When we think of global marketing we can only be reminded of companies like Mc Donalds and Apple and their global reach and how they have achieved global recognition of their brands. This is by doggedly remarketing themselves and advertising what they do, although we already know what they do.
Penhaligon have started down this road with no such grand plans of global domination, but we do want to reach the English speaking exhibitors globally who are thinking of coming to Italy primarily. We want to build the Italian side of the business to match the UK based side, which has a growing and repeat client base. So, how do we achieve this. Well, my betters in the marketing and digital world will know, and I am learning, it is a slow and strategic build up of getting search engines to love you, abide by their rules, painstakingly monitoring the keywords, the phrases, the links and the way everything you write is worded.
We are building the market here in Italy and we are working on getting the website working here in Italy first. I am following the guidelines of our supplier Brandix Soft and we are working on a monthly program one month ahead. We are currently working on October, and to be honest I have to have things like “Off stage status” and “Off stage activity” explained to me, but the help and guidance enables me to write in my chatty style but also make sure I hit the keywords/phrases throughout.
To drive Italian suppliers who maybe don’t have an English speaking team member to us or an Italian client/supplier looking to go to the UK, to our site, we have been targeting the main phrases searched for. We are doing this in English and Italian of course for Italy and the phrases we have found are not direct translations so we are seeking help where needed to make sure we have the correct translations. The website is completely available in Italian and any useful comments from Italian readers would be helpful if something is not correct. I am forever reading English instructions on Italian packaged goods and the translations are atrocious. I really would have thought large companies would get someone to over see that who is a natural speaker. We have learnt that lesson and will have the new edits etc all checked.
Targeting English speaking countries such as Canada, USA, India, Australia, UAE and to a lesser extent Europe is our next process. We already work for clients from some of these countries regularly but want to expand our client base in different markets to try and give us a constant flow of business despite economy variances. We will of course pursue the same working processes we are currently using but also changing keywords such as Booth for stand in the US, Fair for Exhibition etc to suit the market.
Posting missives regularly as I pointed out in a previous blog post was on hiatus for a while, but we have a good momentum now and we are in a good space with a clear plan and a target for the new year. We have already had enquiries directly attributed to the Blog posted on LinkedIn and also the site itself www.penhaligonec.com, so small beginnings and all that.
