Translator PowerIn dealing with your audience’s opinions/perceptions, you must strike a delicate balance between on the one hand “He’s one of us”, i.e. make them identify with you, and empathise, …
and, on the other hand “He knows what we do not know”, i.e. make them recognize your expertise and authority
I was just like many other freelance translators
Got all my jobs through networking and referrals, for many years (did I mention I’ve been “in the trenches” since 1972!)
I didn’t “market”, didn’t even know it was really necessary
That was looong before the Internet
Then, with the Net, I started posting my profile on Translation Portals and Directories, applying for jobs with Translation Agencies
It took me quite some time to realize translation was just a business (even if it is a “one-man-show”) that needed to be “marketed” like any other business
I read all the marketing books I could lay my hands on
I learned, and learned, and learned – and I’m still learning because “learning never ends”
But NOW I KNOW marketing is necessary, so I market profusely and proactively
I even know that rather than a translator marketing his translation service, I am a marketer who happens to be selling (or marketing) translation services
Of course, this doesn’t mean I’ve stopped loving translation, languages, and language in general. That is my Passion, like your first and eternal love to which you always return, even after the vicissitudes (a long word, that one!) of life have turned you away from it.
Enough with the melodrama, now 
Anyway, now I spend a lot of time working ON my business rather than IN it (I normally don’t like clichés but this one still makes sense)
This has allowed me to leverage my marketing knowledge and know-how
1. to get more clients than I could handle on my own, which has led me to start a Translation Agency (http://www.translationtrophy.com)
2. market other products/services than translation (infoproducts like health and self-development products for example)
3. advise on how to market translation/interpreting services as well as other services (marketing coaching and consulting)
… in other words, I have upgraded myself from freelancer to full-blown entrepreneur
And now, the sky’s the limit…!
Your comments?
(Here is one of my recent articles as it was published)
Freelance Translators – How to Easily Beat the “Feast and Famine” Syndrome
It is a well know fact that translators in general and more particularly freelance translators are the most reluctant marketers of all professional service providers
Freelancers often don’t realize they are running a business and as such they must embark on permanent, never-ending marketing activities, like any other business owner.
They must market more proactively
For many of them, marketing your translation/interpreting services simply stops at posting your profile on Translation Portals, Directories and/or sending your resume/CV to Translation Agencies.
Well, that’s a terrible mistake and, as they say, that means leaving literally tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars (or however much that will be in your local currency…) on the table.
There is indeed an infinite number of ways to market translation/interpreting services, just like any other business: advertising, publicity, referrals, networking, email marketing, newsletter, website, blog, forums, and many others…
One such ways that can be extremely efficient while costing almost nothing is writing a Press Release (or News Release or again Media Release) and getting it published or distributed for publishing.
It’s not as difficult as you might think!
1. Writing your press release
Bill Stoller gives an impeccable definition of the presse release: It is “a pseudo-news story, written in third person, that seeks to demonstrate to an editor or reporter the newsworthiness of a particular person, event, service or product.”
Think like a journalist
Use the “inverted pyramid” format, with less important information further down in the release and keep your press release within 500 words
The 5 parts of a presse release are
. Headline: Grab attention and force people to read (The most important part)
. Subhead: Briefly expand the Headline
. Lead Paragraph: The major facts of the story. Include who, what, when, where and how (The second most important part)
. Remaining paragraphs: Briefly give more details about the story.
. End: Include a little information about the business owner and his business. Only info, no hype!
Spend at least half your time on the headline and the lead. To get news coverage, you must “hook” the reporter with the headline and the lead.
2. Getting it published or distributed for publishing.
a) Online PR services
Using online press release services is one of the most powerful ways to almost instantly drive hundreds or even thousands of potential targeted clients to your new service, web site, blog or phone number…
Some of these are free but even those can be quite good and get you thousands of potential clients. You can always start with those since you have nothing to lose and possibly a lot to gain!
b) Send it to PR distributors
They send it to the media for you, generally not for free
c) Contact the media directly: all you have to do is learn how to write a convincing pitch letter
A pitch letter is a short letter you write to the journalist (editor) to
persuade him to read the attached press release.
For online PR services, PR distributors and the media used by your target audience, you can all find them through search engines
It is a fact that many people have built 6- or even 7-figure businesses with press release as their only marketing technique.
The essential point here is you must put in some work, first to acquire the necessary knowledge and tools, then, to ACT on all that
It is indeed possible for freelancers to single-handedly and easily pull themselves out of the “feast and famine” stage, and then if they so wish swiftly upgrade from prosperous freelancer to full blown entrepreneur
But first, they must take marketing seriously, so seriously that they get to a stage where they realize they are a marketing company selling translation services, rather than a translation company that needs to market a service
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Claim your free, yet quite meaty 7-part e-course on press release marketing at for a taste of 30+year veteran translator A.M.Sall’s new “Strategic Translation Service Marketing System” for freelancers struggling to find a way to market their services.
The translator’s power lies in latency
This is just a fancy way of saying that a good translation must not read like… a translation
The translator is only powerful when he/she disappears and his/her motto should be: the more inconspicuous, the better
In the case of an interpreter, the two communicating partners should not even feel his/her presence.
Translating is very much like impersonating, you play a part, very much like an actor, you are sometimes an engineer, sometimes a medical doctor, sometimes an IT expert, an accountant, a banker, a politician, etc…
Translation requires empathy and EQ (emotional Intelligence), on top of a reasonaly high IQ, of course
The translator gets the script in one language and produces it (says it, plays it out) in another language.
Now, don’t let this put you off seeking Maximum Visibility and Maximum Audibility in your target audience when you market !
