5 ideas to elevate the visibility of Localization professionals

Some people are very comfortable talking about themselves, how wonderful they are, the achievements made, people who know how to sell themselves….

Others are different, some people are at the other extreme, who are extremely uncomfortable talking about what they do or what they have achieved.

Some people love being in the spotlight and other people are allergic to being in the spotlight.

Both extremes are probably bad, but I think one of the obstacles we have in the Language industry is that we have a greater number of Localization professionals that fall into the second group than in the first, professionals who do not know how to sell themselves, or that they don't see the need to sell themselves.           

It's a respectable decision, but every time I have clearer that

• a Localization team that does not invest time in giving visibility to what they do, will hardly take the place they deserve in the company.

• freelance language specialists that don't actively sell their achievements  probably will not have the professional career they deserve

 Many people still see a Localization team, an LSP, or a freelance as "translators", and the truth is that we do much more than translate.

But that has to be explained, we have to be in the spotlight because otherwise we will be labeled under the concept that Localization / Translation is a utility.

 Which sounds better? ‘I am a translator,’ or ‘I am here to enable international revenue.’ 👻

 What we say, how we say it, and the visibility we give to our message is important.

 It is for this reason that I believe that, although we may not feel particularly comfortable selling ourselves, we should make an effort to do so. After all, if we do not talk about how great we are, who will? ☺️

 Perhaps with this introduction to the post I have persuaded you of the importance of selling yourself, your services and maybe I convinced you about the importance to give visibility to the work we do, so the next logical question is ... where do we start?

 For an internal Localization team, I have found especially useful to work on the following 5 aspects to increase the visibility of what we do

1. A team purpose for the Localization team

2. The strategy to deliver that purpose

3. Yearly goals

4. An elevator pitch

5. A communication plan

 1.- A team purpose for the Localization team

 If a Localization team doesn't take the time to come together internally and talk about what their mission is, chances are that each person thinks they have a different mission. This lack of alignment is one of the first obstacles we have to face if what we want is to give visibility to the work we are doing.

 In “The People Leaders Podcast” Jan and Michelle Terkelsen talk about how we can create our Team pursuit in 3 steps

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# 1 - Describe what your team does

In five or six words or sentences, write down what your team does, what it delivers, or what it produces. If your team delivers or produces several things, choose the one which accounts for 80% of the work focus. For example, 'Our team delivers Globalization service to make the world playful'.

# 2 - Who are you doing it for?

Clarify who your most important stakeholder is by establishing who has most to gain or lose by your success. For example, are you producing financial reports for an internal stakeholder or an end customer? Focus on key partnerships.

# 3 - Why are we doing what we do?

Ask yourself, ‘What is the final impact for the end-user of our product or service?’ In this way, you're creating a clear thread that shows how what you do is important, and how it impacts the final customer. For example, ‘We deliver Globalization services to help our company to grow revenue in non-English markets”

2.- The strategy to deliver that purpose

This phase is when we talk about the processes that we are going to execute and that once executed make team purpose a reality.

If you need any tips on how to create that strategy, take a look at my post Leading teams: 4 tactics to consider before creating a Localization strategy

3.- Yearly goals

What to say at this point about the importance of goals has not already been said ....

My favorite model for goal setting is OKRs. Look at this article that I wrote on the topic of goal settings and OKR if you want to go deeper into this framework

 4.- An elevator pitch to introduce yourself

 PR Partner, a leading Russian PR agency I like the simplicity with which it defines how we can make a powerful elevator pitch

 • Speaking for 10 seconds about your past, with a brief an account of your work experience

• 10 seconds about your present, what are you doing now

• 10 seconds about the future, your plans

 They also encourage us to film us and rehearse until we feel comfortable saying it and until we can do it in 30 seconds! In the beginning, it is not easy, but with a little practice and patience, we will achieve it!

5.- A communication plan

A communication plan is what brings together the different parts that I have covered in this post. To give visibility to what we do and to our work, it is important to reflect on how “we are going to tell” the world the awesome things we deliver!

In that communication plan, we have to stop to identify

• what we want to bring to the spotlight

• how important information will be communicated,

• who will be receiving the communication,

• and how often we will communicate

In summary

Giving visibility to what we do is important as it’s a vivid indication of the best we have to offer. It will help us to differentiate ourselves from our competitors or in the case of a team, it’ll enable us to build trust with our stakeholders

Whether you are a solo localization professional or a member in a Localization team, giving visibility to what we do has become more important than ever, basically because without visibility on what we do we will have little opportunities for growth….

 What do you think?

Are you one of those who give visibility to what you do?

Or are you one of those who prefer to get away from the spotlights of fame? 

And if you are in the first group …. please leave below your comments about the method and effective tactics you use to give visibility to your work and the business impact you created!

Have a lovely week!

@yolocalizo