Marketing

Apr 03 2018
Corinne McKay

Marketing tip: beating analysis paralysis

In a world of too many (and ever-increasing!) choices, most of us are familiar with the concept of analysis paralysis. In the face of too many options–whole, low-fat, skim, soy, or almond milk in that latte??–we either a) make no choice at all–let the barista pick…surprise me!–or b) waste cognitive and emotional resources on relatively insignificant decisions. This can come back to bite us when we have to make significant decisions, like how to market our freelance businesses.

Beating analysis paralysis is an important skill for a freelancer. I’ll hazard a completely unscientific guess that the top 10% of freelancers in our profession earn six figures or the part-time equivalent; over 100,000 dollars or euros a year, or an equivalent amount if they work less than full time. I’ll also hazard a guess that it’s not difficult to identify something the 10% do well: they’re the ones actively looking for the kinds of clients they want to work with, and taking intentional actions to draw those clients to them or to proactively contact those clients, rather than translating whatever lands in the inbox.

Analysis paralysis hamstrings a lot of freelancers. One of the most common things I hear from students in my classes is, “I have so many marketing ideas, I just don’t know where to start.” Or, “Every time I sit down at my desk to work on marketing, I get bogged down thinking of all the things I feel like I should do first: create a new website, update my LinkedIn profile, get a new headshot photo, order new business cards. I feel so overwhelmed that I don’t do anything.” Wikipedia tells us that, “Analysis paralysis or paralysis by analysis is the state of over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome.” Following are a few suggestions for short-circuiting analysis paralysis, and feel free to add your own in the comments:

Admit that you’re caught in the trap. Call analysis paralysis what it is. It’s not helpful. It’s draining. It’s counter-productive. And you really can work on marketing without a new headshot photo. Seeing the problem is the first step. If necessary, say out loud, “I’m caught in analysis paralysis here, but I’m going to get over it and do something.”
When you feel yourself flailing, think, “What’s working well right now?” Then build on that. Let’s say that you want to market to some new direct clients, but you don’t know where to start. Every time you think about clients who might need a translator with your skills, there are so many options that you feel paralyzed. You don’t know whether it’s better to target large companies or small ones, companies in your target or source country, and so on. Instead, do this: identify your current favorite client. Then look for more clients like them. No client is that unique–whatever you like about your current A+ client can be found in other, similar clients.
Use special software only if it saves more time than it consumes. Lots of students ask me about customer relationship management software, lead tracking software, software that integrates with LinkedIn, and so on. Sure. If that type of tool motivates you to work on marketing, or if it saves you tons of time, use it. But for the amount of marketing that the average freelancer does–maybe a few hundred contacts a year at most–I think that a simple tool like Excel or a Google Sheet is just fine. That’s what I use. I have an Excel sheet called “Contacts,” and in it I record the name of the company or entity, the date I contacted them, how I contacted them, and then their response. I color-code their row: yellow means “contacted them, waiting to hear back.” Red means “they responded and I don’t need to contact them again” (i.e. they don’t work in English-speaking countries, or they only use pro bono translators). Green means “positive response from them.” Then I have a column for any followup action that needs to be taken. This is fast and easy to use.
Pick one goal. Lots of translators are trying to achieve too many objectives at once: trying to find high-quality agency clients, direct clients in three different specializations, and cultural consulting clients, for example. If you can juggle all of that, go for it. But if–like 99% of freelancers–too many balls in the air just makes everything worse, then pick one goal. Right now you’re only contacting wellness retreats in Costa Rica that should have a better English web presence. Or e-learning companies that should be producing courses in Spanish. Or any other type of client: just pick one, not 12.
Have an end goal in mind. “Why am I doing this?” is a question we ask far too infrequently. Are you interested in finding higher-paying work? More interesting work? Work from clients in a specific geographic area? Work in a specific specialization? Projects with longer deadlines? Keep your eye on that, and it will help you focus.
Keep the actual marketing as simple as possible. Don’t overthink your message. If you identify a potential client who looks like a good fit, write something like this. “As a French to English translator with 15+ years’ experience translating for the development sector, I recently came across your website. Congratulations on the outstanding work you’re doing in the education and healthcare sectors in Haiti. In the context of your work, I can imagine that there might be a need for a translator to help with annual or quarterly reports, monitoring and evaluation documents, in-country employee materials and similar projects. Please let me know if my services might be helpful to you.” This might not be the jazziest marketing e-mail ever written, but it’s short and professional, it gets the point across, and it doesn’t subject the potential client to your life story. It gets the job done, and it’s something that anyone can write and send in just a few minutes.

I often tell other translators, “You know what kind of marketing works: the kind of marketing you do, not the kind of marketing you only think about.” In order to get it done, you need to force yourself out of analysis mode. Feel free to contribute your own ideas in the comments!

Nov 30 2017
Corinne McKay

New podcast: the basics of direct client marketing

In this episode of Speaking of Translation, Eve and Corinne discuss the basics of marketing your freelance translation services to direct clients. We offer tips on deciding who to market to, beginner-friendly direct client marketing techniques, and what factors to consider before you start marketing to direct clients. Links mentioned in this episode:

Eve’s book: Maintaining Your Second Language
Corinne’s new e-book (print version also available): Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies
Ed Gandia’s e-book on warm e-mail marketing
Tess Whitty’s podcast Marketing Tips for Translators
C.J. Hayden’s book, workbook, and courses Get Clients Now

And if you enjoy Speaking of Translation, you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (or even leave us a review!)

Click the audio player link to listen online

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The basics of direct client marketing

Sep 08 2017
Corinne McKay

Guest post: content marketing for freelancers

This is a guest post by James Quilter. James is a digital consultant for the London-based content marketing agency FirstWord Media. James is an expert in content marketing: using informational content like blog posts, articles, infographics and videos to capture customers’ interest without directly advertising to them. James piqued my interest with a post on FirstWord’s website about the content marketing strategy used by the bike clothing company Rapha, and I asked if he could adapt some of his strategies to us as freelancers.

Content marketing has been successfully used to boost sales and the brands of multinationals such as Coca-Cola, GE and Marriott. But, as this post will show, it can also be employed by small businesses and ‘solopreneurs’ to increase customer numbers and substantially raise revenue.

As you are probably aware, you have a key advantage as a specialist in translation services. You understand language and copy. This cannot be overstated. Content marketing is about creating high-quality articles, multimedia or infographics. By contrast with straight sales copy, content marketing is designed to inform, engage, and/or entertain your potential customers. For some companies, this simply involves a blog. For others, like Marriott, it might be a short feature film: Marriott’s in-house content studio recently released Two Bellmen Three, a film that follows a Korean couple the day before and the day of their wedding.

Regardless of the form that content marketing takes, the mission is the same: generate interest and engagement among potential and existing customers. The selling is a side-benefit of content marketing. This is important, because it’s a key difference between content marketing and advertising.

How can translators use content marketing?

There is an argument that the technicalities and nuances surrounding translation make it a perfect fit with content marketing. Your customers might be intrigued by the differences between European and Latin American Spanish, or how to handle the differences between different legal systems: how do you translate the words “felony” and “misdemeanor” into French? In fact, they may be Googling those questions right now. Answer these questions and you will position yourself as an expert.

Yet it has to be done correctly. The web is littered with moribund blogs that were pumped out without thought or strategy. The “publish and pray” approach worked 10 years ago, but now that so many companies and freelancers have their own blogs, your content must inform or entertain your target customers or it will be ignored.

If you are a solopreneur, here are some pointers to help you with your content marketing.

Content is about ideas

Identify your clients’ problems. Scan your old e-mails and look for the questions that customers ask you over and over again, or the problems that they need you to solve. If you are writing a blog post, try to make it longer than 600 words. Ideally, something like 1,000 words is even better. For an SEO bump, include bullet points, relevant videos from YouTube, and lists. From an SEO perspective, these are all effective.

Additionally, don’t rely just on text-driven blogs. Videos or infographics can work equally well, and will stand out in a sea of text-heavy articles. Videos and infographics are getting easier and cheaper to create all the time; even a 30-second video on a topic like “How to decide what needs to be translated,” or “Translating marketing slogans into Spanish” could be effective.

2. Pay someone else

Of course, running a business requires time; translators are almost always excellent writers, but you already have a full-time job running your translation business. You may need content marketing, but not have the time to create it. And, as with translation, good content demands both time and diligence. So, bring in outside help. Ask a professional content marketing writer to create blog posts or articles for you; this removes the “I don’t have time” barrier, and because you’re a quality writer, you can edit these materials and recreate them in your own voice if needed.

3. Reformat and diversify

No one has an endless supply of new and fresh ideas for content. In such a scenario, build on what you already have – in other words, repurpose it. Use different formats for your content: combine several related posts into a white paper, or make a blog post into a tip sheet that you can send to clients, or make an article into a video. When there is a lot of information to be conveyed, you might opt for attractive infographics, too. For example, you could create (or hire someone to create) an infographic about SEO keyword translation tips that could be kept and used by your customers. Additionally, diversifying your content will let you share these materials on a variety of social platforms, thus increasing your exposure. One blog post could spawn a series of Tweets, a LinkedIn Pulse article, an infographic, and a video, all generated from one idea.

4. Update your work

Some pieces of content might be better than others in converting prospects to sales. Every industry has its “evergreen” topics: your target clients might wonder how much translation costs, or how to create a multilingual social media presence, or what languages they should be translating into. Even so, make sure to update your existing evergreen content regularly. All industries change. New trends come and go. Your blog might rank high on Google, but that 2015 publication date will put people off as time drags on. And Google hates a high bounce rate. Make sure to:

-Analyze what’s your most popular content and schedule an update every few months. Make it clear you have revamped it.

-Go through your popular content and include the latest developments in the sector. And although cutting can be hard, make sure you remove outdated references.

5. Costs and time

You may be producing the campaign yourself. But that does not mean it is cheap. Keep an eye on the time spent, because a campaign that is free in terms of cost is not free in terms of time that you could be spending on paid work rather than creating content. Real costs can arise when you begin to include high-quality images or graphics, if you need to purchase the rights to these or hire someone to create them for you.

You have to be sensible and aware of what is visually appealing. Quality images are essential to any content, but try not to rely too heavily on stock photos. Always keep your costs in check and stop immediately when you find yourself at the point of diminishing returns. Set a budget for your campaign (in terms of both direct costs and time spent) before you start.

6. Distribution

You have an idea for an informative blog post based on a recurring problem for clients? Great. But first off, think about who is going to read it. Where are you likely to reach this audience? Where do they hang out? Quora, Twitter, or the Financial Times message board? If they are always on your site or reading your newsletters, great: you already know how to get your content to them. But even Coca-Cola has to reach out to new markets. In fact, many large companies rate the success of a piece of content by how many times it has been shared.

So, while creation is an important aspect of conducting business, proper distribution is equally essential. Some believe it is even more important. Why? Because if your work never reaches your customer, then it is wasted. Let’s be clear. Your aim is to have people read your content. If it remains unread, your time would have been better spent watching Game of Thrones with the laptop switched off. But you should be picky when it comes to the platform where you post your content.

Unless your own blog or website gets a steady flow of traffic, you should opt for the most popular platforms, from where your content can be shared extensively. A brand–including your personal brand as a freelancer–that has received personal recommendations from people who are perceived as trustworthy and as influencers finds it easier to gain trust from readers and customers. When an industry leader promotes you, it sends a message that she or he believes in your work –which consequentially makes you more popular. Moreover, don’t be afraid to promote your posts–content marketing is not a time to be shy. Facebook and Twitter are relatively cheap in terms of their advertising rates, and allow you to focus on very narrow market segments if you choose to advertise.

Also, you should have a newsletter and a subscription list. If you already have a list, make sure that you’re actively asking people to sign up for it. This is your key to contacting your potential customers directly. If you don’t have a list, set one up right away.

7. It’s not all about page impressions

Don’t get hung up on traffic numbers and the number of views that your content gets. Sure, they are important. But you need to aim for good prospects and high-quality leads. Better to have 100 of these than 1,000 people who do not need your services. The most important thing is to create relevant and engaging content, and distribute it on platforms where your potential clients spend time.

Conclusion

There is one final point to make. Your bigger competitors may be churning out copy faster than you’ll ever be able to. But you have one key advantage over the ‘marketing expert’ producing the obligatory five blog posts a week. Being at the center of the business, you know what your work is about, what problems you solve, and what your customers want. You might not be able to beat the big boys on quantity, but quality is another thing entirely. Even if you produce just one high-quality blog post a month, that is enough. Just make sure it is what people want and the rest will take care of itself.

Aug 01 2017
Corinne McKay

How to move up in the translation market

This post originally appeared as a newsletter to my mailing list; I’m reprinting it here while taking some time off from blogging this summer!

Lots of us have heard the advice that “it’s time to move up in the translation market,” in response to changes in our industry brought about by–among other factors–technology and globalization.

“Move up in the market” is great advice, but what does “moving on up” entail? You’re unlikely to double your rates with your current clients, so you need a new strategy. Let’s take a look.

Tip 1: See and believe that it’s possible. This sounds a bit new age-y, but mindset makes a huge difference when you’re trying to up your game. Think of it this way: behaviors, just like illnesses, are contagious. If you’re surrounded exclusively by translators who are struggling to make ends meet, it’s not surprising that you see that as the norm. If you’re surrounded by translators who have a full stable of high-paying clients, and who have a similar level of financial security to people with salaried jobs, you start to see that as the norm too. And there are clients out there who will pay high enough rates for you to earn a six-figure income, but you need to be actively looking for them, not waiting for them to find you.

Tip 2: Attend professional development events for successful translators. In about 2008, I decided that it was my time to “move on up” and start working exclusively with high-end agencies and direct clients. In 2009, Chris Durban and other premium-market translators launched the Translate In… series (that year, we translated in the Catskills), which has continued and expanded, with summer master classes in France and Quebec. That first session was such an eye-opener to me; to see the changes that I needed to make in my translation skills, workflow, and business model in order to move up. Whatever your language pair, you need to start attending those types of events: being a better translator is an often-overlooked element of moving up in the market.

Tip 3: Set a red zone rate and don’t budge. Because we generally price our work in cents per word, discounts can seem inconsequential. It feels petty to argue over a cent, or half a cent. But…those cents add up when you translate hundreds of thousands of words a year. Those cents show clients what you think your work is worth. Those cents make you feel devalued and demoralized before you even start the project. Rather than negotiating on a case-by-case basis, you need a rate below which you never go. I recently heard a colleague say, “I don’t turn on the computer for less than…” That type of policy can help you avoid making those small concessions that add up over time.

Tip 4: Fish in smaller ponds. For lots of translators, aiming higher means targeting huge companies. But the Microsofts and Sanofis and Deutsche Banks of this world aren’t usually the best place to start. It’s difficult to know who to contact. Some–although certainly not all–large companies aren’t willing to work directly with freelancers. You’re often better off targeting smaller companies in your specializations, where you can find the name of the appropriate person to contact, and send them a personalized e-mail, paper letter, or LinkedIn InMail.

Tip 5: Watch for new trends. One key to moving up in the market is to look for hidden gold mines; types of clients who are–perhaps suddenly and urgently–in need of a good translator. As an example, I enjoy translating content marketing materials like blog posts and e-newsletters. I’ve recently started working with two environmental foundations that feel–perhaps correctly–that in order to broaden their base of fans, supporters, and donors, they must be on social media in English. These clients generate a steady flow of work; each project may be small, with a 500-word blog post here and a 750-word e-newsletter there, but I hear from them at least twice a week. I’d call this a micro-trend, but it’s prompted me to consider actively looking for more of these types of clients.

Tip 6: Thicken your skin. Again, another mindset shift, but an important one. It’s hard to up your game if you feel broken and demoralized after every interaction with a client who won’t pay your rates, or every marketing contact that goes un-returned. You simply have to keep plowing forward until you have the base of clients that you want, and you have to adopt the mindset that it’s better to find out up front that a client won’t pay what you want or need to earn.

Bonus tip: be realistic about what you need or want to earn. This is a real struggle for a lot of freelancers. When you add up the amount of money you want in your bank account every month, plus taxes, health insurance, vacation time, professional development, computer hardware and software, retirement account contributions, etc. etc., it’s a big number. But in order to make freelancing sustainable, you need to earn an income where you have a similar level of financial security to someone with a salaried job.

Readers, over to you! Tell us your best tips for moving up in the translation market!

Apr 26 2017
Corinne McKay

Podcast: Tess Whitty solves common marketing dilemmas

Over at Speaking of Translation, Eve Bodeux and I recently interviewed Tess Whitty, host of the popular podcast Marketing Tips for Translators. Just in time for the launch of her new book, (Marketing Tips for Translators: the ultimate collection of tips from the podcast), Tess offered some very helpful insights on:

The most important marketing steps for newbie translators
What to do when you don’t need more work, but you need better work (higher-paying, more interesting, etc.)
Pitfalls and best practices when it comes to your online presence
The best ways to branch out into the direct client market

Eve and I chimed in with a few of our own experiences, and we had a great time talking with Tess. You can stream the interview right here, download it for your future listening pleasure, or subscribe to us in iTunes.