XPATIC/Rest of the world
Wherever there is an expat population
We have pages for the markets we work in most. The method is not specific to any of them, and the list is not meant to be a limit.
What actually has to be true
The markets with their own pages are the ones we know best, not the only ones this works in. What matters is not which country you are in, it is whether three conditions hold.
There has to be a foreign national population large enough to reach. It has to be reachable in English, or in a language your business operates in. And your service has to be one those people would rather buy from someone who understands their situation.
If those three are true, the rest is the same job we do everywhere else. If one of them is not, we will tell you rather than take the money and find out together.
Large enough to build a reachable audience
English, or a language you operate in
A service the situation actually creates demand for
Markets we get asked about
Places with significant English-speaking foreign national populations where we have not yet built a dedicated page.
Italy, Greece and Malta
Established British and Northern European populations, particularly in the islands and the south.
Switzerland and the Netherlands
High-income professional populations, corporate rather than lifestyle in character.
Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia
Postings-led markets that behave much like the UAE, with their own regulatory considerations.
Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan
Growing Western populations, from retirement programmes to corporate postings.
Panama, Colombia and Ecuador
Growing American retiree communities with established networks and low competition.
South Africa, Turkey and beyond
Substantial British and European populations, often almost entirely unadvertised to.
What we would need to know
Before building anything in a market we have not worked in, the first job is sizing it honestly. How many people are actually reachable on each platform, what the media costs look like, and whether anyone is already competing for them.
That takes a conversation and some work in the ad platforms, not a guess. Sometimes the answer is that the audience is too small to support what you want from it, and that is worth knowing before a budget is committed rather than after.
Everything else travels. The funnel, the verification, the portal, the delivery into your CRM and the feedback loop from outcomes back into targeting are all the same regardless of which country the campaign runs in.
How a new market gets opened
- Sizing firstReachable audience on each platform, by nationality and language, before anything is committed.
- Competitive checkWho is already advertising to this audience, which is often nobody, and what they are saying.
- Honest answerIncluding telling you if the numbers do not support it. A campaign built into an audience that is too small helps neither of us.
- Build and test smallA limited first phase to establish real costs rather than projected ones.
- Scale on evidenceBudget follows results, not a plan written before anything ran.
Questions about new markets
How small is too small?
It depends on what a client is worth to you. A market with a few thousand reachable people can work well for a law firm with high matter values and not at all for a business needing volume. Sizing it first is the point.
Do you need to know the country to advertise in it?
Less than you would think for the mechanics, more than you would think for the messaging. The targeting is the same job everywhere. Knowing what that specific population actually worries about is what makes the creative work, and that is a conversation with you rather than something we arrive already knowing.
What if the audience does not speak English?
Then it is a different campaign and possibly a different agency. We build for English-speaking foreign national audiences. If your market needs native-language creative in a language we do not work in, we will say so.
How long does opening a new market take?
Sizing is quick. Building and getting to reliable numbers usually takes a few weeks of live spend, because projected costs and real costs are rarely the same.
Can you do several markets at once?
Yes, and it is often more efficient, since creative and funnel work carry across. Each market still gets its own campaign structure, because merging them hides which one is actually working.
Tell us about your market
A few questions about where you are and who you serve, then a call to size the audience properly and give you an honest answer.
hello@xpatic.com