“Linguistically-aware Leadership”

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Remember my post on Obama and more translation work?

Commonsense Advisory’s Global Watchtower blog’s latest issue brings us a post titled “Early Signs of Linguistically-Aware Leadership“

There is a good attempt to answer the question: “How will the change in administration affect the language sector?”

Enjoy!

A.M.Sall

P.S. Click here to download your copy of “The Insider Guide to The Strategic Marketing of Translation Services“, the book no translator/interpreter in his/her right mind should even think of going without . Or maybe you’d rather take a look at the Free Preview first? This is the book you’ve been waiting for so impatiently: it’s here NOW. And did I mention I’m now working on the 2nd edition, which will be much more complete, but also with a higher price (yes, there’s going to be a price rise!). Now here is the deal: if you get the book now (at the current price), you’ll get the 2nd edition for free. So why wait any longer…!?

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Freelance Translators – How to Easily Beat the “Feast and Famine” Syndrome

(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.