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Marketing is a task that even experienced translators and interpreters dread, and it can feel especially daunting during difficult times, like the current pandemic and financial crisis. Should you still be marketing your services to clients? And if so, how can you do that without coming off as salesy and opportunistic? What if your clients are in an industry that was hit hard by the crisis?

You will find answers to these and many other questions in ATA’s Back to Business Basics webinar “Effective and Pitch-Perfect Marketing during and after COVID-19.”

ATA launched its new Back to Business Basics webinar series in September 2020. These webinars focus on a small, practical piece of business advice for translators and interpreters at different stages of their careers. The series quickly became popular: there are usually a few hundred people attending each live session. Members can access these webinars free of charge, and non-members can purchase each recording for $25.

In this first webinar in the series, Madalena Sánchez Zampaulo, a freelance ATA-certified translator working from Spanish and Portuguese into English and ATA’s President-Elect, shared how to deliver pitch-perfect marketing during difficult times.

The first step is finding the right mindset: you need to understand what your ideal clients are going through, what their challenges are, what is coming, and how you can help. As with the stages of “new normal” during the pandemic, businesses will be experiencing different stages of reopening and adjustments and will have to reinvent themselves as the pandemic evolves. The key is to stay informed and be able to make projections on what your clients’ priorities will be and how you can support them.

In her presentation, Madalena showed examples of how some areas that have been hit the hardest (for example, travel and hospitality, education, immigration) are adapting, and how some translators and interpreters have successfully responded to the needs of their clients.

Madalena demonstrated how checking in with clients and offering to help can be done in a tactful and non-obtrusive way. She also gave some ideas on reaching out to both current and new clients during difficult times.

When so many people have been affected by the global pandemic and economic crisis, it may feel that marketing your translation or interpreting services is not a priority. But it is important to continue growing your business, and you can (and should) continue marketing. You may just need to adjust your approach, and this webinar will give you some great strategies on how to do that.

Check out the recording of this webinar and share it with colleagues who may be interested!

Author bio

Veronika Demichelis, CT is an ATA-certified English>Russian translator. She is chair of ATA’s Professional Development Committee, member of ATA’s Membership Committee, blog editor for ATA’s Slavic Languages Division, and co-host of the Smart Habits for Translators podcast.