There a specific demographic that consistently has a relatively high level of disposable income, has been growing non-stop despite global economic issues and that only a few companies have figured out how to engage.
Expats are usually well-educated with a higher than average disposable income. Your average expat is 40 years old, is employed in a senior level position in a white collar job in a multinational company, have moved abroad for career advancement and travels regularly.
Besides their higher than average income, there’s a lot more to expats that make them a desirable audience and a must on your target list for 2017:
- Expats have no previous knowledge of any local companies. When they first arrive, they’ll have no favorite providers nor loyalties to any vendors. This means that businesses find themselves with the upper hand, as long as they are proactive on their efforts.
- Expats create communities. They seek and find others like themselves and form groups around mutual interests and trust each other for information that helps them navigate life in their host country. If you connect with an expat, you are most likely also connecting with their peers which is one of the best ways to acquire new clients.
- Expats lists can be highly segmented because of their dynamic nature, which means personalization is possible to a very accurate degree. This means that your message can be tailored to be relevant to the exact contacts you are looking to engage, resulting in better conversion rates.
- The expat community is constantly changing. People are hired for international positions for several years, but most of them move back home at the end of their post or move to another country to take advantage of a new opportunity. This means that even if you offer services that are not recurring by the same client, your pool of prospects will always be changing, evolving and growing.
How to connect with Expats
Now that you have a better understanding of what it means to be an expat and what qualities best describe them, we can focus on how to successfully reach out to them:
- Know how your product can impact the expat community specifically: personalization is key. When possible, fragment your campaigns to reach each community you are trying to target.
- Use emotion: create scenarios in which expats specifically would benefit from having your product.
- Multiple languages: when targeting expats from different countries, conduct your campaign in more languages than just English. Note that some expats don’t use English as their first language.
- Test, test, and test: every campaign is different. The same rings true for expats. Don’t get disappointed if your first campaign didn’t work out how you expected it. Testing is key for learning what works.
- Quality matters: you can get everything right but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have access to accurate contacts. Make sure you work with a reputable list provider, with recognized international presence.
Reaching out to expats can be tricky at times and there are always obstacles along the way but this is a growing market with untapped potential so don’t let the risks deter you. Do your homework, ask questions, test and you’ll be on your way to expanding your reach and getting a piece of the pie.
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