The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2020 - 16

FEATURE

BY MADALENA SÁNCHEZ ZAMPAULO
that you absolutely will not do any
outbound marketing during this crisis.
1.	 Do you have work landing in your
inbox consistently right now?
2.	 Are you sure that you'll continue to
have enough consistent work coming
in throughout this crisis?

Marketing Services during a
Pandemic and Economic Crisis:
Why You Should Do It and How
to Get It Right
There's a way to market your business and not be salesy. There's a way to
market your business and still be compassionate. There's a way to market
your business and serve your clients where they are right now.

L

ately, you may be asking yourself,
"How do I market my translation
or interpreting services during a
global health and economic crisis?" or
"Should I be marketing at all?" You're
not alone. This question has landed in
my inbox so many times during the past
few weeks from colleagues asking what
they should do.
How you decide to market your
business during the COVID-19
pandemic is a very personal decision.
You may be of the mindset that
16

The ATA Chronicle | May/June 2020

outbound marketing (actively marketing
by sending your marketing message
to clients) is inappropriate right now.
While I'll admit I thought this myself,
especially during those first days when
things seemed to shift by the hour,
I quickly changed my mind. Why?
Because our clients still need us, and
their clients need us. Plain and simple.
While I'll touch on inbound
marketing later, I would like to ask you
to consider two things before deciding

If your answer is "no" to either of
these questions (most of the colleagues
I talk to would answer "no" to at least
one) and you don't have another source
of cash flow in your household to rely
on in uncertain times, you may need to
rethink what you will and won't do.
I get it. No one wants to appear out
of touch or opportunistic, especially
when there's so much suffering. But
rather than continue to worry that you
might turn clients off or bother them
during what is a very stressful time for
everyone, have you considered that
your clients might very well need your
services as a solution to one of many
problems they're experiencing?
While continuing to work and earn
money, you can continue to contribute
to the economy. You can continue to
provide clients incredibly useful services
during a time when their challenges are
great and their resources are potentially
very few.

You can continue to provide
clients incredibly useful services
during a time when their
challenges are great and their
resources are potentially very few.

To be clear, there's a way to market
your business and not be salesy. There's a
way to market your business and still be
compassionate. There's a way to market
your business and serve your clients
where they are right now. If incoming
work has slowed down, or if it's come
to a complete standstill, you might be
experiencing a lot of doubt when it
comes to marketing at all. But trust me.
Just because some of your clients don't
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The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2020

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