Thoughts from ITI Marketing Workshop - the role of translation distributors

Many thanks to the ITI for having me as a speaker at the recent Marketing Workshop event in York.

We had some interesting discussions about the translation company/freelance translator relationship. Freelancer translators have a choice in their business life - they can work for client companies directly and/or they can work for 'distributors' such as translation companies. This situation is perhaps more commonly known in manufacturing industries than the service sector, but in both cases there are situations when either option is appropriate. Reasons for working for a distributor in this case might include:

- a strong relationship means that only appropriate work should be offered by a translation company
- the end client receives an enhanced service as the translation company may undertake preparation, checking and proofreading tasks
- freelance translators are left to focus on what they do best, using linguistic skills rather than business skills.

And for client purchasers of translations, reasons to purchase from a company rather than an individual might include:

- ease of purchase from one source for a range of languages and language services
- project management for multilingual requirements
- the knowledge that a subject specialist translator can be selected for different types of assignment

Perhaps the most interesting area of discussion of the day was around a thought from Ana Simkins of Applied Language, suggesting that the rise of the internet means that loyalty and relationships are becoming less important in business. Competitors are now only a mouse-click away. Fair point - but in a very fragmented industry such as translation, buyers may not know where to go for a particular service, and a relationship with a valued and trusted supplier can be more important than ever? Probably a question of different situations in different sectors of our translation world.

So thanks again ITI - and the National Railway Museum is a great venue for a conference.

I was pleased to recommend Malcolm MacDonald's 6th Edition of his book 'Marketing Plans' as a thorougly practical guide to marketing planning for all types of business.

Mark