What our Ultimate Guide can teach you about marketing your translation services

Being a great freelance translator isn’t just about language skills. As important as it is to be a first-class linguist, it won’t do you any good if you can’t win any work in the first place. That’s why marketing is so important, and why every translator can benefit from improving their marketing skills. Our new book, The Ultimate Guide To Becoming A Successful Freelance Translator, goes into significant detail on how best to market yourself as a language professional.

First and foremost, you have to know your own value. Have confidence in your skills and your professional standards – and look for ways to demonstrate them. If you can convince a prospective client of your worth, you’ll be in a much stronger position when negotiating your rates. Take pride in your work, but make sure to also take people’s feedback into account so that you’re always improving.

Second, consider building a portfolio of selected past translations. This is an often-overlooked tool in a freelance translator’s arsenal – which means it’s a great way to differentiate yourself in a very crowded market. Whether it’s a PDF file you can send by email, a component of your own website or a profile page on a translators’ public forum, it’s an ideal way to demonstrate your skills to clients in a concrete fashion.

Then there’s social media. Maybe you’ve already heard that it’s a fantastic marketing tool for professionals of all stripes, but you’re unsure what it can do for translators in particular. The reason social media is so important is the unparalleled networking opportunities it presents. By connecting with prospective clients, you can build personal relationships and promote your own individual brand. As an added bonus, you can also use social media to connect with fellow translators – and you never know when they might be able to help you find some extra work.

However and wherever you’re marketing yourself, make sure to highlight your unique selling points. If you don’t know what those are yet, take the time to figure them out and include them in all of your marketing efforts. Every translator has something that makes them special, whether it’s the additional skills they can offer beyond translation or particular expertise in a niche subject. Clients value translators who stand out from the crowd, so whatever your USP is, make the most of it!

All of this is just a brief introduction to some of the marketing topics we cover in our Ultimate Guide. As well as an entire chapter dedicated to marketing techniques alone, the book as a whole is full of useful hints and tips which you can use to raise your profile and impress your contacts. If you’re ready to learn more about how to market yourself as a freelance translator, visit the website of The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Successful Freelance Translator or our Amazon product page.

The book was nominated for the 2017 ProZ.com community choice awards in the nomination “Best book for translators”. Please cast your vote at  http://www.proz.com/community-choice-awards/nominations until July 31.