European Expansion FAQs

Clients have different organizational preferences depending on their internal structures and we adapt accordingly. The most common, and what tends to work quite well, is when our consultants from the different local markets report to a single coordinator at All Around, and this coordinating figure reports either to the client-side main contact or to the managers of each market in an weekly or monthly joint meeting. When we centralize coordination in this way, it helps us to detect synergies between markets, as well as opportunities to replicate certain structures or practices that have worked well.

After reaching an initial agreement (usually a trial period of a few months), we will generally ask you for some details that will help us to start setting up your project. For example, access to your pre-existing analytics, advertising and reporting accounts, guidance on your planned media spend and your future goals. Normally we begin with a virtual kick-off meeting so that everyone involved in the project gets to know each other and together we map out the next steps, go over start-up tasks and fill in any missing information. We’ll also setup your project in our project management tool which will allow you to keep up to date with the team’s activity and follow the status of tasks.

We work in the following languages and markets: Spanish (Spain and LATAM), English (UK, US and ROW), French (France, Belgium), Dutch and Flemish (Netherlands and Belgium), German (DACH), Italian, Portuguese (Portugal, Brasil), Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Polish.

Many of our projects start off with a health check of a client’s marketing activities, also called an audit. Sometimes we are asked to perform a one-off audit when a client wants to improve in-house or third-party vendor performance. The most common audits we provide are PPC (review of structure, copy, keywords and strategies), SEO and Web Performance (indexability, architecture, UX, technical errors, competitors, ranking and keywords, onpage SEO, backlinks etc.) and Analytics (correct configuration of tracking, events, existing reports, dashboards, etc.). These digital marketing audits have a written deliverable as their final product which can be used as a road map for corrections.

Yes, we do conduct local market research depending on the type of investigation required. We do not run focus groups or conduct field research, nor do we access subscription databases. We do conduct local market research through online surveys, social media monitoring and monitoring websites, reviews, and relevant online data sources. If you have something specific in mind, contact us to see if we can help.

The ideal approach is to do the calculation known as Tam Sam Som as part of your market study and evaluation. This is a widely used technique that allows initial size estimates to be made in specific markets through three metrics:

• TAM (Total Addressable Market), which refers to the total market size of our target market.
• SAM (Serviceable Available Market), which is the market we can serve or cover with our current capabilities.
• SOM (Serviceable Obtainable Market), which is the volume of market that can be gained in the medium/short term.

From there we can assess whether it is a market of interest and check whether the audience segments we want to sell to are large enough on digital platforms to make it profitable to reach them through marketing actions.

The General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR is a regulation that since its application in 2018 affects all companies in all sectors that operate in Europe, as well as when the company has its headquarters and its website outside the EU but offers goods and services in European territory, thereby processing the personal data of EU citizens.

Violation and breach of the General Data Protection Regulation can lead to the imposition of sanctions, including administrative fines, for any type of company, from multinationals to micro-companies. There are two levels of fines in the GDPR:

Less serious violations could result in a fine of up to €10 million or 2% of the company’s worldwide annual revenue from the previous fiscal year, whichever is greater.

The most serious violations can result in a fine of up to €20 million, or 4% of the company’s worldwide annual revenue from the previous fiscal year, whichever is greater.

There are multiple tools and plugins for this purpose, but not all of them strictly comply with the GDPR.

It is essential that implementation meets the following requirements:

• Display a clearly visible notice.
• Include a link in the banner to a more detailed policy that explains the purpose of installing cookies.
• Include a button to accept and another to reject all cookies.
• Include options to customize or select the cookies that will be installed.
• Block all scripts and cookies until consent has been obtained.

You can contact us to review your case and we’ll recommend the most appropriate tool to meet your needs.

We recommend Cookiebot. It scans your website monthly for new cookies and updates automatically. It’s easy to use and manage, and even has a free plan, try it out: https://manage.cookiebot.com/goto/signup?rid=W2O32.

The European Data Protection Regulation requires the express consent of the user in order to continue browsing a website and this adds additional steps when users visit your website or click on a marketing piece. This means that there are more points in the user journey where visitors can drop or opt out, which can reduce the volume of data that is collected, such as browsing data on your website or the size of the audiences that are used in remarketing actions.

However, in practice correct application of the GDPR increases brand credibility and the trust of those users who accept the use of their data, so compliance with the regulation has positive effects in the long term.

The time required will depend on several factors:

• The development of the website or the design of the software.
• The number of cookies that are installed on your website.
• The number of third-party scripts that your website uses.
• The level of customization you want in the banner design and/or the cookie policy.
• The number of languages ​​in which it must be implemented, as well as the current legislation for each country (for example, CCPA).

In many cases we need access to your accounts, such as Google Tag Manager or Analytics, and we often work in collaboration with legal departments or internal developers, so the response time of everyone involved in the project also impacts delivery times.

You can determine this with the help of a local marketing specialist or someone with in-depth knowledge of the local market. Standardizing the content is usually insufficient and broader and local issues must be taken into account, such as the content topics that are chosen, platforms that are used, audience digital consumer behaviors in that country, etc.

Also, differences in language usage and visual elements may vary between markets that speak the same language. For example, a Spanish landing page for Spain will have a different messaging and visual elements than a landing page for Mexico.

You should know the local market as well as audience you are targeting. From there, in addition to having quality copy translations, it is important to adapt this content to the specific tone and language of that market. The same goes for certain visual elements, for example the type of people that appear in the photographs (do they look like locals or seem to be foreign?). The page should seem real and local.

There are other very important aspects to take into account like the platforms and technology used on the web. For example, if you sell products online, you have to make sure that the audience is familiar with the type of product presentation, the technologies you use, payment methods, etc.

We work in the following languages and markets: Spanish (Spain and LATAM), English (UK, US and ROW), French (France, Belgium), Dutch and Flemish (Netherlands and Belgium), German (DACH), Italian, Portuguese (Portugal, Brasil), Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and Polish.

Our specialty is not translation, but rather localization. In any web project it is important that copy is not only written correctly, it must also be composed in language localized to the target audience. Our native digital marketing experts make sure that the copy on your website is written according to your target market’s preferences. For example, if there is only one website version for all of Latin America, it would be important to use Spanish that is both South American and neutral , rather than European Spanish. These local preferences are also taken into account in our SEO work when selecting keywords.

Without a doubt, yes. There are few cases in which a local market feels comfortable in a foreign language (for example, an English website in the Dutch market). As a general rule, users navigate better in their local language, and any marketing action should be executed in that language to be effective.

For example, if you launch a social media ad campaign to reach Spanish-speakers in Argentina and when they click on your Spanish-language ad you take them to your English-language corporate website or to a non-localized landing page, the user perceives that what you have shown in the ad is not what you offer on the landing page, and this can cause a negative impression.

The development of a landing page (or any website) can vary considerably depending on the needs of each project. The amount of cultural adaptations, the technology used, the complexity of external tool integrations, content availability and the degree of client participation in the design process all play a fundamental role in the time required to develop a landing page. However, it is common that the development of a landing page takes less time than a corporate website. This time can be further reduced if if elements are reused from other pages created for the same brand, product, service or target audience.

Although it is possible to develop a landing page using almost any web tool or technology available, it is convenient to take into account the nature of landing pages when choosing the most appropriate tool. These include factors such as a shorter useful life, the need to quickly implement changes and adjustments based on data and user behavior, prerequisites for integration with measurement, attribution, and analytics tools. In this context, SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms, such as HubSpot, Unbounce, Webflow, Pardot or Instapage, among others, are generally positioned as the tools of choice for the development of landing pages.

At All Around we are specialists in developing landing pages using Webflow, HubSpot and Pardot, although we also have the technical resources and professional experience to develop landing pages from scratch, using other technologies such as WordPress or Next.js.

Today’s automated tools do a very good job of translating content from one language to another, especially when compared to just a few years ago. However, it is important to keep in mind that no artificial intelligence tool can understand the idiosyncrasies of each country and their cultural differences (at least not yet!). Therefore, it is important that experts in the language and specific country at the very least review and optimize these texts.

According to Google , tools such as ChatGPT for content generation, as well as AI and automation in general, do not give any special benefit in terms of Search, but their proper use does not violate Google guidelines. If the content is useful, practical, original and satisfies the E-E-A-T aspects, i.e. it is quality content, it may do well in Search regardless of how it was created. If, on the other hand, the content is used primarily to manipulate search rankings or does not provide any value, it may be penalized or not perform well.

The design of a website is normally influenced by the aesthetic features of the brand and target audience characteristics (age, gender, interests, etc.). In this sense, it is common for website design to be consistent in aesthetic terms, in order to preserve the identity of the brand. Then, adjustments are made to the content of the website, such as copy and images, which allow the message to be culturally adapted to your audience.

Yes, it is possible to create a website aesthetically adapted for a global audience, but the content should be adapted to the cultural differences of each region, to increase the chances that the brand, product or service will be accepted by the target audience and the message successfully reaches all website users.

Yes, it is important to take length into account. Text or translation extension can make your design vary considerably. For example, words in German tend to be longer than in English.

And not only that, the grammatical structure of each language also varies, so it is advisable to establish sentences as text strings instead of as single words since the order might not be correct in the translation. In this sense, we must also take into account aspects such as gender, singular and plural, and even syllabic separation.

For example, if we compare the English and Spanish translations of this sentence: “Se han añadido {numero} items a tu carrito” vs. “{numero} items have been added to your cart”, we can see that the sentence structure completely changes depending on the language and this must be taken into account in the development.

Finally, it is worth mentioning the direction of script. A page in Arabic that is read right to left will not have the same layout as one in Romanian, which is left to right. So reading direction is an important aspect to take into account in the design phase.

Unfoturnately not. Localization is something that should be considered before choosing corporate fonts, since many typefaces do not have accents or other symbols specific to each language.

Within a user interface, typography has great weight, since the written word is the core of our design and conveys the personality of our brand. To select your fonts make sure to think about the following:

• Consider the languages ​​into which you want to translate your texts.
• Make sure the font has good visibility and legibility. This will have a direct effect on usability.
• Be aware of diacritical marks, such as accents, and font styles, like as bold and italics.
• In the event that you have to change fonts due to a problem, look for new font that have aspects or a personality similar to the original ones, such as similar thickness and shapes.

There are several alternatives:

• You can provide us with your own images and we can help you to select those that are the most suitable and impactful for your purposes.
• Or we take select images for you. Normally we provide you with a link to an image bank board with a curated pre-selection so that you can choose the images that best represent the values ​​of your company.

We can also make additional adjustments to the selected images, such as color correction, brightness and contrast, reframing, as well as advanced adjustments such as removing and retouching elements or creating photomontages.

We have several image banks where we purchase photographs and other resources such as icons or infographics. In any case, they are all licensed for commercial use.

There is no exact list or formula for the best social networks for advertsing with positive results. That said, these are the social platforms that generally garner the best results:

• Google Ads for Youtube
• Meta Ads for Facebook and Instagram
• LinkedIn Ads for LinkedIn
• Tik Tok Ads
• Pinterest Ads for Pinterest
• Reddit Ads for Reddit

The performance of ads on these networks will vary greatly depending on the nature of the business (B2B or B2C) and the intended audience. In addition, these platforms are constantly changing, meaning their effectiveness is a moving target. And of course, from time to time new platforms emerge that can change the paradigm of social ads.

Advertising options vary depending on the platform itself and its policies, and there are certain restrictions depending on the type of product or content we are promoting: ads must follow the rules and regulations of each country or region. For example, we won’t be able to target an 18-year-old audience with an ad for alcoholic beverages if the legal drinking age is higher in a certain market. In addition, there are platform-specific regulations in the case of Meta Ads which restrict ads with political content that discourage electoral participation, question electoral validity or announce outcomes before the final election results have been tallied. These types of ads are banned in the United States, Brazil, Israel and Italy.

The main benefit is having much more context on your campaigns, and a more complete vision. This will have a positive impact in several ways:

• Both on a day-to-day basis and in market expansion or restructuring operations.
• At the operational level, streamlining campaign management processes and client communication.
• At a technical level, where self-competence failures will not be committed (advertising overlapping with several campaigns).
• At the context level, observing differences in country-by-country results. This makes the differences or similarities between regions and markets much clearer and enhances your ability to exploit synergies and differences.

The first consideration is how important local languages can be. Consuming content in one’s own language increases trust and purchase intent, while reading in a different language causes the opposite effect. Then we have to assess the need to reach this new audience in their own language:

• Is this audience relevant and profitable enough for our business?
• What is our goal with this audience?
• What online habits do they have and what is the best channel to reach them?

Once these questions are satisfied, we can move on to operational issues: such as content creation (with the correct location, form and SEO optimization in each language) and determining how we will roll out multilingualism (several accounts, several publications, several languages ​​in the same post, etc.)

These types of decisions will take us in one direction or another, but we want to speak the same language as our potential client, without relying on automatic translations and betting on an internal or external professional who can carefully and correctly translate our message.

There are many options available depending on the country where ads are showing and where the advertiser is located. We can find limitations and restrictions relating to:

• Campaign Type: Display campaigns generally have restrictions in certain countries, normally outside the EU.
• Keywords: There are restrictions on ads targeting certain content/searches based on country-specific regulations. Medicines, gambling, financial services, etc.
• Segmentation: Certain audiences are not available for specific countries, generally there are more restrictions in countries outside the EU.

Google has a very extensive content policy that can be found here: https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/6008942?hl=en

There is no single answer to this question, as each company has different needs and objectives. That said, in an ideal scenario, each country or at least each language should have its own separate account within Google Ads. Separate accounts make multi-language and multi-country campaign management more effective because everything is well organized and separate: pixels, conversions, audiences, losses, extensions…, allowing different specialists to work together in an organized manner.

Likewise, ideally each client should have all accounts integrated within a MCC of their own. This way, the client can connect or disconnect their MCC containing all their accounts at will, granting or denying access to any agency as needed.

Here the benefits are quite similar to those mentioned in reference to centrally managing social network ad campaigns. The main characteristics of this type of management are applicable to both search and social campaigns: streamlined technical and communication processes, ease of extrapolating to other markets, the first-hand global context for campaign optimization or restructuring and avoiding self-competition.

Keywords change. It is recommended best practice to do a specific keyword analysis for each language and market you will be targeting before launching any new activity.

Keywords are closely linked to:

• The language itself : obviously, users do not use the same search terms in each language, although there are keywords that can be “translated” from one language to another. Still, it is always best practice to create an ad-hoc keyword list for a new language.
• The market/country: There are differences between countries that share a common language. The culture and habits of a country condition the way in which certain products and services are searched for, so we also recommend performing additional keyword research.

When we talk about the best platforms, we mean those that offer the best cost-efficiency relationship. They must have a sufficient number of users so that campaigns can generate traffic and hopefully achieve an advertiser’s objectives. In the case of European PPC, there are two main contenders: Google Ads and Microsoft Ads. Google has remained the most widely used search engine in European countries, which is why Paid Search in Google has a high success rate. The variety of campaign types available make Google Ads a complex service that is more accessible thanks to its focus on automation. Microsoft Ads always lags behind its rival, but Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, has a sufficient number of European users to make it profitable, warranting at least trying it.

Yes, at All Around we use business intelligence tools to manage the automatic conversion of cost and revenue data into a single currency.

Multi-market companies often face the challenging task of unifying data from various domains to visualize and understand their global performance. With dashboards, we give visibility to traffic KPIs, such as sessions, page views, sales, form completions, etc. We also develop dashboards to unify ad platforms (Google Ads, Meta Ads, LinkedIn) and obtain an aggregate view of impressions, clicks, cost and conversions.

Yes, we offer the possibility of importing your payment sources and unifying many metrics, including spend, in such a way that the client obtains a quick view of their global performance that allows them to make better strategic decisions.

Generally, no. Our business model is based on quality work and clients pay us on a per-project basis. Therefore, we do not commission on media buys and we do not see any benefit in paying for media spend.

At All Around we work on a project or retainer based model. We provide an hours estimate for each project, we share this information with the client and it is approved before kickoff. We always warn in advance if we detect that project hours may exceed the initial estimate. Our fees are based on an hourly rate, and this rate may vary depending on the market and the type of work. For example, Nordic countries tend to have a higher hourly rate than Spain, as these markets have higher costs.

In Europe 🙂 The team is distributed throughout the continent: Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, central Europe… We all work remotely, and although we have tried the option of hybrid work and a dedicated office space, experience has shown us that remote work dynamics are highly effective and productive for All Around employees. In fact, we were working remotely years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our time zone is CET (mainland Spain), so we are in a time zone compatible with many geographic areas. This allows us to accommodate meeting times and work with clients across the globe without difficulty. In addition, we maintain fluid communication and follow up on projects through email and project management tools, so we are always available to our clients and they have a continuous view of what work is in progress.

Our main means of communication for meetings and calls is Microsoft Teams. When we send a call request, we always generate an event so that anyone outside who has been invited can access without complications.

Meetings are scheduled within our working hours in CET (mainland Spain) time zone, but we do our best to adapt to the needs of our international clients.