U.S. Population Diversity Will Change How Companies Market To Consumers

“By 2050, half the U.S. population is expected to be multicultural,” according to Everett Hernandez, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Synovate’s Diversity Group. He added, “This will profoundly change the way companies interact with and market to consumers, and companies need to know how to talk to these various markets in order to keep up.”

U.S. Census data released in the fourth quarter of 2007 shows that almost one out of five people in the U.S. currently speaks a language other than English. This announcement follows 2006 figures that revealed a record high of more than 37 million immigrants living in the U.S. with 80% being from Asia and Latin America.

In addition to immigration’s impact upon language diversity, the Modern Language Association’s latest study shows that enrollments in languages other than English have grown 12.9% since 2002. The study of Spanish, French, and German represents more than 70% of all language enrollments, but Interest in languages such as Arabic, Chinese and Korean have risen sharply.

The message to business is clear. To successfully compete for market share companies will need to market in languages other than English. This is true for e-commerce businesses that have international potential but may also apply to the neighborhood medical clinic or supermarket.

For instance, marketing in Spanish immediately opens up more customers and more customer goodwill from Hispanic customers here at home. For Internet companies adding Spanish also paves the way for business expansion into other Spanish speaking countries.

When engaging in multilingual marketing it is important to communicate in a seamless manner through every point of contact. In any language, communication requires more than lip service. It requires a desire and commitment to being understood and for that you need a professional translation vendor.