With many regions of Italy restricting the movement of citizens, it’s not surprising that many Italians live and work abroad. In fact, more than 300,000 Italians live in Germany, and the country is home to a large Italian community. So it should come as no surprise that Germany is one of the preferred destinations for expats from Italy.
Although the two countries have much in common, there are still significant differences in how Germans and Italians market themselves. This article aims to explore these differences and how you can take advantage of them.
#1 Work your social media
With many Germans taking their internet habits back to their small communities, it’s the perfect place to build your social media presence. With many Italians embracing digital marketing and social media, it would be a great place to engage with your audience.
Considering that 85% of German adults use social media, it’s the perfect place to build your brand and connect with fans of your products. Start by using relevant hashtags on social media channels, and follow the basic digital marketing guidelines to drive traffic to your site.
#2 Establish brand awareness
With many regions of Italy restricting the movement of its citizens, it’s not surprising that many Italians live and work abroad. In fact, Germany is one of the preferred destinations for expats from Italy. The German government even encourages companies to hire talented expats, as it feels that an international perspective provides businesses with a competitive edge.
The fact that Germany is home to a large number of talented Italian expats should offer you good PR opportunities. Many companies in Germany are now tapping into the vast resources that the country’s large Italian community provides. This is great for businesses, as it means they can access an international audience that may not have been previously exposed to their brand.
Establishing brand awareness in Germany is all about making sure that customers are aware of your brand and what it stands for. There are several methods to do this, but one of the simplest and most effective is through branding, or using logos, icons, and colors that correspond with your brand. For example, if you’re a luxury goods brand, you might choose to use yellow as your main color, as it is the color of royalty and luxury. This could be your royal standard or your company’s logo — it’s entirely down to you!
If you want to establish brand awareness in Germany, it’s important that you do so in a targeted manner. Choose the areas where you think you can make an impact, and work your hardest to ensure that everyone in Germany is aware of your brand. This might mean creating social media content that is specifically aimed at German audiences, or targeting local businesses in a bid to increase brand recognition.
#3 Build a brand identity
Creating a brand identity is all about giving your brand a face, a voice, and a story. It’s important that your identity is reflected on all media platforms, but in a way that is unique to your brand. For example, if your brand is luxury goods, create a luxury identity that is unique to your brand, and ensure that all of your marketing materials, from your website to your emails, match the identity you’ve created.
You might want to consider creating a brand identity for each of your markets, considering that each market may have different perceptions about your brand. For example, if you’re a luxury goods brand, your identity for France might be very different from your identity for Germany. And vice versa.
The process of creating a brand identity isn’t straightforward, and it requires a lot of planning and research. But the end result will be worth it, as it will create a foundation for your brand and marketing strategy. Building a brand identity is all about having a clear idea of your brand’s messaging, values, and objectives, and creating marketing materials, including websites, collateral, and email campaigns, that reflect this brand.
Doing business in Germany as an Italian brand will require you to develop a marketing strategy that is uniquely tailored to fit the country’s market. And as we’ve established, Germany is a place where business is done digitally, so it’s all about marketing online. This is where you’ll find the vast majority of German consumers, and it’s the perfect place to launch your digital marketing campaign. Consider the elements discussed below, and you’ll be poised to make the most of your Italian brand in Germany.
#4 Create web content
There are several methods that you can use to attract and engage customers on the internet. While SEO, or search engine optimization, can help with getting your website listed on search engines, content is the best way to go. Producing regular quality content that is both relevant and interesting to readers will drive them to your website. And from there, you can convert them into paying customers.
In order to produce content that is both relevant and interesting, it’s essential that you develop an editorial calendar.
An editorial calendar is a schedule that details when you’ll be publishing different types of content, such as blogs, case studies, FAQs, infographics, videos, and so on. Publishing these different pieces of content at the right time is essential in order to keep the attention of your target audience. Knowing when and what to publish will form the basis of your content strategy, and your editorial calendar should be published and disseminated to key stakeholders, including your marketing team and stakeholders within your organization.
You should consider using content marketing to attract and engage customers on the web. This entails creating and distributing relevant, valuable content that provides useful information to your target audience. The more you can engage with your audience through interesting, valuable content, the more they’ll be inclined to engage with you.
The best part of an editorial calendar is that it provides you with a roadmap to follow, as you’ll be able to see what content will be published at what time and disseminated through which channels. Consider creating an editorial calendar that includes everything from when your key content will be published, to its distribution, and all of its associated metrics, such as click-through rates, views, and so on.
#5 Distribute and measure the success of your strategy
The last step in a successful marketing strategy is measuring its effectiveness. The fact that you’ve developed a strategy without this stage is one of the biggest mistakes you can make, as it means you’ll never know if what you’re doing is actually working or if you should change something.
This is where you’ll find your metrics. Compiling and analyzing this data will determine if your strategy is effective or needs to be changed.
So how do you measure the success of your Italian marketing strategy in Germany? It’s simple. Use digital analytics tools to track the behavior of interested and potential customers, from website visitors to app users, to social media followers, and so on. The more you know about your target audience’s digital journey, the more you can refine and improve your strategy. And that, in turn, will make you a better marketer.