributing press releases is all about raising awareness, but companies want the focus to be on the topic of the article - not the weird ‘robotic-sounding’ translation. Businesses like iCrowdNewsire are responsible for distributing press releases for a wide range of industries, many of which come with their own specific terminologies, so an automated solution was needed that not only provides natural sounding translations, but also highly accurate ones.

Oh, and just two more things…

iCrowdNewswire is unique in offering translations of the press releases it distributes into nine languages for free.Customers just have to pay a single price for distribution.

They also provide Google advertising to drive targeted traffic to press releases, and distribution to smart devices such as Alexa. This comprehensive offering, one that’s attracted the world's biggest brands, means that cost-effectiveness, accuracy and the ability to handle high translation volumes are all hugely important, especially to CTO, Felipe Botero.

“It's important for somebody in Sao Paulo to do their press release in Portuguese because that's their natural language. But to get full exposure abroad, you have to translate it into the reader’s local language.”

Felipe Botero, Chief Technology Officer, iCrowdNewswire

Why DeepL?

A simple swap

iCrowdNewswire had already built its translation ecosystem around a third-party vendor it had been using for six years - but the translations were ‘robotic’ and required monitoring by language professionals. Felipe’s team had set up their technology stack to automatically translate and distribute press releases to 2,000+ sites globally without human intervention. Yet switching to DeepL was very straightforward, and the team has not had to customise it to gain improvements. In Felipe’s own words, “It was just a matter of swapping one API for another. It was painless.”

A substantial upgrade

As Felipe had hoped when the team made the shift to DeepL, not only were the new translations more human- sounding, there was also a significant increase in their overall quality. No longer does ‘Mr Green’ in an English language press release become ‘Señor Verde’ in the Spanish version. DeepL contextualises and recognises names and technical terminology to lessen the manual checking required.

“DeepL has a product that is—I would consider—state of the art.”

Felipe Botero, Chief Technology Officer, iCrowdNewswire

What happened next: the DeepL difference

• Translations that pay for themselves ‘Cost-effective’ was firmly in the ‘must-have’ column for the team when selecting iCrowdNewswire’s new translation solution, but never at the expense of quality. The team wanted a solution that provided accurate translations, value for money, and the ability to scale. And that’s exactly what they got. By Felipe’s estimation, a less reliable solution would need at least two full-time staff checking its output – costing approximately $150,000 annually. But, thanks to DeepL’s quality and reliability, not requiring this proofing outlay meant the solution effectively pays for itself.

“We save enough money to pay for DeepL. It pays for itself.”

Felipe Botero, Chief Technology Officer, iCrowdNewswire

• Hands-free translation Such is the team’s faith in DeepL that they don’t even feel the need to monitor every single translation. Instead, they’re given the freedom to work on other projects, making the whole operation far more efficient and cost effective.

• The capacity to deliver more iCrowdNewswire translates and distributes English language press releases into nine different languages. That’s a lot of words. Felipe and his team also maintain websites that publish translated versions of press releases, which are then indexed by Google. This allows users to search for a press release in either its original language or the translated version and still find it easily. The key benefit lies in Google indexing the content in different languages, increasing visibility across global audiences. In total, the team uses DeepL to translate 45-55 million characters daily without error.

• Nobody’s giving up their language For Felipe, if you want eyes on your stories, you have to serve them in the local language. While English is increasingly the global business language, when it comes to reading press releases, both journalists and members of the public will always prefer to do so in their native language. With help from DeepL, iCrowdNewswire is connecting the world by satisfying customers who want their message spread fast, effectively, and accurately.

• DeepL does what it says As part of its expansion goals, iCrowdNewswire wanted to be able to serve Korean-speaking audiences. It was a request that couldn’t initially be accommodated when the company switched to DeepL, but Felipe was promised that Korean was on the roadmap. Sure enough, within 12 months Korean became integrated into the DeepL offering, and in Felipe’s words, “It told me a ton about who DeepL is as a company. It reaffirmed that DeepL’s a company that makes plans and delivers on its planning.”

“We found DeepL, and there's no need for us to look at anything else. We're very, very happy with what we have with DeepL, and we plan to continue using it.”

Felipe Botero, Chief Technology Officer, iCrowdNewswire

So now what?

With DeepL, iCrowdNewswire has brought the human-sounding touch to its global press release distribution with unparalleled speed and ease. Going forward, Felipe is excited to discover just how much potential there is for DeepL and its capabilities:

By supporting the needs and linguistic preferences of their global audiences, iCrowdNewswire is keeping its customers happy, whilst enabling Felipe and his team to continue expanding into new markets.