tranfree issue 3 - 29 May 1999

How to Successfully Market Yourself to Translation Agencies by Email

By Alex Eames

Before we start, ask yourself the following four questions:

1. Do you like it when someone sends you a large file that takes several minutes to download and is completely useless to you?
   
   
2. Are you ever scared of opening an attachment from someone you don't know because of viruses?
   
   
3. Would it be easier if people said what they want to say in a text format, so you don't have to open another program to read it? Isn't this how you communicate with your friends?
   
   
4. Do you think you'd have a better success rate with solicited or unsolicited email?

My answers from an agency viewpoint:

1. No it's a real pain in the backside - particularly if I'm waiting for some important files to come through by email
   
   
2. Yes and No. I wasn't worried at all, then I got a virus that McAfee didn't spot and I had to buy another AV package (Norton) to get rid of it. So I am a bit choosy about what I open now. Many people don't even have antivirus software (I've been sent 4 copies of the Happy.exe virus in the last month alone but I know it's a virus so I just delete the email - incidentally, three of them were from prospective translator applicants - not a good first impression!)
   
   
3. Damn-right it would. But don't use more than 70 characters per line or some people won't be able to read it because of screen size or mail software constraints.
   
   
4. Unsolicited wins hands-down. Why?

It's simple. Imagine this scenario (when I say "I" I'm speaking for the agency worker)...

I put an advert in the TJO list, LANTRA-L or another online forum, for "translators Fre-Eng" for a large project. I get 300 replies, 50 of them are relevant, the rest are speculative. Guess what? Of the 50 relevant I keep the best 5 and the rest get deleted (probably without a reply - because who's got time to reply to 45 emails?) I haven't even got time to read the rest so they get deleted too.

What's that you say? "You deleted the unsolicited ones too, so what's the advantage?" Simply this. You send the unsolicited email at a time when the recipient probably DOES have time to read it. It's incredibly obvious isn't it? If you try to sell me something when I'm too busy to listen I'm not buying - end of story! If you catch me when I'm receptive then I'm yours!

So what can we learn from the above questions?

1. Never ever ever send large files (by large I mean >30-50k)
   
   
2. If you must send attachments why not use RTF (rich text format)? As the name suggests, it is a text format - therefore it cannot be used to spread viruses
   
   
3. Even better, reformat your details into a text-only format less than 70 characters wide and incorporate it into the body text of an email
   
   
4. Be a pro-active guerrilla marketer - don't just reply to adverts and get lost in the rush

What should I write in my guerrilla email then?

The following is a short extract from the booklet which comes with tranmail

"...Notes on email applications:

When I test-mailed to this list as part of the development process - to make sure that the email addresses actually exist - I used the following approach and it was staggeringly successful in getting responses. I'm not giving you the exact text because the agencies will find it strange if everyone writes the same. But if you follow this structure you will be OK.

###
Subject line: translation

2 very short paragraphs introducing myself and stating my years of experience, major qualifications and language combinations (6 lines in total).

Offer to send resume/CV if they want it. Notice I didn't send it as an attachment - you can do this but make sure the file is very small <30 kilobytes.

Then the killer-line: I asked for a reply even if they weren't interested. This makes them feel rude if they don't reply - so they do!

Then a polite sign-off..."
###

That's it! That's the secret. Keep it short and sweet. This allows them to deal with it instantly. You won't have your email sitting unread in someone's 'in-box' for a month before getting deleted. Yours can be read and acted upon in seconds!

Don't underestimate the power of the information I've just given you. If you want to make the best use of it and find out the other secrets of a successful email application campaign come and visit the tranmail page today.

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