It’s been a few weeks since Google made the announcement that developers can “Localize Your Promotional Graphics on Google Play”. This is big news for app developers who are looking to broaden their audience globally. But what exactly does this mean, and how can it affect your app?
Prior to the release developers could only upload one promotional graphic for their app (the promotional graphic is the large image that shows up at the top of your description page). Only having one image available to use doesn’t seem like too big of a deal; that is, until you consider the fact that Google Play is in 130 countries and in 49 different languages. That’s a sizable portion of your potential market that can’t read the text in your graphic file. With this new release, developers can now customize their promotional graphics to incorporate language-appropriate text and therefore market to a much broader audience. This can be as simple as altering the graphic to reflect the local flair and culture of the region you’re trying to target, or even uploading seasonal images to commemorate different holidays other countries are celebrating. Or it can be as simple as translating your title into the appropriate language:
Promotional graphics aren’t the only thing you can now customize; Google Play has also announced localized videos. More often than not this will simply mean creating language-appropriate voiceover and/or text for your existing video. This gives you the opportunity to show how your app runs using your user’s native language. While you’re at it, consider tailoring your screen shots as well to make it clearer to the user that they’ll actually be able to use your app in their selected language.
From a marketing perspective, this release is great news. You can more effectively reach out to your target audience by explaining your app using images and a language your users will understand. It doesn’t take a marketing degree to know that users will be more inclined to download your app if they can actually grasp what it does and how it can benefit them. Anything you can do to reach out to your customer base and make your product easier to use and understand can only help you. So we encourage you to take a look and try it out; what have you got to lose, except maybe some international customers?
Read the original article from Ellie Powers, PM on the Google Play team, for more details.
Author
Becky is the Senior Content Marketing Manager at TUNE. Before TUNE, she handled content strategy and marketing communications at several tech startups in the Bay Area. Becky received her bachelor's degree in English from Wake Forest University. After a decade in San Francisco and Seattle, she has returned home to Charleston, SC, where you can find her strolling through Hampton Park with her pup and enjoying the simple things between adventures with friends and family.
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