Video content is a great and powerful way to improve your marketing and attract more clients. As pointed out in the previous post, videos help to engage your audience and present your business from a new perspective. Now, to fully use the potential of video marketing, your content might need to be adjusted to the language and culture of your target recipients. And that’s where video localisation comes in. Below you can see how to localise your videos for different target groups to boost your marketing.

1. Define your goal and target audience

Before shooting a video, first define what you really want to achieve: present your company, demonstrate your product, attract new buyers, share tips and news or maybe develop an e-learning program? Once the aim is clear, specify your target audience: where do they live, what language do they speak and what expectations may they have? When you know what languages you’ll need to cover to present your video to a larger audience, you’ll be able to prepare the video script, or even better, several different scripts for different versions of your video. This approach will help you tailor the content to the needs of your audience in every location. So, in the ideal scenario, you should plan for localisation already before the video production to make your final product much more effective.

2. Support your target languages

In some cases, especially if your budget is restricted, you can draw up a neutral video script which will be clear to audiences from various countries and with different cultural background. However, this might not be as easy as it sounds, especially if your video goes far beyond mere product presentation. Even if you decide for such a fit-for-all solution, you’ll still need to support languages of your target viewers. You can choose between subtitles or voice-over and in both scenarios you’ll need to work with professionals to make sure that the text reads or sounds natural. In the case of subtitles, the text may need to be adapted or shortened to fit to limited space on the screen. Also, it’s a good idea not to include too many graphics in your video or add other elements that would make the subtitles less readable. In the case of voice-over, where the target language is placed over the original audio played quietly in the background, you’ll need to work with voice-over actors and choose voice features that will appeal to your target viewers. The dialogues in your video may need some degree of adaptation to fit into the time limits and to use structures, tone and phrases that will sound natural to your target audience.

3. Choose the right distribution channel

Before you can shoot and localise your video, there is one more thing you want to consider: the distribution channel. Think about your audiences again and find out what’s the best way to present your video: on your website, via newsletters or social media? Where do your potential viewers hang out and where is it easier to reach them? It could be Facebook or YouTube, or the new platforms such as Meerkat, Periscope and Blab. Depending on your market research results, it may turn up that every version of your localised video will have to be published somewhere else. So, don’t assume that videos in different languages and localised for different cultures will be equally popular in every single channel. There’s no universal and standard way of publishing your localised content, as it will depend on your goal and your target audience which is characterised by much more than just a simple language and country combination.  

Have you already localised your business video? What other aspects do you think are important to make sure your content is adjusted to the target viewers? Share with us below!

Photo by D. Pawlak

Dorota Pawlak

Dorota helps digital brands infuse their content with a local touch. She is a localization consultant, translator specialized in IT, prompt engineer, and a book author. Dorota teaches online courses on localization, writes for her blog and a Medium publication. She also runs a Small Biz AI, a Substack newsletter for freelancers and small business owners ready to discover handy AI tools.