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What do you do when have a leading product but you can't seem to break into the European market? This was the challenge we faced when we were bought in to help Media 100, a leading player in the digital video editing suite marketplace. The company's key target markets for growth were the UK, France, Germany and Italy, but to date there had been no real progress in marketing the product or building market share.
On closer inspection it was clear that there was low brand awareness and no lead generation activities in place. The US marketing team were feeling 'disconnected' from the sales and marketing processes in these international markets and were unsure of the different and unique challenges that each of these countries presented. They wanted to be able to direct and support the local market programs effectively and begin to replicate the successes of the US.
The first step was to develop a plan, but not without understanding the challenges faced by each country's sales and marketing team - a crucial step so often missed by global corporations. So we visited each target country and performed a marketing audit, interviewing resellers, customers and Media 100 sales, marketing and management teams. This enabled us not only to better understand the approach we needed to take but also to gain 'local' buy in and support to our global plan. We were then able to select the US programs and materials that could be successfully re-used, and to identify the local campaigns that would be essential in developing that much needed local brand awareness.
The fact-finding mission uncovered the key to some of the barriers the company had faced in Europe. For example, in the U.S., Media 100 was perceived to be hip, cool and attitudinal with low cost products for the "broadcast refugee". Our focus group research conducted in three languages in France, Germany and the U.K. identified key buying differences. Security, stability, a trusted product from a reputable company were important. Media 100's number one competitor, Avid, had a strong awareness level and its products were purchased because of this name recognition. Media 100's European market awareness position was about 6 in a crowded field of "others". Appealing to more staid and skeptical buyers required our key messaging and positioning to be very different in these key European markets.
This positioning had to be reflected in the PR and Advertising campaigns - the US messages and images were just not appropriate for this very different kind of buyer.
So we developed a European ad campaign that was visually vibrant and bold, reinforced key messages of quality, stability, reliability and included a call to action. Re-sellers eagerly signed on for co-marketing placements and we ran it successfully in four languages in Italy, Germany, France and the UK.
In addition we worked with PR agencies in each market to develop targeted, localized campaigns and build relationships with key journalists. Our foreign language capabilities enabled us to form close relationships with foreign press and considerably advanced the company's objectives.
We infused the new messaging into the seminar content from the US seminar programme, and carried out eight seminars per country in three months. Hundreds of qualified sales leads were generated.
We identified IBC, the International Association of Broadcasters Show, in Amsterdam, as a critical venue for exposure, leads and potential partners. Global Buzz Marketing managed all aspects of the show from concept through execution, inventing low cost high-impact programs such as a contest featuring European customer footage which gained national television exposure.
- Increased European revenue by 40% in one year
- Increased the number of impressions in the press from 400 to 1200 with 98% positive coverage
- Solidly established Media 100 as the perceived number two market leader in the digital video industry, moving up from 6th position
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