After Judy's Entrepreneurial Linguist presentation at the ATA's Annual Conference in NYC last week, she was approached by two very entrepreneurial linguists: Dutch<->English financial translators Annie Tadema and Astrid van der Weert, who run their team business out of Utrecht, the Netherlands.They gave Judy their very creative customer gift -- a USB stick embedded in a traditional Dutch wooden shoe, which is beautifully decorated and looks gorgeous (almost too pretty to use). It's one of those rare gifts that is both aesthetically pleasing and useful and that one doesn't already have a million of (think pens, keychains, notepad, etc.). We both think this is extremely clever and might mention it during an upcoming Entrepreneurial Linguist presentation. In the meantime, thanks to Astrid and Annie for sharing their great present and for giving us one. We wonder what the cost of one of these is? We'd guess at least $10 (we'd love to hear from Annie and Astrid about this), so one would be best served to only give these out to favorite customers (and a few select colleagues). See the picture of the shoe/USB stick catching some sun (80 degrees!) at the Vegas pool on November 1.
5 comments:
That' really very, very clever!
Twins, I was recommended a book I think I'll mention to you before even reading, take a look:
DAOUD, Hari. The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur
http://www.amazon.com/Translator-Tribesmans-Memoir-Darfur/dp/1400067448
I was not aware of the story at all, but seems a lot interesting and two friends of mine (and colleagues, of course) have already read and liked.
See ya!
I've been lately come across another great marketing idea: Use stickers, stamps and handwritten notes on direct mail efforts and day-to-day business mail. When you put a sticker or handwritten message on the outside of an envelope, it has the impact of a miniature billboard. People read it first; however, the message should be short and concise so it can be read in less than 10 seconds.
@Guillermo: yep, it really is a great idea. Thanks for the book recommendation -- we hope it's not too violent. As you know, we read a lot, and try to stay away from heartbreaking violence when we can. Sounds very interesting, though!
@Thomas: excellent idea, we will consider that for sure!
Update on the cost: heard from the clever marketers, and the cost for this was EUR 12 per unit, making these quite pricey, but very effective (cost decreases as you order higher quantities, EUR 12 is for 50 units).
@Judy Jenner and Dagmar Jenner:
Well, I don't know, but it seems that it has a happy-ending.
Btw, I wonder if some agency out there specialized on subtitling films for the pornography industry had already got the same kind of idea and had a dildo bearing the name of the translation company to promote the brand and distribute to prospects and loyal customers, as well. If not, there you go, enterpreneurs on this segment that are eventually reading this, you can thank me later (and I really appreciate it, but don't ever bother sending me one of those).
Have a nice week. Lots of work here, but you can follow me on Twitter if you wish so. See ya!
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