As you well know, marketing is everywhere. In how we write our CV, in the outfit that we choose for the first date and even, literally, in the alphabet soup that you choose for dinner. It was not expected that there was also marketing for translators.
Being an expert in languages, I know how difficult the world is.
I know fellow students (I studied Modern Languages) who started down this stony path and their feet hurt more and more from walking so much. I know that there is more and more competition and that there are more and more tools that seek to take our work. But what I also know is that few jobs are as rewarding as translating cultures, ideas and stories from one language to another.
So fear not! Everything has a solution. Understanding a few translator marketing basics will help you keep rolling and keep going that road at a higher speed (and without blisters on your feet).
Here are the four pillars of Translation marketing so that, if you haven’t started already, you have a roadmap to guide you.
Table of Contents
1. If you want to be professional, you have to look professional
Within the marketing for translators, the image you give to others is also very important. Here I really like to use the saying in English “Fake it till you make it ”, that is, “Pretend until you get it.”
If you want people to see you as a translation professional, then you have to look like a translation professional first. First you have to believe it for others to believe it too.
How to do it? You should invest time and money to create a decent website for yourself, and open a special email account just to manage translations. This involves giving yourself a name like [email protected], and make you the corresponding mail signature.
Your page obviously has to be your cover letter, so it is good that you put in it a small section where you talk about yourself, and another where you publish your most recent work and relevant.
But don’t forget that the website is a powerful conversion tool. You must ensure that the interactions you promote within it are oriented to a single purpose: that they ask you for a budget or that they give you their email. Add contact buttons and encourage visitors to talk to you.
2. Create an account on LinkedIn, and don’t forget about Instagram
It is more than obvious that social networks are important, so just as you have an Instagram account to upload photos of your last vacation, I suggest you get ahead of the rest and also open a translation one. There are not many people in the sector who use this tool yet, and the first one can be you.
“But Elena”, you will say, “What do you want me to go up there?”. You can upload information about what your processes are, how you translate, you can share interesting content about the world of translation and even give small classes in the language you control. Think, as a professional, what you would have liked to find yourself on this network. And don’t forget the reels, they are the future to make yourself known on Instagram!
On the other hand, if what we want is to be hired, we can’t forget about LinkedIn. This is the most useful tool for freelancers and you cannot not have an account on this social network. So it’s time to remove your graduation photo from your career as a profile picture and put another one with a more interesting air.
To improve your activity on LinkedIn, I recommend that you upload informational posts from time to time, that you comment on other people’s posts and that you also share them. Update your experience and In each job or course you have done, detail what each one of them has contributed to make you better than anyone else in your job.
3. Share interesting content
This point is closely related to the others. Use your website’s blog, your LinkedIn blog, and Instagram posts to share information of interest about your field of expertise, curiosities or anecdotes of the field.
These spaces are NOT to advertise you, but to get in touch with the client and show him that you know what you are talking about. Offer him courage so that he begins to value you. Advertising is something that we will look at in the next point.
4. Don’t be afraid to spend money on advertising
Yes! Paying for ads on Google or social media will give you the boost you need for more people to see you. Now that you have worked well on your website, as well as your email or social networks, it is time for you to attract others to you.
Learn about how Google Ads works and look for tips from Paid Media. If you use them wisely, you will see that in a matter of time many more people will contact you than you expect.
Did you already know all these tips? Do you already have a professional translation profile? Then keep reading that the rest of the post is ideal for you (attention! Even if it is not like that, these tricks will continue to help you).
1. Offer free valuable content
At this point we are going to see what we saw in the one about “Share interesting content” and we are going to take it further. Apart from the posts on the website and the other social networks, you have to offer more, something at the level of your experience.
As examples of free and valuable content we could put the webinars, write an ebook, write a newsletter or you could even consider the idea of make a podcast and try in it little tips that you want to share with the largest companies. All of this will also make an excellent lead magnet.
2. Invest in a marketing agency
It is clear that if you want to achieve authentic results, you have to have real experts. A marketing agency can also specialize in the translation sector and it can help you get the boost you’re looking for.
Within a marketing agency you can find many services that can help you. I, personally, advise you to contact a digital marketing one so that they can offer you advertising services on social networks, advertising on Google, organic positioning or even web development if you want to improve the one you already have.
Advertising space: Since you have come so far, why not stop by our website and see all the services that we can provide you? If you want us to tell you, too you can get in touch with our commercial department and they will make you a personalized proposal to your budget and needs.
3. Do a market study, do you offer what your customers need?
Perhaps you have already applied all of this. Maybe you don’t really know what is going wrong. Then It is time to stop and analyze all the work you have done so far. Doing a market study will be a good way to find out what is being sought in your niche and how you can adjust your work to that demand.
Imagine that you want to work translating texts from a medical clinic. Where do you think they may be looking for you? Where do you think these clinics could be located on the map? Are you focusing your marketing strategy well?
4. Improve your personal brand or branding
Last but not least, do not forget to take care of your personal brand. Surely if I tell you Steve Jobs, Michelle Obama or Bill Gates you will instantly have an image of them in your head, you will remember their personality and what they do, even when you have not even gotten to know them.
To work this, You have to choose at least three values that define you and that define your work. For example, cool, flexible and technical. From there, you have to know that any action or word you say must convey and be marked by those same values.
Take advantage of what makes you special and make it your most deadly weapon. Our Jesús Madurga, founder of NeoAttack uses, for example, his famous music headphones as a hallmark, and has turned it into a symbol. This is a more than clear example of how to build your personal brand.
One last tip for the people who need it most: persist, insist and don’t give up. Obviously, we are not going to pursue the impossible, but if you are clear that this is what you want to dedicate yourself to, and you know that there is no one better than you at it, do not stop working and striving.
In marketing, for translators as for any other sector, the results can be seen in the short and long term. There are times that even the way in which we have formulated a strategy is not effective at all and we do not even obtain results.
But you will learn, you will know how to do it better and the next time you will get it. The more times you try, the more time you invest, the more chances you have of getting it. So don’t give up.
I hope that you have found this helpful post and that it has helped you to know a little more about marketing for translators.
