Here at Elastic we were lucky enough to be interviewed via email by Danae Wessman, a Marketing Communications major and Social Media minor at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the United States who’s currently taking a course in Scotland on International Business.

One of her assignments while here was to interview a business and she asked us a number of interesting questions. In part two of the interview, we talk about the different companies that we’ve worked with over the years, and how really getting to know them is the key to delivering results.

Do any of your clients target foreign markets? How do you target these markets?

Our clients target a range of markets such as North America, Europe, The Middle East, Asia, Africa and Australia.

We target these markets using a strategic mix of digital channels designed to attract, engage, convert and retain business opportunities. In particular we use social media marketing, search marketing and Google Adwords PPC to attract and engage new customers.

For most of our clients, their website is often the most effective way to convert visitors into enquiries and customers. To make sure our clients’ websites convert we use a range of content from text and imagery to video. As well as this, customers can be retained and re-marketed to using email marketing and additional social media marketing.

We also use the digital intelligence tool CANNDi, which provides information on the companies visiting our clients’ websites. We can use this information to follow up with selected companies and we also use the information to influence our campaigns. It’s an invaluable tool.

When targeting different countries, having a local contact can improve customer perspective and is essential for maximising results.
For example, while we use professional translators when promoting content in other languages, we always run the translated content past our contact in the target country in case there’s some context that our translators might miss.

Also, we’re always sure to make separate campaigns for countries when it comes to social media, as the time difference between markets means that without taking appropriate care, you could have your messages going out through the middle of the night.

What do your clients generally go to Elastic for help with?

For the most part, our clients need to get their message out to an audience that may not know them.

Broadly speaking we deliver increased awareness that leads to customer actions like helping to save lives as with the NHS, or generating sales leads for companies looking to grow their revenue. Another area that can be overlooked is the increase in value we can bring to a client’s products or services.

Do you work with more established companies or start-ups?

We work with both established and start up companies, and every company we work with is unique.

With a start up, everything is new and you want to hit the ground running if you can. You need to conduct research which includes looking at the competition – this should form part of the very essence of your business plan and should NOT be an afterthought.

We start each branding project with a workshop that brings together all key decision makers. This is a great way to ensure that your business plan and your brand strategy inform each each other.

Established companies, however, can be quiet different: for example they might require a larger cultural change in order to make the best of the new opportunities coming their way.

To accomplish this you need a vision from the top to allow the brand to help develop the business – to match or even exceed these aspirations.

How do you convey your client’s message to their target market?

The content’s look, feel and tone needs to reflect what the audience wants.

Online targeting can be a very useful tool to maximise opportunities of reaching the right people – a mixture of geographical locations, sector info and other factors can be used.

Want to get to know us better?

We’re happy to talk about anything, from your marketing needs to your wildest Game of Thrones theories, so why not get in touch?