Marketing for language professionals — Page 3

Conferences for Introverts: 15 Top Tips

I’ve attended my share of conferences over the years, and they generally all have their own unique vibe. As a translation professional, I joined colleagues for conferences in niche areas, to retain my accreditation and certifications. As a business owner, I attended industry events to network with the wider business world. And now, as an aspiring academic, I attend conferences to develop my skills as a scholar and gain insight into a new career path.

Like most introverts, my preference is to listen to interesting talks, events, or training. But I still do OK on the social front. Here are some things I do to manage the transition from knowledge worker to networker.

You at your next conference after reading this post. Via GIPHY

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Presentation on social media for translators

by Sarah Dillon

Want to hear our presentation on social media for freelance language professionals?

Philippa Hammond and I used the power of d’internet to record the audio of our talk from the ITI Conference and then align it with the the slides in a SlideCast (relish it: yet another wonderful social media term). It’s a stripped down version of the actual event as there is no live demo or video feed, but have a look anyway and let us know what you think. [Read more…]

ITI Conference round-up: a social media perspective

by Sarah Dillon

This is a round-up of my experiences of the ITI International Conference in London this year.

Presenting

Some background

This year was only the second since 2003 that I did not attend the conference in person. I did seriously consider arranging a trip back to Europe based around the conference, but last year decided to focus my resources on events around the Asia-Pacific region instead. Then late last year, Philippa and I were invited by the organising committee to present a paper on social media, based on our own experiences of applying these tools to our everyday business activities. The idea was that we could also demonstrate some of the possibilities of web 2.0 by working together and ultimately, presenting, with me based in Brisbane and Philippa in London. It was an exciting idea and Philippa and I got to work. [Read more…]

Using Twitter to micro-blog live

by Sarah Dillon

Check out Philippa Hammond’s write-up of the Translator as Strategic Partner Conference over at Blogging Translator. Philippa was micro-blogging live over the conference weekend and has used her updates as a basis for her post. A fantastic example of how to use Twitter in a professional context.

More than that though, her post contains some really useful nuggets of inspiration. Try this on for size:

Jost Zetzsche, of Toolkit fame, spoke about our age-old idealisation of the patron saint of translators, St. Jerome. We risk being constrained by this idealisation of a translator who, let’s face it, innovative as he was at the time, was born c. 347. Instead, we need to roll with the times and think about the true purpose of our texts…

Great write-up, Philippa!

Podcasting Translators

by Sarah Dillon

We have translators who blog, Twitter, and social network. It was only a matter of time, but finally we have translators who podcast! [Read more…]

Social Media for Freelance Translators

by Sarah Dillon

I first wrote this post in 2008. A lot has changed since then but it is still one of my most popular posts. I believe this is because shows that platforms may come and go, but the principles of a sound social media strategy stands the test of time. Read it with this in mind, and enjoy!

I went to a conference for solo business owners recently and the question on everyone’s lips was ‘Do you blog?’ Well, yes, I do actually. Micro AND macro, as it happens.

There seems to be a lot of mystery around the business benefits of social media, including the ways in which it can be applied to meet various professional goals*.

So in an attempt to contribute to the discussion, here’s how this humble translator uses WordPress (macroblogging), Twitter (microblogging), LinkedIn, Proz, and a whole raft of other online bells and whistles in her day-to-day work.

(Bear in mind that this process often changes as I tweak, measure and experiment.)

I converse with other people, both inside and outside my field, via this blog and by regularly following and leaving comments on other blogs. I use Google Reader [now defunct: try Feedly instead] as a feedreader to subscribe to other blogs, which means I can see at a glance when a new post has been added to one of my ‘favourites’.
I ‘flesh out’ my online persona even more by participating in relevant blogging communities. Tools like Technorati and MyBlogLog help with this, although there are plenty of others which do the same job.
I use the likes of LinkedIn, Ning and Proz as relatively ‘static’ shop fronts, with links back to my website. I’m not worried that keeping a lower profile in these communities will lose me clients, because I’ve discovered that my target clients don’t tend to look for their translators in these places anyway. This won’t be true for everyone, of course.
I share snippets of interesting content with other professionals via Del.icio.us, StumbleUpon and Twitter. This is for when I don’t have the time or inclination to write an entire blog post on an issue but I’d still like to guage reactions, or when I want to share something that doesn’t really fit the scope of my blog. And it’s fun!
I occasionally contribute to relevant group discussions on various Google, Yahoo and Proz forums. I’d like to make this more of a focus in the future, but generally I’m trying to move away from email and lengthy discussion threads which take a long time to sift through (unlike the RSS feeds in my feedreader). Translating involves enough keyboard pounding and text trawling as it is…
Twitter is my watercooler. I can eavesdrop on chatter in areas that interest me, get quick answers to certain kinds of questions or thow out ideas to test the waters for reactions. I like the perspective I get on things here because it’s not just translators, and best of all, it’s all kept to 140 characters or less 🙂 Oh, and this is fun too.
As all roads lead to my website, I use Google Analytics to measure the impact of the online tools I’m using. I’m very conscious of not wasting my time and this means I know exactly what return I’m getting in terms of interest in my services, etc. I’m working at improving this all the time.
For me, Facebook is strictly friends only. I’ve made a decision not to bring work into it because it annoys me to see other people tarting themselves about in my downtime. Likewise, Bebo is family only. And yes, my family is large enough to warrant an entire online networking application dedicated to staying in touch 🙂 [update: Facebook has refined its targeting features and the division between friends and colleagues has become less clear. I now have a Facebook Page for my business]

Most importantly, I see these tools as a simple compliment to my overall online and offline activities.

For example, my ultimate marketing goal is to make it easy for various interested parties to find me. When they do find me, I want their positive image of me to be reinforced across a range of channels. Then, I want them to be able to contact me directly and quickly so we can do the deed, so to speak 😉 As a plan it’s far from perfect and there’s lots I’d like to do differently. But let’s face it, it’s not rocket science either. (I have similar goals around being part of a community of like-minded professionals.)

My advice to translators on making the most of social media, and indeed web 2.0 in general?

First, be clear on what you want to achieve for your business overall. Then, dive right in and give it a try.

If you get stuck, read this. If you’re still not getting it, or if you get it far too well but still lack a valid business reason to surf the web all day, then read Read Brian Solis’s Essential Guide to Social Media. Keep experimenting and referring back to your original business goals. Above all else, ignore the conspiracy theorists, new-technology scaremongers and social networking naysayers and have FUN!

WANT TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS?

If you want to read some more about making social networking work for you, check out:

– a great post from Scot Herrick’s Cube Rules: Joining social sites – the criteria

– an excellent podcast called Facebook for Professionals from Duct Tape Marketing. It’s not exactly how I like to use Facebook (as outlined above), but Mari Smith has plenty of practical examples to explain how small businesses can make effective use of social media.

* This post is based on a couple of discussions I’ve contributed to recently. See:

– Jill Sommer’s asks some great questions over at Musings from an Overworked Translator: Do you Twitter?

– Nick Pawley’s query on LinkedIn prompts some interesting discussion about using SEO / online marketing to increase your translation business

– Flying Solo article Is social networking for us? captures the mood of many

Image by laihiu via Flickr

Guerrilla word-fare

by Sarah Dillon

Guerrilla marketing involves taking a non-traditional approach to meeting conventional marketing goals. Best of all, it’s a way for small fry to successfully compete with the big players in the industry by applying a toolbox of tricks that no self-respecting translator should be without.

In fact, it’s probably more accurate to describe guerrilla marketing as a mindset. Key to its adoption is the understanding that marketing is not just about trying to sell your services. Marketing involves everything you do in the process of carrying out your day-to-day business activities (including the clients you choose to work with).

The really interesting thing about all this is that when you take a guerrilla approach to marketing, the question of whether to use [insert preferred web 2.0 tool here] is no longer relevant. Instead the question becomes what exactly do these online tools offer, and how can you apply them to meet your specific, offline goals.

If you want to read a little bit more about guerrilla marketing, I recommend downloading this free pdf called Guide to Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants. It doesn’t refer to web 2.0 directly but it does give a really useful framework on which to hang your activities.

Image via Wikipedia

5 Qs with Christian Arno, Lingo24

by Sarah Dillon

Armed with a degree in languages, Christian Arno founded Lingo24 Translation Services from his bedroom in Aberdeen in 2001, with a view to harnessing internet technologies from day one. Today, Lingo24 operates out of London, Aberdeen, New York, Paris, Berlin, Cham, Christchurch, Tokyo, Timişoara and Shanghai… Here are Christian’s thoughts on building a ‘virtual’ business.

Sarah Dillon: Hi Christian. Can you tell us what a ‘typical’ day looks like for you (if there is such a thing!)? What kinds of tasks do you tend to take on as managing director of Lingo24?

Christian Arno: There really isn’t such a thing as a typical day (thank goodness)! My three main roles are to take the time to talk to Lingo24’s senior and departmental managers and help them formulate and deliver on ambitious development plans; to travel between our operations throughout the world helping to make sure we’re all singing from the same hymnsheet; and to monitor closely developments with our clients and within the industry making sure that we are always implementing the brightest ideas in translation quicker and better than everyone else!

SD: How has founding an online translation company differed from your expectations? What have been your greatest moments and biggest challenges?

CA: To be honest, I didn’t really have any expectations as to how things would happen. The core idea behind Lingo24 – to use Internet technologies to make translation more efficient – just seemed an obvious one at the time, and one existing translation companies weren’t taking advantage of. Now, of course, lots of companies are doing similar things, so it’s important that we continue to innovate.

The greatest moments are always when you see you’ve got a special culture going. We had one two days ago on a beach in Panama – there were ten people from our Americas operation and two from our European operation, and we had an absolute ball. Everyone got on so well, and you could see how good the atmosphere in the company is. That, to me, is what it’s all about. We have a ‘positive feedback’ reporting system and that is also hugely motivational for me. When you see clients talking about Lingo24 in glowing terms it shows you’re helping.

I’d say the biggest challenges have been coping with downturns in the business – I’ve hated having to let good people go, but am confident that won’t happen again. Other than that, the cultural differences between all the people we interact with are a constant challenge – but then, like everyone in the industry, I consider that part of the fun.

SD: Any tips for freelance translators on developing an online marketing strategy?

CA: I’d say there are two steps: firstly, decide on a niche area (language combination and subject matter) you’re interested in with good growth prospects, and become the best translator in the world in that area – a genuine expert; then, create a website based around the key phrases prospective clients (both translation companies and end clients) might use to find you, and blog continuously about your work. If you can get others in a similar but not competitive area to link to your site, and use industry sites and social networking sites to engage with your peers, you’ll soon build a strong online profile.

SD: At a conference I attended, your operations director spoke about developing a homeworking mindset among employees. Any insights or experiences you could share about that process?

CA: Lingo24 attracts strong, independent-minded individuals – and we need them, given our reliance on home-working. As a general point, I’d say if you go down this route, you need to be much more organised in terms of communication, and you need to make sure you’ve got well-defined means in place to measure performance.

SD: What do you read — in print and online — to keep up with developments in your field?

CA: I read the Common Sense Advisory blog and love John Yunker’s Bytelevel. I read pretty widely beyond that. My favourite publication is the Economist – I find it immensely informative and the wry humour behind it is refreshing.

Thanks for featuring in my first 5 Qs, Christian!