Whatever business you choose to do, marketing will always be important, and a translation business is no exception. The better you market yourself and your agency, the more customers you will get.
This article will look into ways you can market your translation services effectively.
Content Marketing
First and foremost comes your content. Great articles and blog posts are always valued and can promote your agency’s positive image. You can publish relevant content on social media, on your company’s website or blog. The only thing you should make sure is that the content that you provide your readers with is targeted for your audience. This way you will know that they are interested and will read it.
You can either prepare content yourself or hire a professional to do this for you so you can focus on the agency’s work rather than keeping a blog. Your content can also then be translated into various languages to show your skills and reach a wider audience.
Great content will also lead to your agency’s reputation growing exponentially. This will result in wider recognition not just by your clients, but by experts of the industry.
Google AdWords Marketing
Google AdWords is the place where every business owner with a website should go. Once you set up a marketing campaign, Google will do the job for you and advertise your agency. So, when someone searches for “translation service” or any other keyword you include in your campaign’s settings, an ad for your website will appear at the top of the search results.
Of course, the higher you want to appear, the more you will have to pay, so the efficiency of this method largely depends on your budget. However, even small-scale online businesses have profited a lot from this Google feature.
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Facebook Marketing
This strategy actually goes for Facebook and Instagram, because the former’s marketing options are available for Instagram as well. Just like with Google AdWords, you can set up a marketing campaign and specify the details about your target audience. However, the difference is that Facebook and Instagram users will be seeing your ad even if they have not looked up a translation service.
This means that there are fewer chances they will click on the ad and go to your website. Obviously, Facebook marketing is good for creating a name and image for your brand, while Google AdWords will actually bring you, clients. You can also check out this list to discover additional apps that can help you with Facebook marketing.
YouTube Video Marketing
Advertising on YouTube is also a very effective way to go. There are several options here too! For example, you can create a separate channel for your company and upload relevant content. Alternatively, you can partner with popular YouTubers and have them promote your brand. Consequently, you can go an easier way and have your ads pop up before or during YouTube videos. YouTube will give you a lot of exposure whichever way you choose.
Affiliate Commissions
Affiliate programs are a way to both satisfy your current clients with a nice bonus and encourage them to bring in new clients. Once your current customer invites a friend and they order a translation from your agency, the first customer will get a bonus from you. Yes, as simple as that! The bonus can be virtually anything. Maybe it’s a one-time free translation or maybe a discount for something else. It’s up to you to decide, and both you and your current customer profit from it.
Sponsorship
If you have the budget for it, you can become a sponsor of a business event and get additional exposure. This can be either a local or maybe even an international conference that will let your prospective customers discover you when you talk about your brand on the event.
Networking
Networking goes hand in hand with sponsorship, but you could say that this is a budget version of the latter. If you can’t be a sponsor, you can still attend events and find people in your industry or even potential clients. Connections are what often gets the opportunities you hadn’t thought of before so networking can be a very powerful tool if you spend time on it.
What is good in this technique is that you can meet professionals both in your industry and in vertical industries related to yours. Who knows, maybe there goes your future business partner.
Moreover, face to face impressions are much better than online ones. Likewise, they can support or reinforce the ideas your brand sends out on the Internet.
Discounts
Speaking of rewards, you can always offer discounts to your customers. These can be given to first-time customers or alternatively to loyal clients who come back for more. Discounts are similar to bonuses from affiliate programs in a way that you can also offer them to those who referred a friend.
Testimonials
Reviews provided by real people are very good motivators when it comes to choosing a product or service. Your customers will be looking for what people have to say about your agency and if they see that you are, indeed, reliable, they will be a lot more eager to order a translation from you.
The best way to get reviews is to ask your current customers to provide testimonials about your service. The more real their reviews are, the better. You can share these reviews on your company’s website or LinkedIn. Another good option is for them to leave their opinion on a relevant review website. However, this option is best used by those whose accounts seem legitimate. There are many fake reviews online which is why the overall trust levels have decreased drastically.
Local Business Directories
And finally, you may consider publishing your services in a local business directory. Of course, this might seem old-fashioned, but you will be surprised by how useful these are for some people.
If you are looking to target an older demographic, this is the way to go. Both online and print business directories are well-maintained and remain the primary source of information for older people who are used to such things. Even in a world where technology has developed so much, we still go back to the old ways.
Conclusion
To sum up, these are only ten marketing techniques you can adopt as your own and make use of to promote your translation agency. Most of them will work for you and prove to be effective in finding new customers and getting your brand known. You can always combine them for better results, but all of them even separately will get exposure for your agency.
Don’t forget the power of old-school strategies because even those can get you good results. On the other hand, don’t neglect all the possibilities the Internet and social media, in particular, has to offer.