First, do no harm (to yourself, when marketing)

Greetings, Training for Translators readers! I hope you’re all doing well. Here’s the T4T news this week:

Medical marketing master class

Guest instructor Ana Sofia Correia kicks off the T4T “school year” with a two-hour master class exclusively for medical translators and interpreters on September 24. Join us for Marketing with purpose: how medical translators and interpreters can attract the right clients. Registration is $75 and includes the recording. We have a good group already signed up, and there’s room for everyone who wants to participate. 

Direct client research lab: October session

My experimental session of Direct client research lab (personalized direct client marketing advice based on your goals) went well; the August session sold out in one day, the reviews were very positive, and the September session sold out from the waitlist. So now we’re on to October, and there are 20 spots up for grabs; $160 includes a personalized video of marketing recommendations just for you, then we meet for a live session where I demonstrate my research methods so that you can use them yourself. Here’s the October link. 

This week’s topic: The first rule of marketing is, “Do no harm” (to yourself!) 

A quick mindset tip: If you’re actively looking for new clients in your freelance business, the most important thing to avoid is self-sabotage and self-inflicted pain. That sounds kind of dumb, but here’s what I mean. We all do this! You see a good potential client, and you immediately tell yourself:

-“They probably already have a translator or interpreter.” You don’t know that: Maybe they’re piling this extra responsibility on one of their employees who already has another job. Maybe that person went to their boss this morning and said, “I’m not translating the website copy/interpreting for the staff meetings/subtitling the videos anymore. We have to hire an actual translator/interpreter/subtitler.”

-“They probably won’t pay my rates.” Do you know their budget? Have you sat in on their planning meetings? Maybe they’re over there, saying, “Our current freelancer does mediocre work, takes forever to respond to our e-mails, and delivered the last project late. We need to find someone new, and we may have to pay more to get someone good.”

-“I’m afraid they’ll think I’m too expensive, so I’ll quote my absolute lowest rate.” This is what Walt Kania used to call a “self-inflicted discount.” The client isn’t asking for a discount: they don’t need to, because you’re offering one before you even give them a quote. There are tons of ways to handle this. The best: just quote your regular rate and see what happens! I’m honestly surprised at how often a client I really want to work with is fine with what I charge. If you’re really having pricing anxiety, you can say something like, “For this type of project, I typically charge X. If that’s not in your budget, let me know and we can talk further.” You’re not explicitly offering to charge less: maybe the client can give you a longer deadline, or downsize the request to fit their budget.

Right now, lots of translators (more translators than interpreters, is my sense) are actively marketing for the first time. If you’ve been earning 75% of your income from three to five agencies for the past few years (or decades, or since the 1980s), it’s a scary time, but I promise you that there are ways forward. I hope these tips are helpful!

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