5 Ways to Create Multilingual Video Content that Converts
Imagine surfing your Facebook feeds only to see a video advertisement promoting your favorite scrub tool, but you can’t make out the message because they are in an entirely different language.
That’s how it is when video marketers send out unilingual video content to more than one audience segment with distinct languages and geographical differences.
Of course, you know what’s going to happen already—a drastic drop in your video marketing results even if your view metric is spiking.
To avoid such an outcome, you need to create multilingual video content that converts. And we will show you how to do that in this article.
1. Research Your Target Audience
The success of your video content largely relies on understanding your audience’s language, cultural background, and communication preferences. With this knowledge, you can avoid creating content that falls flat and, even worse, comes off as insensitive or offensive.
So, start by conducting market research or contacting your existing customers and target audience to collect data on their language preferences. In your research, assess each language’s cultural nuances, location, and communication styles.
For instance, specific languages may have different levels of formality or use other gestures and body language to convey meaning.
Source: Unsplash
2. Consider Cultural Nuances and Preferences
Cultural differences greatly influence how people perceive and respond to video content.
Brooke Webber, Head of Marketing at Ninja Patches, says, “Countries like Japan highly value silence and may not appreciate videos that are too loud or boisterous. Conversely, people in the United States or Brazil tend to be more expressive and appreciate lively videos that engage them emotionally.”
You should also consider the linguistic and grammatical specificities of your target audience. For example, in some languages, verbs are placed at the end of sentences, while in others, adjectives come before nouns. These differences can significantly impact the clarity of your message.
3. Use Professional Voice-over Talent or Subtitles
Imagine running an apparel business, and you want to create a video showcasing your latest clothing line to target your audience in France. You can hire a professional interpreter or a French voice-over artist who understands the nuances of the language and the French fashion culture. This ensures that the content is accurately translated and captures the essence of French fashion, making it more relatable to your target audience.
Another excellent way to pass your message across without spending more capital on hiring voice-over artists is Subtitles. According to Jim Pendergast, Senior Vice President at altLINE Sobanco, “Subtitles and closed captions are useful when creating a single multilingual video content for multiple audiences. Your target groups can receive the message in their language or simply read the lines to understand.”
For example, let’s say you’re a travel vlogger and you recently created a video showcasing beautiful destinations in Italy but you also want to also target non-Italian viewers. Adding subtitles to your video will allow your audience to understand the content without losing the video’s authenticity.
4. Leverage Visuals for Maximum Impact
It takes the human brain only 13 seconds to process an image, which is about 60,000 times faster than processing a test. So, if you’re planning to connect faster with your audience, creating good visuals is essential.
When creating appealing multilingual video content, Volodymyr Shchegel, VP of Engineering at Clario, suggests aligning your visuals with a global audience. He continues, “You have to ensure your video resonates with almost everyone included in your audience web by using culturally relevant visuals and avoiding any imagery that could be regarded as offensive or inappropriate in certain cultures.”
Also, remember that visuals are not limited to images and videos. Infographics, charts, and other visual aids can also help convey information clearly and concisely so that your global audience quickly understands it.
Imagine you own a debt recovery business and want to show your audience how you get the job done. You can create an infographic storyboard video to illustrate your debt collection process while highlighting the effectiveness of your strategies compared to competitors. This method proves more effective than drawing up a mannequin and asking it to narrate your work pipelines.
5. Focus on Quality over Quantity
There is a general belief that more means better. But that’s just a myth in the marketing world. Your audiences are already occupied with tons of tasks to execute. So, the last thing they want to do is spend several minutes or hours watching a marketing video.
On the other hand, just a 15-second quality video clip is more than enough to retain more leads for your sales funnel than ever before. Let’s say you want to launch a daily planning app, and you need to spread awareness before maxing your launch into the market.
You can simply create a minute video showing how one or two verified users employed this app to streamline their daily workflow and improve productivity. That’s going to do better than releasing a 20-minute-long video highlighting all the features of your app.
Besides making it short and valuable, you should also prioritize visual appeal, as previously discussed. Shoot your clips with high-resolution cameras and use only HD (or anything more than HD) visuals to convey your message promptly.
Final Thoughts
We’re already in an era of cross-border marketing, and this necessitates integrating multilingual video content into your digital marketing campaigns.
To start, research your target audience and learn about their cultural, communication, and lifestyle preferences. Hire a professional voice-over artist or use subtitles to ensure maximum coverage for various audiences. Lastly, leverage good visuals and prioritize quality content over quantity.
