How to Pick a Niche as a Freelance Translator
Has anyone ever asked you who your target market is? We are sure you have heard this before and most people don’t always have answer to the question. This can pose quite the problem, because it means that you are not sure who you work with 90% of the time causing your messaging to be off.
By understanding your niche as a freelance translator, you will be able to market yourself better and attract your dream clients straight to you. This of course means more work and more enjoyment throughout your career.
Pick a Topic You Are Interested In
The first thing that you need to do to determine what group of people are your niche, is to figure out what topics you are interested in as a freelancer.
Whatever comes to mind first is something that you may be super interested in. Bonus points if it is something you are passionate about.
For example, if you were very passionate about music, you may want to consider niching down to working with those in the music industry.
The best way to do this is to write down as many things that you can think of that you are interested in or passionate about.
Alignment to Your Skillset
The next step is to figure out which of those topics falls in line with your skillset as a freelance translator.
For example, if a topic you were interested in was government, but you have never written or translated any government materials you may not want to choose this as your niche to start.
The goal here is to find common ground between your interests and your skillset. Start by making a list of your skills and then connecting them to your interests from the step above.
Level of Demand in the Market
Now that you have an idea of your interests and how they align with your skillset, it’s time to figure out what will actually work.
The next step is to look at your list that shows which topics align with your skillset and ask yourself how much demand is there in the translation market for this topic.
You do not want to select a topic that is at low demand because this will limit your reach to potential clients. Look for the topic that would be in highest in demand and start there.
If you aren’t sure the demand level, just do a quick google search to find out or ask others in the industry.
Ideal Client
After you have determined the topic that has the highest demand in the market, you are now ready to discover who your ideal client is.
Take some time to write out what your ideal clients pain points, problems and desires would be. Explore where you might find them hanging out and the type of business they own.
Get down into the nitty gritty in this part so that you know exactly who you are targeting, who want to work with and why.
It’s also a good idea to take this time to explore who you don’t want to work with so that you don’t attract those type of people to you.
Conclusion
Take the time to work through these steps to discover your niche and who you truly want to work with. Then pivot your marketing and outreach to target this specific person.
Remember the more specific and clear you are, the better it will be for you!