1.The boom of multilingual digital content

Nowadays, business owners start realising that their website and social networks are the most reliable sales tools. Offline marketing doesn’t work anymore. It’s the time when people start caring about the quality content that should be catchy for readers. In addition, content should be optimised for search engines for a better ranking. What’s more, the creation of several language versions of the site is a necessary diversification of risks following the global decrease in the paying capacity of people. New content brings new audiences. Localised into multiple languages and optimised website content, well-configured multilingual PPC advertising for each market – this is an up-to-date must-have for global businesses. Consequently, a sharp increase in demand for multilingual SEO, website localisation, the creation of content in different languages, the transcreation of advertising campaigns is an inevitable outcome of the current changes.

2. Change of specialisations

Today we see an increase in demand for professional translations in such areas as healthcare and medicine, e-commerce, e-learning, webinars, media and entertainment, business services, self-care and beauty, consulting, and legal advice. If you are a translator specialised in travel, sports, recruitment, or retail, you may need to consider acquiring new skills or look into new opportunities of these domains such as interpreting for online sports events, online conferences, interviews with remote employees, subtitles for conference recordings, and so on.
Technical translation is a field that more frequently requires machine translation post-editing. So you may need to learn to be a post-editor or look into other specialisations.

3. Humanity is above all

This difficult situation affected everyone. So it would be wrong to use it for wealth accumulation. Customer loyalty is of utmost importance today. The introduction of bonuses, promotional sets, discount systems, and the provision of additional services will help your clients continue working with you. Politeness, friendliness, and customer care are also the reasons why customers will return to you. If you’re a translation company owner, don’t try to save your business at the cost of your employees and freelancers. They are your force who will revitalise your business. Try to pay on time, spread the projects evenly among your freelancers. Also, try to assign your in-house staff new tasks (so, e.g., your project managers can take care of sales when there’s no usual work for them). Support your team with respect and they will help you succeed again.

4. Translation companies will change their structure

Most companies will strive for flexibility, so the tried-and-true freelance work will become an indispensable element of the translation business again. Online communication platforms, messengers, software for managing your business remotely – this is what we will need to learn more about. I believe that we’ll stay with the freelance format even after the pandemic is over. This is an approach that saves money and allows employees to feel more comfortable. The situation in the world shows that the more flexible your business is, the easier it is to adapt to any changes.

5. Keep your distance and keep calm

In any situation, it is great to continue moving forward and think not only about the scary virus. Here’s a piece of good advice – just do your business. If you are a translator – translate, look for new opportunities, offer new ideas, take on new projects. If you are the head of a translation agency, keep your and your team’s spirits up. Above all, consider all problems as possibilities to provide new services or eliminate weaknesses. The lockdown is a special time when you can accomplish what you wanted for a long time to grow your business but always placed on a shelf.

Translators Family wishes you a lot of good ideas!