How to create and implement a marketing plan that actually works for your business
Workshop review
I put aside my dislike of marketing and told my impostor syndrome to give it a rest as I sat down to listen to marketing coach Malini Devadas at the MET workshop. An editor since 2004, she now also helps other editors market their services more confidently.
Language professionals in general struggle to do any marketing, she told us. But, as providers of a service which is little understood, editors in particular should get out there so people understand what we do and why they need us.
Language professionals who do do marketing often start with tactics but lack strategy. Others may have the perfect strategy but don’t do anything with it.
The key, we learnt, is to take a good look at how we feel about ourselves and our businesses. Journalling can be a great way to acknowledge these emotions, see how they may limit us and start to change them.
We pondered a set of questions to help define our marketing strategy – something which Malini describes as “turning the right strangers into happy clients by helping them to know, like and trust you”. This is why, she explained, posting occasional grammar tips on Facebook will get you nowhere. The trick is to identify our ideal clients, and know how our services can solve their problems and why that’s important to them.
Malini guided us through her favourite tactics, which include leveraging existing clients, using an email subscriber list or giving a talk. She encouraged us to think about where “the right strangers” spend time and how to get in front of them, and once there, show them empathy.
I finished the session with my impostor banished and feeling keen to build on Malini’s advice – also available in podcast form – to get out there and market.
Review by Rebecca Warden