Multilingual Public Outreach: How Agencies Reach Communities in Their Own Languages

Reaching everyone is part of the mission

Public programs only work if the people they are built for know about them, trust them, and can use them. For many agencies, that means reaching residents who speak Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, or dozens of other languages at home. Too often, outreach to those communities is an afterthought: an English campaign is finished, then sent out for translation.

The result is materials that are technically accurate but miss the mark. The words are right; the message is not. Here is how agencies can do better.

Translation vs. transcreation

Translation converts words from one language to another. It is essential for legal notices, forms, and anything where precision matters most.

Transcreation rebuilds the message for a different language and culture. It keeps the intent but adapts the tone, examples, imagery, and calls to action so they make sense to the audience. A headline that works in English may be confusing, flat, or even off-putting when translated literally.

For public awareness and recruitment campaigns, transcreation is usually the right tool. Applichat’s transcreation work rebuilds each message for its audience and then validates it with the community it is meant to serve.

Start with research, not creative

Before writing a single ad, learn who you are trying to reach:

• Which languages are spoken in the service area, and by whom
• Where people get trusted information: radio, churches, community groups, WhatsApp, Facebook
• What barriers stand between people and the program, such as trust, technology access, cost, or eligibility confusion
• What existing organizations already serve these communities well

Community-grounded research, including surveys, focus groups, and conversations with community organizations, keeps a campaign from solving the wrong problem.

Work with trusted messengers

People act on information from sources they trust. For many communities, that means community health workers, faith leaders, cultural organizations, and local advocates rather than a government logo. Partnering with these messengers, and giving them materials they can use and share, extends reach well beyond paid media.

Design for access in every language

Accessibility is not only for English materials. Every version of a campaign should meet the same bar:

• Plain language that is easy to read and act on
• Section 508 accessible websites, documents, and video captions
• Culturally appropriate imagery that reflects the people you are trying to reach
• Consistent quality across languages, so no audience gets a lesser version

Following culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) standards gives agencies a clear framework for this work.

What this looks like in practice

For Colorado’s Office of eHealth Innovation, Applichat ran a one-year bilingual English and Spanish telehealth awareness campaign across seven rural counties in northwest Colorado. Culturally transcreated Spanish content accounted for 32% of all campaign clicks, and the campaign reached more than 40% of the population across the target counties. See the Colorado telehealth case study.

For Marion County Health & Human Services in Oregon, we built a recruitment website in English, Spanish, and Russian. Spanish-language ads on Indeed generated nearly double the English impressions, validating the bilingual approach. Read the Marion County case study.

Measure every language separately

Report results by language, not just in total. If one audience is not engaging, that is a signal to revisit the message, the channel, or the messenger. Separate tracking also shows funders and leadership that multilingual outreach is doing real work.

A checklist for your next campaign

1. Plan multilingual outreach from day one, not after the English version is done.
2. Budget for research and community review in each language.
3. Choose transcreation for persuasive content and translation for precise content.
4. Partner with trusted messengers and equip them with materials.
5. Track and report results by language.

Applichat’s public sector team helps government agencies and publicly funded programs reach every community they serve. Explore what we do or start a conversation.