As long as you’re passionate about your career as a Translator, it is enough fuel to get you going in building a brand around it. In this post, we’ll discuss what it takes to start building your brand as a translator!
You’ve spent hours on end learning and practicing how to translate from your source language to your target language. You do this while also familiarizing yourself with all the nuances that are related to this language’s culture to include slang and the varying meanings that words take on within different regions.
With this in mind, why not make all of your work worth even more by tying it into your personal brand? If this makes sense to you, then keep reading.
Our Day Translations blog is going to give you a few tips to help you build your brand and gain more visibility and establish yourself in the market as a professional translator.
Let’s dive in!
What’s a Personal Brand and Why Do I Need One?
A brand is a concept that you carefully and creatively curate to help others know you better, with the help of elements like a signature logo or brand colors. Your personal brand is intangible, but it is also an extremely powerful tool that you can use to your advantage because it helps to shape the perception that people have of you as a professional translator.
Where it gets tricky is understanding that there’s a difference between your brand and branding. So we’ll break it down for you.
- Your personal brand is who you are as a professional translator.
- Personal branding are the actions that you continuously take to maintain your reputation and shape the perception that people have of you.
By establishing yourself as a brand and through the process of branding, you can establish your presence and begin making your mark in the field of professional translation.
4 Tips for Building Your Brand as a Translator
Branding involves the steps that you take to bring meaning to your brand. Through branding, you’re able to let your creative juices flow. This is where you’re free to be yourself and foster brand awareness, showcasing the value that you bring as a professional translator.
That said, here are 4 steps to take to start building your brand as a professional translator.
#1 – Set Clear, Measurable, and Attainable Goals
What do you want to accomplish through your work as translator? Write it down. Don’t worry about how it sounds. When you get everything that’s in your head onto a piece of paper, then you can begin refining it.
After establishing what these goals are, it’s time to begin strategically aligning them with your personal brand and go from there. Branding yourself is an ongoing process, so take your time, you’ll get there.
#2 – Determine who your target audience is
Knowing who your target audience is, is part of building and maintaining your brand. As a professional translator, you’re not for everyone and that’s ok. If you’re not certain about this step, understanding that you can’t be everything to everyone is a good place to start.
Your target customers are those that speak your native language and those that speak the target language you work with. but it doesn’t have to end there. There are many potential clients out there, and you need to do your homework to determine who they are.
#3 – Establish an Online Presence
Social media is powerful tool. So is a personal website. Many internet users use social media and they want to click on a link that gives them more details about a product or service they’re interested in. By establishing an online presence, you’ll be able to more effectively run a marketing campaign and it also makes it that much easier to expand your professional network.
There are so many platforms out there for you to choose from and of course, the more popular ones are Instagram, Facebook and now there’s TikTok. If you haven’t yet tried TikTok then you should, it is a breeding ground for opportunities, to learn, bring awareness to others, laugh (that one’s a given) but also to teach.
Many professional translators also have their own websites. It helps them ensure they have an accessible digital portfolio and everyone can see samples of their work whenever they want to. If you want to build your own website, we suggest something simple like a standard WordPress site to help you get your branding efforts off to a good start.
#4 – Develop Your Personal Image
Your image is important when building your personal brand. Your physical appearance plays a major role in the perception that others have of you. So too is how sociable you are.
Dress the part – What’s your personal style? Are you someone who likes business attire? Or are you casually chic? Is it a mixture of both?
Your personal image does not only include your outward appearance. Of course, this is very important and dressing to impress is always the better option. Your personal image also involves your personality, your attitude, your tone of voice and, believe or not, your customer service. The term customer service here might seem a little off, but it’s important to understand that everyone in your professional life is a customer.
Ready to Work on Personal Branding for the Translation and Localization Industry?
Being a professional translator is not just another job. It’s a career that you’ve heavily invested in all while helping to change the lives of your target audience while you’re at it. With these great steps that we just gave you, you should be well on your way to branding yourself as the professional translator that you truly are. Translation services are a calling, and working with a professional translation agency is a great way to get recognized for your passion and skills.
Don’t forget that Day Translations is your go-to company for all your translation needs, contact our team of experts today.