French campaigns for Ottawa trades: when they pay and how to run them

What the Census says about French in Ottawa

French matters in Ottawa, but not equally everywhere. In the 2021 Census, 14.1% of Ottawa residents had French as their first official language, and 36.4% could carry on a conversation in both English and French. Only 1.4% spoke French but not English.

Read those numbers carefully. Almost every French-speaking customer in Ottawa can deal with you in English. So a French campaign isn't about reaching people you otherwise couldn't; it's about being the company that feels like the natural choice to them. That's a real edge in a crowded trade, but it is an edge, not a separate market.

French-speaking households are also concentrated. The east end, around Orléans, and the Rideau-Vanier area have long been centres of the city's francophone community, while the western suburbs are more English-dominant. The areas page notes which wards usually justify an early test.

Step 1: Check your own demand first

Before you look at any data, look at your own business. Over the last year:

• How many callers asked if someone spoke French?
• How many left French voicemails or sent French texts or emails?
• Where did those customers live?
• Did they book at a higher or lower rate than English callers?

If you've had French enquiries without advertising in French, demand is already there. If you've had none, and your service area is mostly in the west, French is probably a later priority.

Step 2: Be honest about serving French customers

A French ad makes a promise. Before spending, decide how you'll keep it. Options, from best to weakest:

1. Someone on the team speaks French and can take calls and do site visits in French.
2. A bilingual office contact for set hours, with a clear callback promise outside them.
3. A French voicemail and text reply that sets a specific callback time, which you then meet every time.

If none of these is realistic, don't run French ads yet. You can still offer French pages on your website as a courtesy, but say plainly that service is in English.

Step 3: Use a professional French copywriter

We recommend a professional French copywriter or a certified translator for every French word customers will see. We don't write French copy in-house, and we'd be cautious with any agency that claims to do every language equally well.

Why it matters: francophone customers notice awkward French immediately, and trade vocabulary is where automatic tools stumble most. The very customers you want to impress are the ones most likely to be put off.

Where to look:

• In Ontario, the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario restricts the "Certified" designation to members it has certified, and is a sensible starting point for translators.
• In Quebec, OTTIAQ is the professional order for accredited translators, useful if you're also considering Gatineau.
• For persuasive ad copy, look for writers who do marketing work specifically, not only document translation, and ask for samples of ads or web pages.

Step 4: Write a brief the writer can use

A good brief saves money and gets you better copy. Include:

• The business: trade, services, service area, what makes you different.
• The customer: who you're writing for, for example homeowners in Orléans with older furnaces.
• The offer: what you want them to do, and what you can genuinely promise (response time, free estimates, French service hours).
• The trade terms: a short glossary of your services so the writer can choose the natural French terms customers use, not word-for-word translations.
• Formats and limits: Google Ads headlines and descriptions have character limits, so give exact counts.
• Tone: plain, friendly, professional; avoid copying the English sentence by sentence.

Ask the writer to adapt, not translate. A strong French ad may say something slightly different from the English one, because it's written for a different reader.

Step 5: Build French as a separate campaign

Keep French separate at every level, so you can measure it:

• Separate campaigns or ad groups in Google Ads, with French keywords researched on their own. French search terms are not always direct equivalents of English ones.
• Separate landing pages, one per core service, written in French and linked from a visible language switch on your website.
• Separate tracked phone numbers for French ads and pages.
• Separate reporting, so you can see cost per lead and booked jobs for each language.

Mixing languages in one ad group makes it impossible to tell which one works.

Step 6: Run a 90-day test and judge it fairly

Give the French campaign about three months and a fixed budget. Then compare:

These are illustrative numbers, not a prediction. The lesson is in the bottom row: cost per booked job is what matters. A French track might bring fewer leads but convert better, because the customer feels understood from the first click.

If French costs more per booked job and you can't see a way to improve it, pause it. If it costs less, move budget toward it.

Step 7: Don't forget the rest of the funnel

Ads are only one part. A French campaign works better when:

• your Google Business Profile description mentions French service if you offer it;
• you reply to French reviews in French;
• your quotes, invoices and follow-up texts can be sent in French for customers who prefer it;
• whoever answers the phone knows how to handle a French caller, even if it's a polite handover.

A note on Gatineau

French marketing for Ottawa customers is a choice. Across the river, it's a requirement. The OQLF explains what Quebec's Charter of the French Language means for businesses, including advertising and websites, and contractor licensing is a separate question for the RBQ. If you're considering Gatineau, read our cross-river marketing page and take proper legal advice first.

Common mistakes

• One "Français" page for the whole site.
• Automatic translation of trade terms.
• Mixing languages in one campaign.
• Promising French service you can't deliver.
• Judging French by lead volume alone instead of cost per booked job.

If you'd like help planning a French test, our bilingual campaigns service covers the structure, keywords, briefs and tracking, and the contact page explains how to get in touch.