Jan 08, 2020 
At productronica 2019, Butter and Salt GmbH and the Russian Ostec Corporate Group agreed on a close cooperation in the areas of marketing and communication. The Ostec Corporate Group is the largest Russian sales organization for products related to electronics manufacturing and intends to offer more marketing services locally. Therefore, the Ostec Marketing Agency was founded, targeting customers from all branches of the industry.
"Russia is still an attractive trading partner for Germany, even though import regulations restrict trade in some areas," explains Florian Schildein, Managing Director of Butter and Salt GmbH. According to the German government, goods worth almost 26 billion euros were exported to Russia in 2018, which reflex a surplus of almost 130 million euros compared to 2017. "From my own experience I know that for many companies from Western Europe Russia is a market that is difficult to understand," Schildein continues. As a former marketing and sales manager of an assembly machine manufacturer, he is aware of it.
"During this time, I have already worked with Ostec. This cooperation was very helpful for both sides, because it helped me, to better understand the local market," says Schildein. "This is exactly what it is all about. Together with the Ostec Marketing Agency, we offer a broad, local and technology-oriented marketing expertise, which can initially be started with market studies and observations before a possible market entry and then be continued in local strategies and implementations," continues Anton Bolshakov, CMO of the Ostec Corporate Group. The agency's services are available to all technology companies entering the Russian market or wishing to expand their local marketing. "Due to the size of the Ostec Corporate Group, our excellent network, the extensive supplier portfolio and the extremely broad customer spectrum, we have excellent insights to a large number of industrial sectors in Russia. These help us to also market to non-electronics companies in Russia," says Bolshakov.
Butter and Salt is now offering a cooperation with the Ostec Marketing Agency for customers and interested parties who would like to set off to Russia. This involves coordinated marketing that follows the customer's goals and specifications. "For our customers, we are closely involved in the development and implementation of global marketing strategies. With a Russian market entry, we can now guarantee that these strategies are implemented in the interests of our customers and are formulated and implemented in such a way that they reach the Russian target groups," says Schildein. But the cooperation also offers an opportunity for Russian industrial companies. "Russian technology companies are also interested in the German market, but don't know how it operates or how to work it. But with Butter and Salt we can help here," says Bolshakov.
Butter and Salt focuses on B2B companies and supports them in the areas of marketing and sales. In this connection, Butter and Salt can function as a complete external marketing department, strategy partner for sales tasks, or as project management for individual tasks. The areas of application are multifarious and cover the entire spectrum of marketing and sales for technical products.
