Are you getting the most out of your business? A thorough review of your business and marketing actions will help you answer this question and hopefully, whether now or later, prompt the enthusiastic: “Absolutely!”

Providing great quality translation or interpreting services is a core aspect of your business, but that shouldn’t be your only focus. As a small business, you need to think like a business and reflect on the other aspects that play a huge role in your success: your budget, goals, marketing efforts, and overall direction. This will provide insight on where you are right now, what’s working and what isn’t, so you can implement solutions and unlock new ideas.

Stand back and look over your business – every aspect of it – to ensure you get the most out of it.

Making decisions about the future of your translation business is hard when you don’t know exactly where you are right now.

Should you say yes to this next project despite the fact that it’s not in your preferred specialisation? Should you buy a new computer or keyboard or iPad or should this wait?

Find the time to look into your business properly. Don’t let a lack of time sabotage your future and don’t let that snap decision move you further away from your goals.  

6 benefits of a business and marketing review

1. You’ll understand your business better

… and slash any uncertainties you may have right now

 Are you constantly worried about overextending your budget? Do you regularly fear your business isn’t going in in the direction you want it to? Unsure whether you should cut your spending on memberships and spend more on digital ads? Or the other way around?

Even when business is doing well, it’s very easy to start feeling a little frazzled and uncertain about things. There’s no better time than now to carry out a business review. It clarifies your whole business plan, what direction your business is going in, and how you can alter discrepancies.

Overall, you’ll see the big picture and gain a better sense of certainty over how to plan for the future of your business and distribute your resources.

2. You’ll be able to make better, more informed decisions

… and feel the relief!

As a result of your business review, you’ll feel more confident in making decisions to veer your company in the right direction. For example, you may realise the vision you had in the beginning has shifted slightly and that you need to change things to work towards that original vision. Or, maybe you’ve discovered there’s room in your business and budget to hire new employees that will help manage to workload. Take note and act!

Business doesn’t ever stand still, it’s forever evolving.

3. You’ll see what’s working and what’s not (and fix it!)

… so your business can grow even more

Are the goals you initially made not being met? Are you making less profit than you originally thought or maybe you earn more profit in certain months or when certain strategies are implemented? How about your marketing efforts? Are LinkedIn ads working better than Facebook ads? Or do you notice an influx of emails following a networking event in which you’ve met connections face to face?

Don’t forget to examine your services too, which can be done through requesting customer feedback or reading any existing feedback. Listen to what people are saying about you, use the positives as leverage to gaining future clients and work on the aspects they’re not so happy about.

Evaluating your business as a whole will help you answer these questions and subsequently, show you in which areas you need to implement changes to grow your business.

4. You’ll be able to establish goals

… and control your business’s direction

Without firm goals in place, you’ll have no idea where you’re going and how you can achieve the things you want to achieve. In some cases, you may have started off with goals, then got lost along the way.

No doubt, you established goals upon starting your translation business, but have you too got lost along the way? It’s time to check and reassess those goals and see if you’ve really been working towards them. Are your actions in alignment with your goals? Have you achieved any of your goals? Which tactics and strategies are working for you?

On a less positive note, if your business isn’t going in the direction you want it to, it sounds like the right time to start establishing new goals, tactics and strategies and take charge of your business direction so it works favourably for you. It’s all a part of the process. There is absolutely no shame in admitting things are not going where you wanted them to. That’s why it’s important to do the review to reassess and get things back on track again!

First, examine why some goals worked out and other didn’t. Then, decide on new goals that are going to veer your business onto a better road. Let’s say one of your original goals was to expand your email subscriber list to boost your clientele. It didn’t expand as you wanted it to. People are just not subscribing. So, try a different method. Get your event planner out and approach clients through attending more networking events and see if this works better for you.

Take charge of your business and control its direction!

5. You’ll eliminate any unwanted surprises

… and feel more secure with marketing activities

This one might sound obvious, but I’m going to say it anyway because it matters A LOT: budgets. A review of your budget, turnover, and profit should be carried out regularly so you know how much you have to work with and to prevent any unpleasant surprises, like running out of funds.

Believe me, that can happen if you don’t watch out! So, keep on track of your budget and also bear in mind political changes happening like, Brexit. I know, I said it. Sorry! But really, it’s something you should consider when making plans and funding marketing activities. For instance, if the pound plunges and becomes weak, some UK-based translators may have to prepare a strategy to overcome this.

Know what’s happening around you and how it can possibly affect your business.

6. You’ll learn how to improve business performance

… and plan for the future!

Now you’ve taken a good and honest look at your goals, budget, marketing efforts, vision, and services, you can now start planning for the future of your business!

Think of it as an extended SWOT situation analysis (we’ll cover SWOT step by step in LS Marketing Academy! Join the waitlist!).  Are you marketing in the most effective way to the right audience? Are there new, effective ways of marketing your business that you’d like to try? Are you seeing good results on your social media channels and want to boost that some more?  

A business analysis is an opportunity to progress business performance and identify future plans to grow your business to its full potential.

There’s never a wrong time to perform a review of your business and marketing.

If you’d like to explore that further, try my Marketing Review workbook!

It’s an easy way to evaluate all the different elements of marketing your translation business and kind of functions like an accountability partner giving you ideas to act upon (even if just on paper initially), instead of just saying “Yeah, I’ll do that someday”.

Subscribe to get the Marketing Review booklet for a fresh perspective of your business. Now and for the future.

Do you review your business activities regularly? Are you on top of what’s going on around you?

Do you have a good system you could share with your colleagues? Tell us in comments!