MET workshops

How to create and implement a marketing plan that actually works for your business

The marketing “strategy” most freelance language professionals (LPs) use is to wait by the inbox and hope! Instead, why not proactively market your business so you get a steady stream of enquiries from your ideal clients?

Marketing an LP business is actually quite straightforward: get clear on who you help and how, tell lots of people about your business, and invite the right people to work with you. Straightforward it may be, but it’s not always easy: we may feel uncomfortable about being seen and asking for money. And few people understand what LPs do, so that has to be factored into an effective marketing strategy.

Facilitator: Dr Malini Devadas

Purpose: This workshop will help LPs work through the mindset and emotional issues that can get in the way of implementing a marketing strategy so that they can take marketing action.

Description: First, we’ll use some journalling prompts to look at the real reasons you are not taking marketing action. This is related to how you feel about yourself, your skills, receiving money and being visible. 

Once you have identified what’s blocking you from marketing your business, we’ll think about how to craft an offer that solves a problem for the people you want to work with. Most LPs spend too much time talking about the work they will do on the projects they take on. However, projects don’t hire us, people do! To create a successful marketing strategy you have to deeply understand the people you want to work with and why they want to get their work edited or translated. Exercises will involve describing your ideal client and their problem, and creating an offer that solves that problem. This knowledge will enable you to design a simple but effective marketing plan that suits your personality and your business.  

Participant profile: This workshop is relevant for any LP freelancer who works with clients that publish their work. 

Outcome: You’ll have the opportunity to identify and work through your blocks and then you will create a marketing strategy that you can actually implement.

Preparation: Before attending the workshop, think about the types of projects you would like to work on and the characteristics of your favourite clients. The more specific you are, the easier it will be to create an effective marketing strategy, as you’ll know who you are talking to and what you need to talk about.

About the facilitator: Dr Malini Devadas has been a professional editor since 2004 and a mindset coach since 2018. She has studied with some of the biggest names in the marketing industry and has successfully applied what she has learned to grow her own editing and coaching business for academics. In 2018, she created Edit Boost to help editors become confident marketers so that they can find more clients and earn more money.