How to use the Blue Ocean Strategy in your translation business

The Blue Ocean Strategy is a great business tool that can be used successfully by any translation business.

Although translation is a steadily growing global industry, freelance translators face increased competition, not only from experienced, skilled, and qualified professional translators, but also from amateur “wannabe” translators who would like to earn some extra money by translating texts and documents in their spare time.

On top of that, it is so easy for anyone nowadays to just use online tools like Google translate, etc., that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this has resulted in a significant decrease in the demand for translation services offered by professional translators.

There are two big questions that are raised in that direction:

1) Why should a prospective customer buy the services of a professional translator, when he/she believes that he/she can save money by doing the required translation on his/her own through the use of online tools?

2) How translation businesses can deal with the various forms of competition that they face from established professional translators and amateur translators alike?

In my view, the answer to these two questions is: “By offering value to the customer”, and the Blue Ocean Strategy can definitely help in that.

The Blue Ocean Strategy is not an abstract idea; it is a highly practical concept that can yield amazing tangible results for the companies that adopt it. In line with this, the Blue Ocean Strategy encourages the effective use of technology.

In the case of a translation business, a translation memory could become a great ally in offering customer value in many aspects. This is exactly what is preached within the context of the Blue Ocean Strategy.

The more a translation business “feeds” its translation memory, the better and more economical translations it will be able to offer to its customers. This type of value will be equally enjoyed by the translation business itself, since the effective use of a translation memory will help it in earning more money, and increasing translation productivity and quality, at the same time. This is especially true for repeat customers but also applies to new customers, as well.

In this way, freelance translators can literally create their own, unique Blue Ocean, where it will be impossible for competitors to enter.

Further reading:

3 Steps to implement your Blue Ocean Strategy through translation

How VerbalizeIt is tapping into this 35 billion dollar market