The Absolute Best Freelance Marketing Tips We Found Online

If you love translating, then the thought of working by yourself as a freelance translator might seem like the best thing in the world! However, many translators soon discover that working freelance also requires you to perform a number of other roles in order to run your business successfully. 

Marketing your services is perhaps one of the most daunting prospects for a new freelance translator, and so in this post we’ll take a look at five great sources of information on the web that you can use to help with marketing your business.

1. Websites for Translators: Short InterviewsWebsites for Translators has an excellent series of blog posts called ‘short interviews’. As the series’ name implies, each post is composed of a brief Q&A session with a freelance translator who has successfully promoted their own translation brand.

Hopefully, this series will give you some inspiration for your own marketing initiative, and provide some valuable tips from other translators who are a little further down the road than you. 

2. Prepare an Effective Email To Offer Your Translation ServicesThe Find Work Translating blog offers numerous tips for freelance translators hoping to secure some paying clients. One of the more helpful posts includes an outline of how to prepare an email offering your translation services to potential clients.

The article covers how to attract attention to your email using the subject line, various phrases to include in the letter to hold the reader’s interest and some formatting advice to make the email as digestible as possible for a busy reader.

3. Best Face Forward: In Person Marketing Skills for T&I ProfessionalsPerhaps you assume that your marketing will be carried out exclusively online? Well, this assumption may lead to you missing out on some lucrative clients, as this article by Diane E. Teichman suggests. 

The article covers the importance of putting forward a good appearance, having a well-rehearsed script/pitch and selecting an effective approach when dealing with prospective clients in person. If you’re in a situation where you might meet a potential client, then this article is well worth your time. 

4. Create a Marketing Plan for Freelance Translators: A Practical GuideThis article is the most detailed and comprehensive source of information covered in this post. Tess Whitty of Marketing Tips for Translators has produced a short guide covering all the basic factors that freelance translators will have to consider before conducting a marketing campaign.

The guide covers the elements of constructing marketing plan, how to engage media to drive your campaign and how to track your marketing’s success and continue its momentum. If you’re at a loss when considering where to start marketing your services, then this article is essential reading.

5. Understanding Google Analytics | Free Tools for FreelancersGetting your head around the basics of Google Analytics can seem like an insurmountable task! Thankfully, Triston Goodwin has created a helpful YouTube video explaining the basics of Google Analytics, and how using the data from this source can make your marketing more effective. 

After getting to grips with the data, you’ll be able to see which pages of your website attract the most visitors and how well your current marketing plan is working. Understanding the basics contained in this video will help you make some informed decisions about your marketing material.

Final ThoughtsDid you find these resources helpful for beginning to market your services? Perhaps you’re already established but found the information helpful too? Or is there anything you’d add to the information above? Let us know what you’re thinking in the comments section below!