As the owner of a catering company, there are many challenges that you face every day. There is often a shortage of skilled kitchen staff and high turnover of employees in general. The overhead of the business can be fairly high, requiring purchase and storage of specialized equipment some of which will not see any use for months at a time.
However, the single biggest challenge in the business of catering is marketing and successfully booking events on a regular basis. This is the one area where a good website can have the greatest impact, and one way to multiply the effectiveness of your website is to have a design that supports multi-language access for non-English speakers. And, if your website has online ordering capability, this even more true.
The Advantages of a Multi-lingual Website for your Catering Company
Would it surprise you to learn that only a little over a third of Internet users have English as either their first or second language? This unspoken truth is just one example of how a traditional English-only model of promotion is leaving behind a vastly underserved population of consumers. Even when a closer look is taken just at your customers at the local level – who are by far much more likely to book the services of your catering company – having a multi-language website can increase the traffic to your website and dramatically increase the number of event bookings you receive.
5 Reasons Why A Multi-Language Website Can Have A Big Impact On Your Bookings
There are many advantages to having a multi-language website no matter what business you are in, but there are 5 that you should consider for your catering company.
1. Ease of Online Ordering
When a customer is looking to place a catering order online, a language barrier can be a significant impediment that may make them reconsider using your service. Allowing your site visitor to view the menu selection and order online in their native language can knock down this barrier and encourage more online order placements.
2. Effectively Target Your Market
If your catering company specializes in a specific regional cuisine – such as southwest/Mexican, Korean bbq or Japanese sushi – having pages in those languages can help to target those markets that are looking for this specific cuisine for their events.
3. Build Trust and Affinity With Customers
When one is in a foreign country where ones first language is rarely used in public conversation or in media it can be a great relief to see a business that uses it. A multi-language website that includes their native language can make a great first impression on potential customers as well as grant them ease of access.
4. Get the Jump on the Competition
Competition in the catering business can be fierce, and this often results in a race-to-the-bottom in pricing in order to edge out other companies. This is not as effective as convincing a consumer that booking your company is booking the right company rather than just the cheapest. Clearly communicating in their language can do this quite effectively.
5. Market in a Cost-Effective Manner
Perhaps the best reason why a multi-language website has a big impact on your website traffic and bookings is that it is a relatively low-cost way to multiply your marketing channels. In essence, it is just a translation of information that already exists on your website, perhaps only doubling or tripling your number of pages with the effect of bringing in a commiserate amount of business.
Expand Your Website’s Reach and Increase Bookings
Do you think that your catering business could benefit from a multi-language website? Contact UmeWorks for a free no-obligation quote to expand your existing site to include other languages, or build a new ecommerce catering website in multiple languages.
