DKV Globality has launched a unified global health service.One of the challenges expatriates face is how to deal with local cultures, regulations and practical issues. Whereever you go, things just seem to be different than at home, and sometimes they are quite confusing.
Expat health insurer DKV Globality seems to be taking note of this. With a new global service concept, the company tries to establish a unified communication process and service branding for their expat customers – irrespective of where they are moving to. A network of international customer assistants – the so called “Globalites” – are available to clients 24/7 and in twenty-four different languages.
"We are up to date and communicate interactively with our younger target audience," Marco DilengeSocial media, younger expats and an trend toward more individual buying power are a challenge for many relocation agencies. Marco Dilenge, regional marketing manager at Crown Worldwide Group, explains how their company targets young expats and what differs between European expatriates and Americans.
Marco, who contacts the relocation agency, companies or individual expats?
It depends. In the US for example, we are seeing an increasing trend in which individual expatriates will contact the relocation agency directly with a fixed budget provided by their company. Some companies have fixed contracts with our agency, so for every relocation process, the relocation manager will contact us, especially if the company is relocating more than a single employee.
A ranked list of the website types consumers use to research products. (US data; Bynd.com)How do you generate more sales? The big buzz is always social media but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Especially for expatriate products, more purchase interest seems to come from online channels other than Facebook and Twitter.
Expat purchases are normally ‘high involvement’ products such as health insurance coverage, personal finance, or real estate. Interestingly, a study by Joann DeLanoy explains that for high-involvement products, people use web search before using Twitter or Facebook.
High-involvement product purchases are defined as those which cost more, are less frequent, and require more research. This rings true with many transactions that go along with relocation.
Polish expats return homeMany Polish expats who had moved to the UK to make a better life for themselves are now returning home to Poland. For companies targeting foreigners, this change creates new business opportunities.
A study from UK National Board of statistics discovered that the most popular destination for non-British people was Poland – and that 98% of people moving there are Polish.
Poles have traditionally represented a large percentage of immigrants coming into the UK. Many believe the reason for the Poles abandoning the UK now, could be due to the fact that the economic gap between the two countries is closing considerably.
Marketing opportunities also exist when you have heterogeneous audience.The ideal target audience for any advertiser is a mass homogeneous group who share the same wants and needs. In theory, a homogeneous type of target group will allow the advertiser to address a large amount of potential costumers with less effort and resources than needed for a heterogeneous group of people. In practice, mass markets are often saturated and highly competitive.
To grow beyond mass markets, advertisers need to look for new “niche” targets. Expatriates, for example, are a very attractive niche, as they are looking for new products and services – and are not yet familiar with established national brands. In theory, you only have to get in front of them to sell your product.
Expat marketers should know how to target their campaigns to the right audience and design their banners to maximize CTR.Targeting an advertising campaign at expatriates can be difficult. What marketing mix should you use? Do you target expats before or after they have moved abroad? Where do you place your ads?
These are the questions on many advertisers minds when faced with an expat campaign.
“Narrow down your advertising channels and choose media that is already targeting expats for the best results, advises Carlos Duez, business development manager at Just Landed. “Your marketing mix needs to use different channels. The Internet is the cheapest option and you can measure results. This is particularly important if you are on a limited budget.”
Marketers are often asked to estimate the size of a specific expat population. But how big is the market?When asked to estimate the total size of their target market, expatriate marketers often face difficulties with the answer. There’s virtually no global data on international expatriation, and the available information usually does not differentiate between migrants, international students and high-income-expatriates. So what can you say the next time your boss asks you where to spend the expatriate marketing budget?
According to UN Statistics, some 215 million people lived outside their home country in 2011. Obviously, not all of these are relevant target groups for expatriate service providers. An offshore bank is probably not looking to attract foreign construction workers in the Middle East, and an international expat insurance agency will not be focusing on people who settled in the United States twenty years ago.
Most British expats need a confirmed job before leaving the UKIt seems an overwhelming number of Brits won’t move abroad until they have a job lined up in their new country.
Latest research by the Office for National Statistics reveals that 40% of British expats chose to leave the UK only if there was a guaranteed job waiting for them – compared to 16% who were looking for work.
Wouldn't making it easier for expats to download content present a massive opportunity for expat marketers?For the media-hungry expat, portable devices like iPads and Kindles are a godsend. But if expats are clearly a perfect demographic, why is it so difficult for us to access the content from abroad and why are we subjected to such irrelevant marketing?
For example, the other day I tried to download a game to my PSP (PlayStation Portable) device. I’m an English expat living in Spain, so I tried to use the Spanish PlayStation Store to make the purchase. However, there was no option to download an English-language game, it automatically assumed that because I was based in Spain that Spanish was my first language and I’d only be interested in Spanish products.
Liz Perelstein founder of School Choice InternationalWith more than 200 million expats worldwide, International and local schools may already have students from all around the world. Embracing this diversity can be a powerful marketing tool.
School Choice International helps expat families to select the right schools for their children. With a database of schools, curriculum, and some 100 consultants worldwide in 50 key locations, the company promises parents to find schools that fit their children’s needs.
