How to get the most of your podcast internationalization strategy

The popularity of podcasting is growing across the world, and for many reasons. Podcasts are an excellent way to connect with audiences and offer extra value to customers. Podcasts can be used in a variety of ways, including marketing campaigns, elearning lessons, or interviews.

A great way to reach a global online audience is by using podcasts. Podcast marketing is incredibly powerful and can solve any issues you might have with reaching a global audience.

If you want to grow your customer base and revenue, you need the right promotion strategies. The benefits of these strategies are increased lead generation and higher engagement due to a wider reach. One approach is pairing your podcast episodes with the right international strategy, to expand your reach.  However, it can be  difficult to scale podcasts internationally… unless you use the right strategy.

The next frontier in podcast strategy is going global

For some months, many of our clients have expressed interest in a globally relevant podcast strategy. These clients usually are willing to:

. tell stories that are global in nature, but also relevant to listeners around the world.

. share their brand and information with listeners around the globe

Tips to get the most out of your podcast localization strategy

1. Deliver the best possible user experience for your global audiences

It’s important that you know the preferences of your audience when it comes to podcast. There are certain historical preferences depending on the market and business sector. For instance people are not always ready to listen to a podcast in English. The psychological distance created with an untranslated podcast episode might be to large.

2. Decide on which format of podcast should you choose?

If you’re not sure where to start, ask yourself this question: What type of content do my audiences want?

What are your customers most interested in? The answer to this question can guide you when you start planning for next steps. Looking at your analytics on your website and social media can give you a better idea of what your audience likes. For example, if they respond well to long-form blogs, you might want to start a podcast that discusses industry challenges in depth.

. Interview podcasts

They usually feature a host who interviews someone for their unique expertise or insights on a given topic, industry, or theme. There are Expert and Entertainment interviews.

. Conversational podcasts

The conversational, co-hosted podcasts are similar to traditional radio shows where two hosts talk about a theme or topic. Podcasts consist of two hosts who have an entertaining conversation about trending news stories and provide insightful commentary. Podcasts are a great way to talk about topics. But what if the guest and their audience is from another country than the listener? This could be a problem, since the audience might not be interested in the same things.

. Monologue podcasts

The monologue style is where one host talks for the entire episode. These podcasts are usually hosted by someone who knows a lot about a given topic. Listeners can also get informed opinions on recent events.

The advantage of this format is that the host doesn’t need help from other people. . It is also cheaper to translate since you don’t need various voice over actors. However, this style still requires a fair amount of research.

. Storytelling podcasts

Podcast listeners enjoy listening to podcasts that tell stories. Podcasts are nothing like traditional radio shows, where one or more hosts use each episode to tell a chapter of an ongoing story.

. Repurposed content podcasts

Repurposing content offers many benefits. For example, it can boost audience engagement and allow you to meet different needs along the sales funnel. Plus, it can give your content a break and get you some fresh, interesting content.

The same story can be told in multiple formats. For example, if you already produce a lot of online content, why not publish it in audio?

 3. Determine your strategy based on the type of content

Be sure to think about the type of content and its impact on brand reputation before deciding on your localization strategy. For example, you can categorize your content based with these questions:

* Would you like to make a podcast for the public or for internal use?

* Would you like to record the podcast live or ahead of time?

* Is the goal for this podcast to teach people something or to promote your brand?

* How will people be listening to the podcast (at home, on the go)?

* What else could people be doing while listening the podcast?

For example, think about podcasts about cooking. Listeners are likely doing something else while they play them, so maybe subtitling and creating an audiogram  won’t be the best option to localize that type of podcast content.

4. Plan your budget

Podcast localization can be more expensive than text localization. The cost is determined by the voice recording (dubbing or voice over) and how it is fitted into the episode. Think about what your target audience will experience and plan your budget accordingly.

5. Find the right agency

Building a successful podcast localization strategy is essential to success. Finding the right agency is key, and the experts in podcast localization are more than capable of helping you out. The type of agency depends on your processes, your expectations, and the size of the company.

6. An adequate technology

Once you know what you need and how you want to deliver your podcast to your international audience, it’s time to think about how technology can help. There are many interesting tools for multimedia localization that will decrease your costs and streamline your processes.

Some examples include:

• Synthetic voices: For example, you want to localize internal podcasts in different languages but you may have a limited budget so you’d rather go with synthetic voices.
• Automatic transcription: as first step towards translation, you want to transcript all your podcast content end then translate it.
• Remote recording: get access to talent all over the world, even in cities where there are no recording studios and to use remote recording solutions to increase your options.

Expand your podcast audience globally

Going international doesn’t mean you have to change your podcast identity-  You just need to reach more listeners! The issue is that many people think of it like they’re changing their podcast into something generic. They think that doing so makes them seem unoriginal or not special. t to achieve.

But wait, what about other people in different countries? They might be interested in the unique offerings or message that only you have.

Podcasts  are traditionally said to be for a certain culture. But the truth is that anyone around the world can be interested in your show. Plenty of times you can think that people from your own country are the only ones that could enjoy your show. But that is not always true! Plenty of people from other countries could also be interested in your show, even if they are from a different culture.

Here are the key steps:

1. List down the countries that are your potential target markets.

To figure out who your target audience is, take a pen and paper and write down the countries you want to reach. You can do this by looking at your listener stats or even just making a list. Then ask these questions:

Which countries already listening to my podcast?

Do they listen to my podcast regularly?

What could I do to get them to listen more often?

What do they say about my podcast?

Your goal is to determine which listeners you want to target. Your identity as a show is your way of connecting with them and making them feel like they belong. Cut back on countries and focus on 5 that resonate well with your show and better cater to their needs

If you don’t see other countries in your listener count, first identify those with the highest potential. You can do this using tools like Google Analytics, checking your website

2. Define your ideal listener’s identity

Identify which countries your podcast suits and what type of people will enjoy it. Your listeners can be identified by:

• Age
• Gender
• Career
• Psychographics
• Income bracket

Keep your listeners in mind as you determine who your podcast is perfect for. International prospects also apply to this, as it applies to their cultures and interests.

3. What trends in your industry are relevant and how might they impact your customers?

Your podcast has its own unique characteristics and trends. That’s good news! That can help you improve your listener base.

For example, you might have a fitness podcast where experts give advice on various topics. If you are looking to reach out to another country or improve your influence in another place, try interviewing experts from other countries.

4. Search and interview influencers abroad

What first inspired you to start your podcast?

Someone or something convinced you to start a podcast. Influence can spread even to the least expected area. What matters is the magnitude of that influence.

You want to meet with someone who has influence on the culture of your country. They will talk about a topic that isn’t heard of in your country, and this will bring in more listeners. A fast way to make this happen is to contact an influencer. Influencers are important people who will spread your message to more people. They can be big or small

5. Promote your podcast

The final step is to promote your podcast. You can use social media, email your current followers, or be a guest on another podcast  to get the word out. You can’t expect success if nobody knows about your podcast.

It’s a good idea to do a little networking and promote your podcasts to relevant influencers.

6. Use transcripts to create marketing campaign content

Podcast translation makes content more accessible to global audiences. However, you can offer your audience even more content, such as the transcript. This transcript is also translated when producing you podcast episode in multiple languages.

Transcripts from podcasts can be used to create collateral marketing material—like blog posts, print ad content, and written testimonials.

Transcripts are available in English, but the benefit of ordering them is the ease with which you’re able to create written content that can be shared digitally or as a hard copy. For example, with audio, you have to listen repeatedly to find specific content, such as quotes. But with transcripts, you can search the text file for specific words.

7. Incorporate search engine optimization techniques

When you paste the updated transcript below your Podcast, you improve the chances of your Podcast being found online. With search engine optimization (SEO), your transcripts increase organic traffic to your Podcasts. People who might not have otherwise seen your Podcast content find you when they search sites like the Google search engine and YouTube.

With this approach to Podcast marketing, you expand your brand reach among your English-speaking  and foreign language audience. This is helpful for capturing the attention of audience members in English-speaking countries. You get additional international exposure for your Podcasts and written content when you include links to additional marketing material, such as blog posts. You can incorporate CTAs within your transcript so that viewers have an opportunity to learn more about your brand.

8. Measurement and metrics

By creating it as an integrated content strategy, you should understand which channels, formats, and stories resonated the most.  The metrics also should put you in a good position to extend the pieces that perform well – you can double down on those and reuse them in a different context.

Podcast owners may measure success in many ways. Some measure the number of downloads or listeners. Others are more subjective, like relationships built by the podcast or social media interactions. For us, success is not just measured by numbers. It could be how well the podcast has done in building relationships with its listeners, or how popular it has become on social media.

Strategize to unlock your growth potential internationally

As you can see, podcast marketing at an international level offers incredible potential. As your business continues to grow, enhance your marketing efforts to reach an even wider global audience with podcasting.