PR packages include press release writing, distribution via segmented media lists and news agencies, media monitoring and reporting processes.
Spanish consumer behavior is straightforward. Brand loyalty is not a major sales driver, but brand trust is… Pricing, customer experience and data protection stand out as the most significant elements of brand trust for Spaniards and they drive the buying decisions. Hence, building brand trust with an intensive focus on these aspects in your online PR and marketing communications can turn the eyes on you and trigger your sales.
Spanish people are fiercely loyal to their traditions. They enthusiastically continue to celebrate their festivals like Semana Santa or La Tomatina. They are also proud of their cultural heritages like the works of Gaudi (especially, La Sagrada Familia), Picasso or siesta. But when it comes to shopping, Spaniards don’t get attached easily and loyalty goes as far as to the next price hike. Spanish consumer needs to trust the brand and expects value for money but don’t expect loyalty even if you provide both because they will always be checking the alternatives and will be ready to move to other brands if you do them wrong by raising your prices or providing them a customer service short from perfect. Other than value-for-money tags and excellent customer services requests, Spaniards expect perfectly dependable digital security when it comes to sharing personal data and making online payments.
Hence, rather than placing brand loyalty at the center of the marketing and sales strategies prioritizing pricing and brand trust can pay a higher return. Here is how you can do that.
When it comes to shopping Spanish consumer is focused on; pricing, customer services and data security, if the transaction is taking place online. Focusing on these aspects in your PR and marketing campaigns as well as your website and social media accounts can build the brand trust you need to convince the Spanish consumer. Spanish consumers refer to brand websites a lot for product discovery and they follow branded social media accounts more than the global average. So, it is easy to contact them and grab their attention with relevant news and consistent communication via online PR services and marketing campaigns. The trick here is to feed your digital channels with frequent news and content. To maintain the brand trust, you must constantly make presence and keep in touch with relevant content since Spanish consumer is hard to conquer and easy to lose.
You should try to bring forward the below elements as much as possible through your digital channels and online PR and marketing campaigns and try to share news releases featuring these elements for enhanced media coverage and further customer reach.
A McKinsey Survey on Spanish consumer sentiment during the coronavirus crisis based on data collected in October 2021 reveals that 45% of the consumers have changed brands since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic with price being the main reason.
Another survey conducted in Spain in 2020 reveals that the prices are far more important than many other elements when it comes to reasons why consumers rely more on a shop, with more than 60% of respondents saying adjusted market prices are an important source of trust for a store. There are many other studies and surveys indicating the importance of prices for Spanish consumers, when it comes to make a purchase decision. This price hypersensitivity brings in a lack of brand loyalty. 75% of Spaniards look for a bargain before buying something, while 24% leave their regular retailer if they find lower prices elsewhere (Source). Simple as that!
Hence, if you have a marketing campaign that provides special discounts or privileges that effect the price, you should definitely use press releases to spread the news. Media releases about discounts, payment facilities and promotions can reach to a customer base wider than you can imagine.
If you are going to operate in the Spanish market it is utmost important to provide excellent customer experience. And it is equally important that you let the customers know about this. As with pricing, customer experience is an important tool of building trust between your brand and your customers.
If you are an online retailer, you should also provide your customers a smooth omni channel platform with a very convenient, simplistic and integrated design.
Spanish customers are one of the most concerned European consumers about personal data protection with nearly half of them expressing their lack in confidence (Source). That can be attributed to the cautious approach of older age as the median age of population in Spain stands at 45.8 as of 2022. The sad news is, the land of tapas and flamenco will not be getting any younger and it is expected to be one of the countries with the highest percentage of old people by 2050. Hence, data protection and online securitywill continue to be an important factor of brand trust effecting Spanish consumer behavior.
To this end, you must always make sure that you give an easy to find, explicit and adequate info about the scope of your data protection and security measures to your customers on your website and in your messages concerning payment transactions and personal data collection.
The building elements of brand trust may differ from industry to industry but “Made in Spain” is an important factor to strengthen the trust factor all the businesses. Looking and feeling Spanish or having a Spanish vibe makes the consumer more relatable to the brands.
Obviously, you can’t just pretend you’re Spanish when you’re not, but you can check if the experience you provide to the customers is fluently Spanish through your digital channels. You can try to use native translators when it comes to wiring services or creating your online content and press releases who can use Spanish idioms and exclamations. Featuring native people or places and providing evaluations and comments from Spanish people in your digital channels will also go a long way. As user generated content is becoming increasingly popular you should try to make more room for quotations from Spaniards in your online content or PR publications.
We mentioned that the Spanish consumers refer to brand websites a lot for product discovery and they follow branded social media accounts more than the global average. However, if your product and brand is new in the market, you might first have to run some marketing and PR campaigns to promote your brand. But which media outlets will you be targeting to spread the news?
The most preferred TV, radio and print media brands are Antena 3 News, LaSexta News, Telecinco News, RTVE (public broadcaster) followed by Cuatro News. However, although 99.7% of the Spanish population own a television, advertising in TV channels is competitive and expensive. Print media on the other hand is losing ground as a source of news with only 26% share in total.
Digital channels can be the best alternative both in terms of penetration and cost. Internet adoption has increased from 77% in 2016 to 94% in 2022 in Spain – which is quite impressive when compared to the country’s European peers. Internet users are not only from Madrid, Barcelona or Valencia but from every part of the country. The top 5 visited websites belong to El Pais, 20 Minutos, elDiario, El Mundo and Antena 3 online.
If you choose to run an online PR campaign through this channel, make sure everything you do is mobile-optimized. Because 86% of Spanish consumers use mobile devices to access the internet. It’s especially important if you’re targeting a younger audience – over half of teenagers use their mobile devices for all internet interactions.
As an experienced international pay-as-you-go online PR service B2Press is ready to assist you in boosting trust for your brand in Spain. We can help you craft the most relevant messages, shape the best SEO-friendly news releases and make use of the most productive press release distribution channels including IBERONEWS and Europa Press. Our AI based media coverage analysis will not only prove the value of our digital press services but also will help you to justify your communication and marketing budgets with solid ROI rates. Our excellent story telling capacity and native Spanish editors will build a bridge between your brand and customers which will nurture brand trust. We have the best sources and connections for digital press release distribution from the local to global media. We’ll be more than happy to share the details of our online PR services that will get your brand recognized in the Spanish market.
