Tel Aviv on the Charles: Israel, Boston, and Scratch Marketing + Media

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s six-day economic development trip to Israel this month, courting tech companies that are looking to establish operations within the United States, was built upon the message that Massachusetts is an ideal stateside base for their ventures.

He’s right, of course, and Greater Boston already serves as a hub for high-tech enterprises from Israel. We should know — Scratch has worked with Israel-based clients and has helped several establish their U.S. presence in Boston.

The impact of Israel-based businesses on the local economy is considerable. A study by the New England-Israel Business Council (NEIBC) showed how the more than 200 Israel-founded businesses in the Boston area produced $9.3 billion revenue in 2015, employed 9,000 people, and secured more than $1.2 billion in venture capital between 2013 and 2015.

According to an AP report in The Times of Israel, Gov. Baker’s trip will emphasize that Massachusetts is prepared to compete for “the quality jobs and economic development opportunities this unique international partner offers.” In addition to meeting with companies, the governor has signed a memorandum of understanding between the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative the Israeli nonprofit cybersecurity organization CyberSpark. He is accompanied by administration officials and about 40 private sector business representatives, whose travel costs are being underwritten by the NEIBC and the Combined Jewish Philanthropies.

As a major tech hub that is also home to MIT and Harvard, Boston is ideally positioned to support the kinds of companies Gov. Baker is focusing on, including e-health and cybersecurity. Scratch Marketing + Media is part of the infrastructure Israel-based companies will need in Boston in order to educate the U.S. marketplace on the innovations they are bringing.

Scratch is currently providing PR, analyst relations and social media strategy for an Israel-founded company that provides integrated cloud-based and software-defined networking and security solutions. Their solution goes beyond high-latency or expensive WAN approaches to provide an affordable, low-latency, global enterprise network backbone, creating a single logical abstraction of the enterprise network with full visibility and control of all network traffic. Because we are familiar with the technology and understand the market within which our client operates, Scratch is able to help them grow their brand in America.

Companies in Israel that are looking to establish themselves in the U.S. and global markets need a sound strategy for growing their digital brand authority. This involves a Digital Authority Audit, a proprietary methodology developed here at Scratch Marketing for assessing a brand’s challenges and opportunities as they relate to its total addressable market. Through the Digital Authority Audit we develop a multi-channel marketing strategy that will drive engagement with the company’s target audience across the many channels frequented by prospects and position the company and its leaders as experts in their domain.

The Digital Authority Audit comprises several distinct, data-driven steps, each contributing to a holistic picture of the company’s potential to penetrate its desired market.

• Website analysis: Auditing both the company’s and its competitors’ websites.
• Web search opportunity analysis: Identifying the most popular associated content themes and topics.
• Media and share-of-voice analysis: Examining both the company’s and its competitors’ coverage by top media outlets.
• Social and digital channels analysis: Revealing buzzing topics across social and digital channels to develop insights on topic popularity and channel distribution.
• Sales interviews: Talking to the frontline representatives who are selling the company’s products.

The Digital Authority Audit yields a comprehensive go-to-market plan that grows digital brand authority while increasing sales.

Scratch has experience growing digital brand authority for Israel-based businesses, including building analyst and media relations and developing thought-leadership platforms and associated content to support lead generation and account-based marketing (ABM). We have an understanding of the B2B tech environment and are able to bridge that with their complex technologies and advanced intellectual property. This enables us to deliver the right marketing and communications strategy and go-to-market approach, and help establish these companies here in Boston, in Massachusetts, across the United States and even around the world.

Economic development is a long game, and the full impact of Gov. Baker’s recruiting trip will take time to unfold. As it does, Scratch will be here to welcome our newest colleagues from Israel and help them find success in America.

Scratch Marketing + Media is a member of the NEIBC.