I discovered this excellent blog today on the articles section at Briar Copywriting. It is written by copywriter Sally Ormond. Sally offers some great marketing tips here – relevant to freelance translators both in marketing our services and improving our industry-specific skills. She also offers quality advice for any business looking to market their goods and services.
From a translator’s perspective, it is an absolute pleasure translating a well-written text produced by a professional copywriter. It certainly makes my job more interesting and enjoyable. It even makes my job easier – after all, it is much easier to produce quality output when the input is great to begin with! More businesses should consider hiring professional copywriters like Sally – it’s clear she knows what she is talking about!
The trouble for many businesses when it comes to understanding the value of an excellent copywriter may be similar to when it comes to understanding the value of an excellent translator. Some businesses (and people) simply don’t understand what it is we do, how we do it, or how there can be such a big difference in the quality produced by various providers. Put simply, we are often undervalued. Perhaps this is because, as Sally says, we are at our best when we are “invisible”: if our work is successful, you will not know we were there. You will not spot the text you are reading is a translation, nor will you feel the push and shove of a hard sell.
For the benefit of my fellow translators (so we have nicer texts to read), fellow businesspeople (so your businesses are more successful) and fellow creatives (I agree that the work of copywriters should be understood and valued), here is Sally’s definition of a copywriter:
Basically, a copywriter is a person who writes marketing materials. It is sales writing – that which is mainly concerned with persuading someone (like you or me) to part with their hard earned cash and buy a particular product or service. (read more)
I am delighted to have found this blog, you should definitely take a look!
I have been translating for six years now, most of the time whenever i received sales/marketing related documents to translate i found very unprofessional way written by any sales guy from that particular organization, They don’t know the value of a copywriter who can change there sales target in just few good content sales latter..
Hope they should understand this.
Indeed, it is well worth the visit, thanks for the link.
I am a translator cum copy writer. Unfortunately , I am a copywriter but of the “ghostwriter” type so that “invisible” is my kingdom. Unfortunately, the kingdom of necessity forces to do it this way. By the way, I had tracked some of my copy writing works and the are pretty good to read and some even positively appreciated. Unfortunately , I will never take any credit of them – and will never since the nature of my poor trade is the total invisibility of me. (Ow, Indonesia is indeed such a hard country to live in, but I love it)
Edited by Rose: To close an HTML tag, you write the same code again and put a / in front. Unfortunately I can’t demonstrate here, since WordPress removes any triangle brackets!
Rose,
Thank you for this link. I have learn more about the work of a copy writer which is a profession I was not very knowledgeable about.
In addition the marketing tips are certainely useful for freelancers, and it is always good to be reminded about what we ought to do to promote ourself.
Thanks again,
Véronique
Rose,
Thanks for this information! One of the main things that initially attracted me about our profession was the possibility of learning about topics that I would not research using my own initiative. Throughout the years, many projects that promised to be an incredible learning experience turned out to be a burden instead just because the source text was plain tedious and/or lacked focus. Clients/employers are in such a rush these days… they think that only books need a copywriter’s “touch.” Huge mistake! Once again, I appreciate you passing on Sally’s website.
Silvina
Hi Rose,
Thank you for your kind mention of my website and blog. I think writing, whether it’s sales copy or translation, is always something people under value.
In relation to copywriting, if I had a £1 every time I heard someone say “What? It’s only writing, I can do that” I would be a very rich woman by now.
Writing to sell to someone is difficult – you have to put yourself into their shoes, feel their pain (the reason they are looking for your product or service) and convince them what you have will change their lives forever. And that’s even before you get into the realms of SEO!
Great post – keep up the good work
Sally
Hi Sally,
You’re most welcome.
In relation to translation, if I had a £1 every time I heard someone say “What? It’s only translation, I can do that on Google Translate (or: my brother speaks a bit of German/I have a friend from Germany)”, I, too, would be a very rich woman by now.
I like to promote fellow freelance professionals in related fields. It’s educational both for me AND my clients. Whilst clients going to you might not directly benefit me (as I translate from German), it will benefit many other translators who translate out of English. It is good also to learn about and promote understanding of related professions, since this may have a small positive knock-on effect in enhancing the general understanding of the value of quality texts (both original AND translated).
Rose