Today’s businesses understand the value of video for both their external marketing and internal communications. According to a recent survey of marketing professionals, more than 90% of businesses use video in their overall marketing strategy. Yet for companies operating in multiple regions and languages, building a video library can be a major challenge.
Global companies need to maintain a library of localized content to drive results in the countries in which they do business, but creating that library is complicated and expensive. Those high costs have historically led businesses to make compromises — choosing only the most important materials and campaigns for localization.
However, new AI-driven tools for translation and localization are changing the game for global marketing and communications teams. For example, Vimeo’s AI video translation tools allow users to translate their video content — both captions and audio — into 29 different languages in a matter of minutes.
Most organizations will still rely on human translators for their highest-priority advertising campaigns. But with the quality and speed offered by AI translation, companies can now localize content that would have previously been cost prohibitive.
Let’s look at four AI translation use cases — two external and two internal — that can provide immediate value to global businesses.
1. Webinars and long-form video and social content
For global marketing teams, long-form video content has often been the lowest priority for localization. Webinars and other online events are valuable assets, often featuring customer insights and other third-party validation. According to a survey from Content Marketing Institute, 45% of B2B marketers stated that webinars were the best performing content they produced over the past 12 months. However, the sheer size of these videos makes them too expensive for human translation. Webinars featuring customer stories and guest speakers can often last from 45 minutes to an hour, making them unwieldy and expensive to translate. Webinars featuring viewer Q&As are also challenging for human localizers.
AI translation allows companies to create localized versions of webinars and other long-form assets — including product demos or “ask me anything” sessions — at a fraction of the previous cost. These AI tools aren’t limited to just captions. For example, Vimeo’s AI translation feature generates audio in the same tone of voice as the original speaker. Imagine your most compelling and engaging salespeople no longer being limited to their native tongue — they can deliver a sales pitch in up to 29 languages, instantly scaling your sales capability without having to spend on recruiting and training sales teams in a new region.
2. Social video and short-form clips
Social media marketing is a significant cost center for marketing departments: according to data from Statista, global spending on social media advertising reached $270 billion in 2023. But while companies invested heavily in social video, the economics of localization rarely made sense due to the scope and quantity of videos.
AI translation allows marketing teams to localize content that would previously have been considered too small to merit the investment. Companies can translate social content like Instagram stories and TikTok to make deeper connections with their local audiences. While AI translation may not yet have caught up to the precision of human localization services, the quality already exceeds the standards expected in webinar and social content — and it will only continue to improve.
3. Executive communications
When a business operates in multiple countries, it isn’t just working with a global customer base — it also has a global workforce. Producing video content in multiple languages makes it easier for a company to communicate and build connections with employees at every level of the organization.
Consider executive communications: a company’s CEO may want to record a video laying out a new strategy or explaining a difficult personnel decision. Vimeo’s AI translation tool makes it possible for every employee to hear from their CEO in the language they understand best. Instead of relying on captions to understand the message, employees can hear directly from the CEO in his or her own voice.
4. Learning and development
This same approach to localization applies to learning and development (L&D) content. Large enterprises like retail chains and restaurants often want to maintain specific brand standards and customer experiences across the world. Translating L&D content into each employee’s native language increases that consistency and improves employee performance across the company.
As with webinars, the sheer volume of L&D content previously made it impossible to localize for every region and language. The arrival of AI allows companies to localize each individual video in minutes.
Thinking bigger with AI translation
For marketing and L&D teams, the potential for an AI translation tool isn’t just in dubbing or captioning an individual. It’s in completely reframing the way these teams think about global campaigns. Where teams were previously limited in terms of budget and resources, they can now think bigger — achieving global reach with every single marketing video and internal asset.
As AI technology advances, Vimeo’s translation offering will continue to improve and integrate new languages. Your video strategy can now grow internationally together with your business.
To learn more about AI translation from Vimeo, contact Vimeo Sales and request a demo.
