Are your Videos meant for the global community?

There has been a spike in decisions to localize videos. This particularly includes brand engagement and corporate training videos, as these practices rely heavily on in-person interactions – something that we haven’t been able to do much of since the pandemic began.

If your goal is to be effective in a non-English dominant market, then video engagement is crucial. Branded video content is usually designed to drive action or emotion more so than written information. Non-native English speakers will struggle to grasp the essence of your content without localization.

Voiceover or subtitles need to be strategic and done so with language preferences of your target markets at the forefront. The method of content delivery, in-market preferences, expected volume of content, and timeline/budget restrictions should also be considered.

This step is when you need to establish the content. Keep in mind that you also need to ensure you’re creating a seamless, consistent, in-language experience.

Optimize your Digital Strategy

How you decide to engage your target audience is brand-specific, but digital will be a huge part of it. This includes your website, mobile experiences, digital advertising, and all other online engagement models.

Having a cohesive strategy for your digital presence is just as important in your domestic language. As you work to expand into other language markets, making sure your entry point is localized, having dedicated SEO and SEM strategies in the local language, and curating local market content is going to ensure you speak directly to your target customer.

A lack of a custom-translated approach will put you at risk of coming across as tone-deaf at best and offensive at worst.

What’s equally important is considering the touch points of your target audience members. Consider where they are most connected and where most of your ROI driven from. By leveraging analytics surrounding your audience’s touch points will allow you to shift spend to your most impactful assets.

Develop and Curate a Social Community

Having online content is one thing, but ensuring it’s searchable (and found!) is another. If you have enough of an in-market presence to justify localization, ensuring you have an effective social community strategy is key. Consider what people are saying and what the larger social commentary in your industry looks like in other languages.

What’s trending about your content—and how that varies across global audiences—should be considered when making decisions about the future. Brands that practice effective social listening are significantly more likely to be aware of issues before they present themselves and be proactive about business decisions that can positively impact their organization.

Provide Localized Customer Support

As a native-English speaker, imagine having trouble with your purchase and getting email replies in a different language or broken English. You get on the phone to see if there’s better communication there, but you’re on hold for 30 minutes before speaking with a native-English speaker. Hoping for a quick fix, you turn to the chatbot feature, but the AI can’t understand what you’re asking.

You’ve localized the one-way experience as effectively as possible, but it’s also important that you consider the two-way discussions you are having with your target audience.

Define Success

There are numerous other angles to consider. For example, ensuring there aren’t regulations around your product in a given country and that your terms and conditions are appropriate for local markets.

Having a strategic vision on how the non-English speaking consumer fits into your organization’s goals is critical for in-language success. The customer experience with your brand isn’t linear; people are able to jump across platforms as they see fit, curate their experience, and quickly make their voices heard.

Your ability to connect with your target audience members in their local languages will directly impact the ROI of both your department and the organization as a whole. Defining your brand objectives, mapping the associated touchpoints, and having a specific multi-language strategy will ensure long-term, sustainable success.

Until next time, keep the conversation going.

Best Regards,

Avi Bhattacharya