Story

Some of the best stories start off simply. I’d read – and liked! – their article  “Tu comprends, c’est pour le Web”, a parody of a typical meeting with a prospect that really hit home for (and with) me.  

Who were these sharp creatives with the great sense of humor? I took a look at their website and their French SlideShare presentation, which tossed in bits of English for rhythm and flavor. Save that the bits often included unfortunate mistakes that detracted from the message. I liked this twosome’s spirit and decided to give them a hand. 

So I shot off a quick email to Célina and Olivier, using a similarly pithy tone. I corrected the most obvious glitches, but didn’t say a word about what I do or what services I could offer them. 

No sales pitch, just value

When we received the email, we broke out in a big smile at the positive feedback on our article, thinking “Cool, this really speaks to people!” 

The author corrected our prez! Without pitching services, without any heavy-handed promotion. Just professional advice that was spot on and that made us want to trust her with translating our presentation. We had to get that done soon anyway, the timing was perfect!   

Giving is receiving

A few weeks later, Célina called. And I got down to work. Thankfully, they’d given free reign, which allowed me to make some radical changes in the presentation’s ending so it would hit home in English and to suggest an extra slide to close with a “sticky”. 

So / Happy

The result is exactly what we needed. We expect professionals to make and defend their creative copywriting choices and recommendations. We like passionate people who will stand up for their views to achieve the best possible outcome. 

We needed to adapt our manifesto into English to pursue our strategy. We are EAGER to start dialogs with Anglo-Saxon clients and partners who are famously talented storytellers.  

Our ideas and our positioning are sometimes quite subtle. Their expression in English had to bridge cultural differences for the “So / Cult” spirit to shine through.  

socultstudio Apr 16, 7:46pm via Echofon

Special thxxx @lokahiandquill for the perfect copywriting. So / Good > slideshare.net/Socultstudio/s…
(trad. FR > EN et inversement, on recommande!)

Lord Culture is responsible for defining this major programme’s cultural strategy and developing and managing partnerships for real estate developer Immochan.

The marketing brochure had to captivate Anglo-Saxon real estate professionals who were going to discover this major development project for the first time. 

 A rush job, 48 hours turnaround, checking galleys included!

The result? “The translation is perfect.”

I joined the project team in December 2010 alongside Synergence, a communications agency in Dijon and long-term client, working directly with the President of the University of Burgundy-who also presides the Foundation for Scientific Cooperation that oversees the PRES-and her cabinet.

In phase 1, I adapted the vision and strategy chapters of the proposal into English, integrating changes right up to the submission deadline. Phase 2 involved the proposal’s oral defense by a 5-person team in front of an international jury. This took several months – in Paris and in Dijon – to prepare. I wrote the speech, adapting the content and style to each person’s strengths and level of English (as well as that of the jury whose members were not all native speakers), was involved in preparing and selecting the visuals, coached the President on her delivery and participated in several team rehearsals, right up to the appointed hour.  We’ve passed all the hurdles and the same team is reserved to prepare round 2 in Fall 2011.

“Patricia provides us with invaluable consulting services. She not only translates our message, she understands it and joins us in conveying it fully, coaching us to achieve our goals. We have received praise for the quality of our communications in our PRES’ candidacy for the [French national] Initiative of Excellence competition as well as our speeches in front of international audiences.

Patricia is a friendly, relaxed and rigorous professional, who holds herself to the highest quality standards and meets deadlines. Enough reasons to trust an advisor I can no longer do without!”

Sophie Béjean, President, University of Burgundy

When Sidièse took over production of the company’s semi-annual magazine, they put together a team of American copywriters to get the May 2011 issue published in record time.

My articles covered client success stories in Indonesia and India and Sidel’s new competence audits and seminar offers for clients around the world. The end client was thrilled with the results and comforted in the decision to outsource production of the magazine.

There were two challenges to this otherwise fairly straightforward French to English adaptation:

• finding the level of language to suit visitors from many different countries and
• revising, at the galley stage, the back of the book where the previous years’ database of services and providers was included with all inherited translation errors.

Laetitia Joffre, the Tourist Office manager, and I worked closely up to the witching hour and with good humor to update and correct that information.

“Professional and rigorous, Patricia listens and adapts to our needs to deliver flawless results that surpass expectations. Highly recommended!”

 February-March 2012: Updated the guide for the 2012 season!

Bonnie Brusky, an international development pro specialized in microfinance, was launching her consulting and translation business and website. Nothing is harder than writing your own web marketing copy and for Bonnie’s voice to shine through, we had to take a few steps back before setting a strategy and developing the content.

Copywriting the English version of the website came first, followed by its French adaptation.

“Copywriter? Translator? Marketing coach! I contacted Patricia for a ‘straight-forward’ translation job and was served up BDS, marketing advice and great copy. She asked all the right questions, got my wheels turning and probably saved me from some grave errors. She really put her business development background and marketing knowledge to work for me. Patricia was far more than a service provider, she was a genuine partner. All in all, a great experience.”

www.focus-cet.fr

This day-long session took place in March 2011. Flippantly titled “Fearless Un-Marketing”, it combined high-impact visual presentations, leveraging information about neuroscience, some NLP self-discovery and confidence-boosting improvisation techniques, with individual and group exercises.

Each participant completed the workshop with a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses in their personal marketing, clearly defined expertise and niche and a close-to-polished presentation that can resonate with prospects.

As Hélène Piantone, the association’s President summarized:

“Not only did the workshop meet our expectations, but you also succeeded in bringing out the best in each one of us. I am amazed at the presentations [several participants] made in front of all of us at the end of the day. You boosted them to the max. A huge thank you.”