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!”

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.”

The scope of services included intercultural communications and pedagogical consulting, English adaptation and copywriting, editing French materials for intercultural consistency, audio-visual subtitling, and project coordination with the MVQR team.

The first project involved adapting Linkfluence’s French website to an American context, targeting communications and marketing directors and social media experts. 

I’ve been working closely with their growing team ever since, gaining valuable insight and knowledge into social media monitoring in the process.

Case study

June 2010

Linkfluence sets out to conquer the North American market

Linkfluence, an award-winning start-up founded in 2006, is a marketing and public opinion studies institute specialized in segmenting, analyzing, and mapping the social Web community by community. Headquartered in Paris, Linkfluence recently opened an office in Germany and is now setting out to conquer the North American market.

“Our Web site is the driving force behind our communications targeting corporate decision-makers, public institution leaders as well as communication agencies,” explains Guilhem Fouetillou, Linkfluence’s co-founder and Web site author. “The stakes were high. We were looking for an American copywriter able to adapt, rhythm, and orchestrate our site for a completely different audience and to propel Linfluence’s brand image across the Atlantic.”

Choosing the right partner

The company met me through a workshop at Ujjef run by Anthony Hamelle, then Linfluence’s Research Department Director. A few months later, she won the project to adapt the site for the North American marketing campaign launch.

Linkfluence had consulted several service providers. “Patricia’s approach was professional, centered on advising the client. She explained clearly what makes for a good translation, her commitment to building a long-term collaboration with us, and convinced us that the services she offers surpass a simple translation.”

Trust and dialog: the keys to a successful project

Linkfluence and I had taken the time to get to know one another. The mutual trust and ease that are the cornerstones of a smooth collaboration were in place at the project’s start. 

“As a result, we gave Patricia a free hand to adapt, rewrite, and often edit the source texts to get straight to the point,” underscores Guilhem.

“Patricia takes full hold of a text to ensure it crosses borders and supports the company’s strategy. To guarantee key messages hit home, she does not hesitate to work with the author to distill his intent and clarify his prose.”

Because laying out a text for publication often creates unexpected errors, I always includes a review of the galleys before giving the green light for print or on-line publication.  The client-service provider partnership built over time proved invaluable. “This last phase in the project is taxing and time-consuming for everyone. Patricia offered to undertake this review ‘live’ to help us save time. We did not hesitate in giving her full access to our back-office.” 

Enjoyable collaboration and measurable ROI

The collaboration was perfect from start to finish, with both parties acting proactively to meet a tight on-line publication deadline.

“We had appropriate and relevant exchanges throughout the project as Patricia intuitively finds the right balance between raising questions and taking initiatives. The services provided fulfilled all our expectations and requirements. Everyone is delighted with the results. The English version of the Web site has already reached the same audience share as the French site and the marketing and sales campaign if off to a great start since the site went live.”

“Don’t hesitate. If you have critical needs and you wish to rely on a professional who will invest herself fully in your project, work with Patricia!”