Bilingual marketing for Cardiff firms: brief, tracking and who to ask for support

What to take away

Welsh Government support schemes for Cardiff local-service firms

Cardiff's local service sector is broad. It takes in trades, salons, clinics, tutors and cleaners. Most of these businesses are small. The business population estimates 2023 are the government's count of UK firms, and a newer edition is published each year. Support schemes are usually designed around small firms with limited marketing capacity.

Welsh Government support reaches Cardiff firms through several named routes. Business Wales is the main advisory service, offering free advice on marketing, digital presence and language. The Welsh Language Commissioner runs promotion and grant activity aimed at increasing the everyday use of Welsh in business.

Local authority economic development teams in Cardiff also signpost funding and run their own business support programmes.

For a Cardiff local-service firm, the practical value is usually in three places: advice, part-funding for bilingual materials, and help finding Welsh-language suppliers. A plumber in Canton and a dental practice in Pontcanna face the same question, which is whether a Welsh version of the website and ads is worth the cost.

Support schemes exist partly to make that answer yes.

Before applying, check the target audience you actually serve. A firm serving mostly English-speaking commuters in Cardiff Bay has a different case from one serving Welsh-speaking families in Llandaff or Whitchurch. Funding applications are stronger when the audience is defined in the bid.

Eligibility differs across the routes. Individual grant rounds set their own rules in writing, so read each round's rules on sector, location, employee numbers and evidence of spend before you write a bid. Match funding is common, so a firm usually pays a share of the cost itself, and the share is stated in the round's rules.

Welsh language standards and what they require of campaigns

The Welsh language standards are regulations made under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. They impose duties on named public bodies and on some organisations that receive public funding or deliver public services. They do not generally bind a private Cardiff café or hair salon.

That distinction matters. A Cardiff firm that contracts with a council, health board or Welsh Government-funded programme may inherit language duties through the contract. A firm that only serves private customers usually does not. The standards still shape the market, because they push Welsh-language expectations into signage, forms, phone lines and public-facing materials across the city.

Where the standards apply, they typically require that Welsh is treated no less favourably than English. That means Welsh versions are not afterthoughts added later. They should be available at the same point of contact, of comparable quality, and not buried behind an English-only menu.

For campaign work, the standards influence three things: which language appears first, how quickly a Welsh version is produced, and who signs off the translation. A Cardiff firm bidding for public sector work should be able to show a bilingual process, not just a bilingual logo.

Advertising claims in either language fall under the CAP Code, which requires ads to be legal, decent, honest and truthful. A Welsh-language ad that makes a claim the English version does not is still a problem. Check the ASA advertising codes before signing off any bilingual creative.

Building a bilingual campaign brief for Cardiff audiences

A bilingual campaign brief is a single document that tells everyone, from the designer to the translator to the person running the ads, what the campaign is, who it is for, and which language does what. Without it, bilingual work drifts into duplicated English copy with Welsh headings.

Start with the audience, not the language. Decide whether the campaign targets Welsh speakers, English speakers, or both, and whether the Welsh version is a translation or an original piece of writing. Before you write anything, do the groundwork on audience research explained, so the language split rests on evidence rather than assumption.

Then write the brief. A usable version covers these points:

A worked example makes this concrete. A Cardiff heating engineer wants more boiler-service enquiries from Welsh-speaking households in Rhydypenau and Cyncoed. The brief sets the objective as twenty extra service bookings in a quarter. The audience is owner-occupiers aged 45 to 70 in those wards.

Welsh leads the leaflet and the local Facebook post. English leads the Google Ads copy, because search volume is mostly English. A first-language translator writes the Welsh from the English source, not word for word. The engineer's Gas Safe number and price range appear in both versions. Measurement counts calls, form fills and quote requests by language.

Channel choice should follow the audience, not habit. If most enquiries come from Google, the Welsh version belongs on the website and the local listing, not just on a leaflet nobody reads. Why a channel strategy has to match demand is the principle here: put the Welsh version where Welsh-speaking customers already look.

For wider thinking on how a brief becomes a plan, the CIM marketing insights cover strategy and planning worth reading before you commit budget.

Measuring bilingual campaign performance without guesswork

Most bilingual campaigns fail at measurement, not at translation. The Welsh and English versions get merged into one report, and nobody can tell whether the Welsh work paid for itself. Split the tracking before the campaign starts.

Practical steps for a Cardiff firm:

Set expectations honestly. Welsh-language search volume for most Cardiff services is smaller than English volume, so the Welsh version may produce fewer leads but stronger engagement and lower cost per lead in some niches. The only way to know is to measure it.

Consumer-facing campaigns also sit under CMA consumer protection guidance, which covers misleading pricing, hidden fees and pressure selling. A bilingual campaign does not get extra latitude because the wording is in Welsh. If the English ad says a fixed price, the Welsh ad must say the same thing.

Build measurement that holds up from the first day, with a baseline, a comparison and a decision rule. Decide in advance what result would make you keep the Welsh version, expand it, or drop it. That turns a language debate into a marketing decision.

Does bilingual marketing pay back for a small Cardiff firm?

Work the arithmetic before you commission anything. Say a bilingual leaflet drop costs £500 in total, covering translation, artwork and print, and brings 20 enquiries. That is £25 a lead. The same £500 on English-only leaflets brings 25 enquiries, or £20 a lead.

Conversion can flip the result. If the Welsh enquiries turn into booked jobs at 40 per cent and the English at 20 per cent, the Welsh version costs £62.50 a booking against £100 for the English. The figures are illustrative; your own tracking supplies the real ones.

Where Cardiff firms can get funded language and marketing support

Funding for bilingual marketing in Wales is fragmented, and it changes. Ring Business Wales on 03000 6 03000 and ask which language and marketing grants are open to a Cardiff firm. Note the date you asked, because a round can close between one guide and the next.

The named support programme for Welsh language marketing is the Welsh Language Commissioner's grant and promotion activity, which supports projects that increase the use of Welsh in business and community life. Amounts and deadlines change with each round, so the figure to bid for comes from the current prospectus, published on the Commissioner's grants page.

Business Wales is the first call for most Cardiff firms. It provides free advice on marketing, digital tools and language, and its advisers can point to live funding. Cardiff Council's economic development team is the second call, particularly for firms in regeneration areas or sectors the council prioritises.

Business Wales advice is free to firms trading in Wales, from sole traders to companies with staff, and it covers start-ups and established businesses. To book it, ring 03000 6 03000 or use the contact form on the Business Wales website and ask for the adviser covering Cardiff.

Cardiff Council's economic development team takes enquiries through the council's business support pages.

The Welsh Government's broader business support programmes sometimes include marketing and digital grants that can cover bilingual website work. Eligibility usually depends on firm size, sector and location. A Cardiff firm with fewer than ten employees is more likely to qualify than a larger one.

What translation and bilingual materials cost

Translation is priced by the word, and general business copy from English into Welsh is commonly quoted at about 8p to 15p per word. A 500-word web page therefore lands at roughly £40 to £75. Rates move with the subject, the deadline and the translator's qualifications. These are typical trade rates for budgeting, not a quote.

Bilingual print is quoted per job. The price depends on quantity, paper, colour, folds, delivery and whether the Welsh and English artwork are set separately. A 1,000-leaflet run is a common starting volume, and three quotes against one written specification will show you the spread.

Signage is priced by size, material and fixing, so a fascia board and a vehicle wrap are not comparable jobs.

Keep records. Funders ask for evidence of spend, outputs and outcomes, often in both languages. A Cardiff firm that tracks its bilingual campaign properly from the start will find reporting to a funder far easier than one that reconstructs it afterwards.

Common questions