24 07 2017

With digital penetration on the rise, it’s imperative that online digital content will soon expand its reach to the farthest corners of India where English may not be a widely used language. To bridge this gap, technology giants like Google are now targeting increasing number of internet users in Tier II and Tier III towns by delivering their proprietary offerings in Indian Languages, especially in Hindi. The idea here is to localize and expand reach by breaking language barriers and getting more people to use their services.  The concept of offering global services locally has been tried and tested by Google across countries where English is not a primary language and has given them encouraging results.

In the Indian sub-continent, Hindi is one of the most widely read, spoken and written languages and is known for its universal acceptance in this part of the world. Interestingly, Hindi is also the fourth most spoken language after Mandarin, Spanish and English which also means that you can easily target a larger chunk of the world population if you use Hindi as a language to communicate online. In India, over 500 million people speak Hindi out of a total population of 1.3 billion people. Little wonder that more and more online marketing companies and content providers are looking forward to communicate to their respective audiences in Hindi.

The Epic Rise of Online Hindi Content

Research reveals that that there are around 500 million Hindi speakers connected to the online space either directly or indirectly and comparatively there are just 100,000 Wikipedia articles to cater to them. There exists a huge gap of Hindi language content on the web and the demand is increasing by the day. With the advent of demonetization and the rise of a cashless economy,   the demand for online Hindi content has been on a rise as most population in small towns, rural and semi-rural areas are not comfortable with English as an online communication medium.

The growing popularity of the ongoing Digital India Campaign, the falling prices of smartphones, the availability of better and cheaper internet services and the convenience factor of transacting online across commerce, entertainment, education and other internet-friendly platforms have collectively factored-in a high amount of online visitors across India from all age groups and all walks of life.  Today, India is the fastest growing country in the world with respect to internet users with a bigger chunk of the audience desiring Hindi and other local language content.  Global companies targeting India have identified this ground reality and are consciously looking forward to connect to their respective target audience in languages they can easily understand and engage online. Companies can now aim for market expansion by reaching out to this new and ever-growing breed of internet users by comfortably communicating with them in their respective native content. Website localization is the need of the hour and businesses are willing to invest a sizeable amount of funds to tap this ever growing demand.

In 2011, there were 100 million internet users across in India. The figures have drastically moved-up to 300 million today and is expected to touch 500 million by the end of 2017. Sandeep Menon, Google India Managing Director, in one of his interactions with PTI shared an interesting fact. According to him, one in every five persons in India feels comfortable to access the internet in Hindi. In other words you will be ignoring upto 21% of your target audience if you don’t communicate to them online in Hindi, which is a huge number keeping in mind the size of the Indian population.

Get more bang for your buck with a multi-lingual website.

In a scenario where resources are scarce and expectations are high, it is always wise to invest in a marketing tool that’s cost-effective and makes perfect business sense. A multi-lingual website is one such trending online marketing tool. By opting for a multi-lingual website you reduce the risk of losing out on a potential customer by giving him the freedom to interact in a language of his preference. A multi-lingual easily switches from one language to other in a single click, thanks to its in-built web translation protocol. It is specifically designed to help businesses target local customers and promote their products to them in a language they are extremely comfortable with.  And that too without burning a hole in your pocket! Perhaps that’s also a reason why we are seeing a sizable shift in localized media spends from traditional media to online media.

If your business is targeting the Indian Market, a multi-lingual website is definitely a must-have in your marketing kitty. Since this trend is yet to catch-up in India, you can easily reap the rewards of being the first mover in your business segment and widen your business base before your competition wakes-up to reality.  While planning your multi-lingual website make sure Hindi gets the first priority due to its rising popularity. Go ahead; maximize your potential by choosing Bhasha Bharati as your professional translation partner.  We specialize in accurate translation and website localization services in multiple languages. Rely on our expert and qualified team of language professionals for 100% result-oriented outputs and on-time deliveries.

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