This page is for relocation companies, global mobility providers, destination-services firms, and corporate relocation specialists. Relocation is one of the categories Expat Marketing works with. We do not move households, book schools, or employ mobility managers. The marketing problem is that the service is bought twice: once by the organisation that appoints a supplier, and again, in practical detail, by the people who have to live the move.
Those two purchases use different channels, different proof, and different definitions of a lead. A programme aimed only at HR misses households that choose the provider themselves. A programme aimed only at families misses the preferred-supplier decision that still awards volume. Further notes on that split are in reaching expats for relocation services. Treat the article as a discussion of the two tracks, not as a report of campaign results.
What is actually being bought
A relocation contract is rarely “a move” in the abstract. The scope might include any of the following, and the page should say which of them the firm performs:
- International household moves and storage.
- Temporary accommodation and home search, which overlaps with property marketing but is not the same sale. The relocation client is buying coordination against a date. The property client is buying a specific home.
- School search and enrolment support. The deciding reader is often a parent working to a term date, not the employee who signed the assignment letter.
- Settling-in and destination services: registration, orientation, and the first weeks in the city.
- Support for a partner who is moving a career as well as a household.
If the firm does not offer one of those, leave it off the page. Families can tell when a menu is copied from a competitor.
Who decides, and when
Corporate mobility still runs through HR, global mobility managers, and procurement. They compare policy fit, reporting, service levels, and whether the supplier can cover the corridor. They read specialist press, attend events, and answer a request for proposal. A social ad aimed at “expats” does not enter that process.
Some employees are given a budget or a shortlist and asked to arrange the move themselves. They, and often a partner, compare temporary housing, school places, and who will answer after landing. They search, they ask in destination groups, and they expect a clear fee. Ignoring that track leaves those instructions to whoever published a useful page.
| Person | What they are judging | Where they look |
|---|---|---|
| HR or mobility manager | Policy fit, reporting, cover across corridors | Proposals, specialist press, professional networks |
| Assignee | Dates, cost, who handles problems on arrival | Search, employer materials, peers |
| Partner or parent | Housing, schools, daily life | Search, school sites, destination communities |
The calendar is part of the message. An assignment letter creates a short window. School terms create another. Advertising that reaches a family after the housing deposit or the enrolment deadline is awareness they cannot use. Pages should show typical lead times for the corridors you serve, in language operations agrees with, not a generic “we make moving easy”.
Run two programmes, not one blended brand campaign
For the corporate buyer, publish the corridors, the reporting you provide, and how to start a supplier conversation. Use professional networks and a page written for a mobility manager. Do not make them wade through family photography to find a contact.
For the household, use search around destination, date, and the service they need this month: temporary housing, a school search, an international move. Practical guides help when they describe the sequence of a move into a named city. Expat publishers are relevant here because destination sites are where families already read about arrival. Enquiry forms should require origin, destination, date, and who is paying. Without those, a coordinator cannot tell a real move from a curious browser.
Insurance often has to be in place before arrival, but it is not a relocation line item you should imply you sell. Point households who need cover toward a proper health insurance conversation rather than bundling an unapproved benefit claim into a moving quote. Visa and immigration questions belong with a law firm, not in a relocation slogan about “handling the paperwork”.
City context changes the package. A corporate move into Singapore or Hong Kong is not the same brief as a family arrival in Japan or Dubai. Use those notes for neighbourhoods, schools, and language. Do not copy one city’s creative into the next because the logo fits.
Measure the two pipelines separately
Corporate work is counted in proposals invited and suppliers appointed, over a long cycle. Household work is counted in enquiries that name an origin, a destination, and a date, and in how many of those become an instruction. Averaging them hides which programme is failing. If household leads have no date, fix the form before you buy more traffic. If HR never replies, the page is probably still written for the family.
Say which buyer you need
Tell us whether you want conversations with mobility teams, enquiries from families, or both, and which corridors you already deliver. Get started with that scope. The rest of the category index is on expat marketing by industry.