Search engine marketing company iProspect has opened offices in Norway and Denmark, making it the largest search-marketing network in Scandinavia.
The move is part of the company’s global brand expansion. Iprospect adds these two locations to a list that includes agencies in Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands.
“After the successful launch of iProspect Sweden in 2006, our Norway and Denmark sister Isobar agencies were clamoring to launch iProspect in their markets,” said Robert Murray, president of Watertown, MA-based iProspect. “They were experiencing significant demand for high-end search services and they needed to respond in an aggressive manner.
“These won’t be our last iProspect launches [as] we have others planned in Western and Eastern Europe and Asia,” he said. “The agencies in these markets were just the most anxious to move forward with the process necessary to launch the brand in their markets, and they follow on the heels of iProspect Spain that launched within the last couple weeks.”
Mr. Murray said both iProspect Norway and iProspect Denmark are strong players in competitive markets.
The Scandinavian market is interesting, Mr. Murray said, because it is made up of three countries in close proximity to each other but with three different cultures, languages and currencies. There is also Finland, where Isobar already has a search practice slated to re-launch as iProspect later in the year.
“It is a market that understands the power of search marketing,” he said. “Major brands in the Scandinavian market are hungering for PPC services and are gaining significant interest in SEO services.
“Google dominates the market and, as a result, the market needs to be educated about the need to incorporate SEO to capture the larger part of the audience who click in the natural search results. And while most online marketers in Norway, Sweden and Denmark are PPC focused, and many are just now considering SEO as a channel,” he said.
“Ironically we see the best and most cost-effective results from SEO,” said Uffe Henriksen, managing director, iProspect Denmark. “But we are in at an early stage in the market’s maturity where we need to educate marketers and make them understand the value of SEO. We need to sit ourselves in the driver’s seat and bring professionalism to our marketplace.
“This is where the tools from iProspect and the strength of Isobar come into play. Tools such as iSEBA would never be developed locally in the markets, simply because the market volume is too small to justify such investments,” he said.
iProspect Norway currently works with Expedia, Hotels.com and Dell, among others. iProspect Denmark has a client roster that includes GE Money Bank, Telia and Dell.
The firm’s expansion into global markets also offers its U.S.-based clients a distinct advantage.
Founded in 1996, iProspect’s global brand expansion is designed to answer the demands of global marketers everywhere.
The Scandinavian countries make up a significant market with about 20 million people.
Companies engaged with Isobar agencies in these markets have been asking for more and more integrated search services.
“In most developed markets, 50 percent of digital advertising budgets are invested in search engine marketing,” said Sander Alten, managing director, iProspect Norway. “In Norway marketers invest less than 10 percent.
“Considering our relatively high broadband penetration per capita, and that we have a very experienced Internet population, we expect the budgets for search marketing to increase rapidly in Norway,” he said.
“iProspect’s holistic approach to search engine marketing is exactly what the Norwegian market has been waiting for and we are proud to be introducing iProspect’s successful methodology and sophisticated tools to the Norwegian market.
“I am confident,” he said, “we are now positioned to offer clients a significant advantage over the competition.”
