This year, I’m working on a series of single-topic books for freelance translators. The first one, Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies is available now, and the second one, Finding and Marketing to Direct Clients, is in the works. I originally referred to these as e-books, but my book designer convinced me to do a paperback version as well. I’m glad that I allowed myself to be overruled on that one, because the paper version is actually outselling both the PDF and Kindle versions as of now.
As with the agencies book, I’d like to include a chapter of reader questions in the direct clients book. If you have a question about working with direct clients, please:
- Submit your question as a comment on this post
- Specify whether it’s OK for me to use your name if I answer your question in the book
If I use your question, you will receive a free PDF copy of the book when it’s published. And if you’re interested in diving into the direct client market right away, the next session of my online course Marketing to Direct Clients starts next Wednesday–November 1. That link will take you to the full course description, feedback from past students, and a preview of the self-paced course videos.
Hello, the question I have about direct clients is: “How do you explain to a direct client, who does not know anything about translation, why it is better to hire a translator for translation services, rather than opt for the far cheaper services of translation agencies?” Should you use this question in your book, it´s OK with me if you use my name.
Hello Corinne,
This sounds like a very interesting series of books!
My question is similar to Jelena’s – how to explain diplomatically to a small business with a small budget that investing in a translator is worth their time and money, and that getting their friend/niece/neighbour who knows English (or whatever the target language) to knock something out isn’t the best solution? I see so many examples of this in my language combination but terrified of coming across negatively before I’ve started and putting a potential client off!
Ps – I’d prefer if you didn’t use my name if it gets published as I’m a newcomer in the midst of a career change 🙂
Hi Corinne,
For your “Marketing to direct clients” book, I’d like to ask how you go about drawing up an initial list of prospects who you will then approach for new business. Many thanks, Michael
Thanks for this opportunity to ask questions about working with direct clients! I only work with direct clients, because in my opinion this has lots of advantages. If I want to contact a new prospect, I usually call, and after that, I send an email. But I’m wondering if this is the best way to contact new prospects. What would be your recommendation?
Oh, and it’s ok for me if you use my name in the book 🙂
Best regards from Berlin,
Laura
Hi Corinne,
Thank you for this opportunity. I have a question: When you are contacting a direct client who wants to translate, for example, his website, is it ok to let them know that you have translated the website of one of his competitors to show that you have experience in the field or is this seen as a lack of loyalty to your customer?
Best regards,
Lis
Hello, Corinne! Here’s my question (you may disclose my name with it):
About a year ago I upgraded to the LINKEDIN premium membership to connect with organizations and companies in the fields I’m interested to find work in (marketing, advertising, healthcare, and education). Pretty soon, my connections increased to close to two thousand, but from that effort, I have not found any direct clients.
So, here are my two questions–What’s the most effective way to use LINKEDIN to market to potential direct clients? How do you narrow down your search to determine which clients may be in need of translation services?
Corinne,
I’d be interested in the LinkedIn question also. Another question I have is this: in my kind of specialization (patents and other technical stuff), It seems to me that many companies who need translation services would most likely go to agencies (and especially big ones) rather than deal with individual translators because they need large quantities of translation services in a number of languages. Therefore, it would be much easier for them to deal with an agency that can send the jobs involving specific languages to the translators than to be bothered with dealing with many individuals.
Are there many such companies in some fields (I’m think of patents, pharma, etc.), and if so, how could one approach them as an individual translator?
Hello, Corinne! (you can use my name if my question is chosen):
How do you use a blog or any of the social networks (FB, IG, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) to target specific direct clients? I mean, my posts are all about what I know about the translation industry, but I don’t think a direct client (eg. a laboratory) would care about CAT tools or how to target translation agencies, or any of my posts for that matter…
Hello Corinne,
What I would like to know is how an individual translator can convince a direct client to use their translation services. I mean it is only one person who can either translate or proof and only from/to one language, in general. On the other hand, as we all know, the agencies can offer more options (translation and/or editing and/or proofreading, etc), can handle bigger volumes in less time and more language combinations. What could I possibly tell them to choose me instead of an agency?
Many thanks,
Victoria
PS: It’s ok for me to use my name, should you decide to answer this question in the book.
Hello Corinne, I have a doubt about availability in direct marketing. We all know that agencies have a database with many freelancers, so availability is not an issue. As far as direct clients are concerned instead, I have found that “forward-looking” companies tend to have at least 2 freelancers (if not 3 or more) for each language pair, especially if the company itself actively found the freelancers (and not the other way round). This means the company was well aware that a single freelancer may not be always available, so it looked for “backup linguists” as well. This also means the company is unlikely to have flexible deadlines, because of its business/industry. But what if a freelancer wants to actively market to a direct client? I mean, sometimes the freelancer will not be available for this potential direct client (freelancer is already fully booked, or sick, or on vacation, or off because of a national holiday that is not celebrated in the client’s country, etc. ), and the projects of some clients cannot be postponed until the freelancer is back (a couple of examples: press releases, many time-sensitive financial documents). Knowing a trusted colleague working in the same language combination(s) AND in the same fields would be the perfect solution, but that is not always viable, especially for freelancers specializing in a very specific and/or sensitive area. To cut a story short, my question is: how can a freelancer approach a new potential time-sensitive direct client confidently when he/she is well aware that at times (not rarely) he/she may be unable to help this direct client because of other clients, holidays, etc., especially if he/she knows no trusted colleagues with the very same language combination and specialization? Thank you for your insights!
PS: feel free to use my name.
I just want to wish you luck on your project. And that’s fantastic that the paper version of your book is outselling the others. Good sign, I’d say.
Hello Corinne,
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to ask questions. May I ask two things?
1. A direct client may often need translation services both ways, especially if you work with the business world: not only from your foreign language into your native one but also the other way round. However, if you don’t feel comfortable translating into your foreign language, what would be the best approach?
2. Prices on my domestic translation market are very low. This is why I need to market my services abroad. But how do I know which businesses need services in my language, which is quite rare? On the other hand, the moment foreign companies step on my domestic market, they find out that they can buy translation much, much cheaper. What would be your take on this?
You can mention my name in your book.
Hi Corinna
Great project!
My question is quite specific: how do I market to a direct client who is a publisher in order to translate a non-fiction book for him/her? I somehow assume that this market works differently, but I think you have your experience here as well, and many translators think about book translation as an additional and personally rewarding sideline to the day-day business of shorter translations.
It is okay to use my name if you answer my question in the book. Thanks!
Hi Corinne, I have two related questions. Should we expect many of our potential direct clients to be located in our source language countries? Can you give any general tips on finding and marketing to direct clients when you live in one of your target language countries, especially if your source language countries number in the dozens? I translate Spanish and Portuguese into English and live in the U.S.
It’s fine to use my name.
Hi Corinne–a question from a US expat in Taipei, Taiwan & greetings from Asia!
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Do you have any general advice–or modifications of any of the specific advice in the text of the book–to expats who live in different time zones from their clients?
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Please feel free to use my name if you use my question.