How to advertise to Persian-speaking customers in the UK, US, Canada and the UAE

Who you're actually reaching

"Persian-speaking" covers more people than it sounds: Iranians, Afghans who speak Dari, Tajiks, and their children, many of whom understand Persian but read English more comfortably. Vocabulary and script habits differ between these groups, and a first-generation customer in Dubai and a second-generation customer in Toronto may respond to completely different ads. Start by deciding who your best customer is, then build the campaign for them.

These are real, measurable markets. Canada's 2021 Census, for example, found about 130,000 people who speak Iranian Persian most often at home, and the census in England and Wales records Persian or Farsi as its own main-language category. Those figures only count people who use Persian as their main home language, so the wider audience who understand it is larger.

Meta ads: let the creative do the targeting

Ads Manager has a Languages setting in the audience section, and its own guidance is to leave it blank unless your audience uses a language that isn't common in the location you chose. A Persian-speaking audience in London or Los Angeles is exactly that case, so it's worth testing. The catch: the setting depends on the language people use in the app, and many Persian speakers abroad use Instagram and Facebook in English.

• Test two ad sets. One with your location plus Persian as the language, one with only the location. Use the same Persian or bilingual creative in both, so the only difference is the setting.
• Make the ad recognisable in the first second. Persian text on the image, a familiar face, a Persian voice-over or a cultural reference does more targeting than any setting. People who don't understand it scroll past, which is fine.
• Go bilingual when you're unsure. A Persian headline with English supporting text often suits second-generation audiences.
• Write it, don't translate it. A translated English ad keeps its English assumptions. I learned this the hard way moving a campaign from Europe to the GCC, see why an ad that works in Europe can fail in the GCC.

Google ads: people search in English too

Persian is a supported language for Google Ads, so you can run ads written in Persian. From September 2026, Search campaigns no longer use a campaign-level language setting: Google matches Search ads by the language of the ad and the search. In practice that means a Persian ad is most likely to show for Persian searches.

But many Persian speakers abroad search in English, and some type Persian words in Latin letters. Cover all three:

• English searches with a modifier: "Persian dentist Toronto", "Farsi-speaking lawyer London", "Iranian restaurant near me".
• Persian searches for the same service, with ads written in Persian.
• Your own search terms report. After a couple of weeks, check what people actually typed and add the phrases that brought real enquiries.

The landing page has to match the ad

If someone clicks a Persian ad and lands on an English page, many will leave. Give Persian ads a Persian page that reads right to left, uses a font designed for Persian, and has the same offer as the ad. Keep the form short, and reply in the language they wrote in. Then measure enquiries and customers separately for the Persian and English campaigns, so you can see which one pays for itself.

Plan around the Persian calendar

• Nowruz, the Persian New Year at the March equinox, is the biggest moment of the year: gifts, new clothes, beauty, travel, family gatherings and restaurants. Plan creative a few weeks ahead.
• Chaharshanbe Suri (the last Tuesday evening before Nowruz) and Sizdah Bedar (the 13th day of the new year) bring community events and outdoor gatherings.
• Shab-e Yalda, the longest night around 20–21 December, is a family evening with fruit, sweets and poetry, and a natural moment for food, gifting and hospitality.
• Don't assume one religious calendar. Persian-speaking communities are diverse, so cultural moments like Nowruz and Yalda reach more of them than religious ones do.

Trust travels by word of mouth

Persian-speaking communities abroad are often close-knit, and recommendations carry a lot of weight. Ads work better when the trust signals are there to back them up: reviews from customers in the same community, a real person's face and name, a clear price or starting price, and a page that answers questions in Persian. A plain, honest ad usually beats an overly polished one.

If you're a Persian-speaking business owner abroad

Wherever you are, you can work with a marketer in your own language remotely. Whoever you choose, check that the ad account, pixel and pages stay in your name, that reports are clear enough for you to read, and that they can show how they'd measure customers, not just clicks. I work in English and Persian with businesses of all sizes around the world; a marketing audit is the place to start if you want an honest look at what you're running now.