Podcast Summary: B2B Agility with Greg Kihlström™

Episode #75: Alconost CCO Ilya Spiridonov on Prioritizing Localization in the B2B Marketing Funnel
Date: December 23, 2025
Host: Greg Kihlström (The Agile Brand)
Guest: Ilya Spiridonov, Chief Commercial Officer at Alconost

Episode Overview

This episode explores the increasingly critical and strategic role of localization in B2B marketing. Host Greg Kihlström is joined by Ilya Spiridonov, CCO at Alconost, to discuss how brands can prioritize localization, optimize resources, and approach global expansion with agility and measurable ROI. The conversation addresses common missteps, how to identify the right touchpoints for localization, the evolving role of AI versus human translation, and operational best practices for scaling localization programs.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rethinking Localization Strategy

Theme: Don’t Localize Everything—Prioritize for Impact

• Ilya highlights a common misstep: believing you need to localize all content immediately when entering a new market.
• Recommendation: Treat localization as an experiment aligned with go-to-market strategy, adopting an agile, phased approach.
  • Quote:
    "One of the biggest mislocations is probably assuming that going to market requires localizing everything and at once. Right away. Well, in reality, early stage localization should look like experimentation more than a full scale rollout." — Ilya (02:36)

2. Data-Driven Prioritization Across the Funnel

Theme: Where and How to Decide What to Localize

• Look for signals in funnel metrics and market data:
  • Competitive analysis: Are rivals already localizing?
  • Analyze traffic sources: High visits from non-English regions can signal opportunity.
  • Customer feedback: B2B products often interact with end-users, whose preferences matter.
  • Funnel KPIs: Drop-offs by region, churn, and conversions may suggest a need for localization.
• Customization should be based on revenue impact metrics and real user behavior, not assumptions.
  • Quote:
    "Comparing these kind of signals across specific regions is very important. Churn rates, heat maps showing confusion, demo to close rates… Maybe localization is going to help." — Ilya (05:00)

3. AI vs. Human Translation: The Executive Calculation

Theme: It’s Not Just Cost Versus Quality

• Decision-making hinges on risk and content type, not just cost.
  • Legal, compliance, and brand-critical content carries maximum risk—favor human translation.
  • High-volume, low-criticality content (e.g., SEO pages) can utilize AI or AI-human hybrid workflows.
  • Different content types require distinct localization approaches.
• Speed of iteration is another factor: AI facilitates faster updates for less critical content.
  • Quote:
    "In the end of the day, it boils down to risk… choosing between AI or human… is usually about matching the workflow to the risk and risk appetite." — Ilya (07:15)

4. The Hybrid Model in Practice

Theme: Centralizing and Tailoring Workflows

• Centralize localization to ensure brand voice and terminology consistency.
• Build infrastructure before scaling: Develop clear workflows and assign responsibility.
• Match content risk to service level:
  • UI: Human translation + QA.
  • SEO/marketing: AI-assisted with human post-editing.
  • Legal: Human-only.
• Requires stakeholder buy-in (CTO, product, marketing) and staging environments for QA.
  • Quote:
    "As soon as you have the process, the workflows, the team… then you can start matching the risk to the service level… different workflows for different types of content." — Ilya (09:38)

5. Scaling Localization: Moving from Project-Based to Programmatic

Theme: Build for Continuous Localization

• Design for ongoing, incremental updates, not just single projects.
• Multilingual support should be embedded in the codebase and product infrastructure from day one.
• Prevent workflow chaos with clear documentation and accessible processes.
• Develop internal or vendor-provided localization expertise, especially as AI becomes more central.
  • Quote:
    "The biggest risk is not designing for continuous localization in the first place… everybody wants localization, but no one wants to change behavior." — Ilya (11:25)

6. Measuring Localization ROI

Theme: Attribution is Complex but Essential

• Direct attribution (e.g., incremental regional sales) is possible, but often impact is indirect.
• Localization provides competitive edge even where ROI is hard to quantify—especially when competing for global mindshare.
  • Quote:
    "Sometimes localization, even though it's not measurable, it is still crucial because it gives you in most cases competitive edge." — Ilya (15:11)

7. The Future: Generative AI and Evolving Value of Localization

Theme: AI Will Shift, Not Replace, Strategic Localization

• GenAI increases capability, enabling nuanced contextualization and dynamic personalization, not just translation.
• The strategist’s role will shift toward orchestrating technology and transcreation.
• Localization extends beyond text to multimedia and cultural adaptation, already seen in industries like gaming.
  • Quote:
    "With rapid advancements in gen AI, the complexity grows exponentially… What changes is the implementation… It’s about more transcreation and technology is enabling that." — Ilya (16:15)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Agile Localization:
  "Risk agility requires more than just speed. It demands the sensitivity to know when a universal message fails and a local one is needed." — Greg (00:33)

• On Continuous Improvement:
  "You need to have incremental updates instead of massive batches of content. You need to have stakeholder buy in, because everybody wants localization, but no one wants to change behavior." — Ilya (11:25)

• On Staying Agile:
  "I am blessed with a position where I stay very close to the clients, and it's the main agility kind of driver for me. By listening to the clients, I learn quite a lot… and I try to always feed that knowledge back to the team." — Ilya (18:29)

• On Competition and Localization:
  "Localization in most cases is about competition and competition globally." — Ilya (15:19)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:33 – Greg outlines the real cost of not localizing and sets up the episode’s focus
• 02:35 – Ilya spotlights the misallocation of resources and the need for experimentation in localization
• 03:25-05:21 – Practical metrics and signals for prioritizing what to localize in the funnel
• 07:03-09:55 – Deep dive into human, AI, and hybrid translation workflows with illustrative examples
• 11:19 – Key risks and hurdles in scaling localization operations and building for continuity
• 13:43-15:23 – Measuring localization ROI & competitive implications
• 16:08-17:28 – The future: generative AI, contextualization, and strategic opportunities
• 18:21 – Ilya’s personal approach to staying agile by staying close to clients

Conclusion

This episode provides an expert, practical guide to prioritizing and operationalizing localization in B2B marketing. The recurring message: treat localization as a strategic, data-driven, and iterative process, leverage hybrid AI-human methods as appropriate, and build for scale with robust operations and stakeholder engagement. Greg and Ilya underscore that successful localization is not just about translating text but about deeply connecting with customers—and that the need for agile, competitive adaptation will only accelerate as technology evolves.