Mark Saba, Founder and CEO of LEXIGO, discusses how speaking to potential customers in their own language can help you to build a more successful business. 

The latest census data shows that Australia has become a majority migrant nation for the first time. According to the new national data, more than 50% of residents were born overseas, or have an immigrant parent. 

About 5.5 million Australians speak a language other than English at home, up by 800,000 since 2016. Mandarin remains the most common language other than English in Australian homes, spoken by 685,274 in 2021. Arabic was the second most common, while Punjabi has increased by more than 80 per cent since 2016.

It’s clear that franchises of all sizes and shapes must learn to communicate with an increasingly diverse set of customers. If you don’t nail your communications with these diverse groups, you stand to lose more than you could gain.

A big business opportunity

While the intentions of business owners can be good, the execution can often be lacking. There is a lot more to think about than rough translations of your sales pitch using Google translate. Intent, style, tone, culture and context all play a part in successfully communicating with a multicultural audience. 

Communicating clearly and naturally with potential customers in their own language can help to secure their custom for decades to come. If you target a community in their language they’re likely to trust you more than a competitor who sticks to English. And the effect can be viral. Once one person takes your product or service on, news can filter through the whole community.

Getting it right online

If your franchise has an online offering, getting your culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communication right is especially important. 

For example, if you’re planning to translate your website or social channels, it’s not a good idea to have multiple languages on one page. Users prefer not to have to scroll to find what they’re looking for.  

Some of the world’s biggest franchises have separate social media pages and websites for each market’s language. In a country like Australia, it’s just as important to engage with CALD audiences on a domestic level.

Multicultural staff

It’s not just important to get language and communication right for your customers. We consistently see that most people want to fit in and feel they belong to the culture of the country they live in. This is bigger than understanding languages – it’s about the experiences and cultural identity that make up a whole person. 

Your employees are also likely to come from a range of backgrounds and cultures. And, at a time when staff shortages are a limiting factor in every industry and sector, respecting and responding to this could give you a critical competitive edge.

A more competitive business

Customers and staff all bring a range of cultural experiences with them, and franchise leaders must work hard to understand and acknowledge these experiences. In doing so, they’ll not only help their new employees integrate, but become more competitive as a business. 

LEXIGO delivers authentic, peer-reviewed and culturally-informed translation across 171 languages to businesses of all sizes.