Smartvatten: A Flexible Partnership Supports International Marketing

Challenge

Smartvatten needed flexibility and additional expertise in its marketing efforts to manage evolving needs. The challenge was to strike a balance between brand consistency and the local market needs of different countries.

Solution

The continuous partnership between Smartvatten and Aava & Bang expanded to cover strategic support, content production, as well as SEO/GEO and SEM activities. A deep understanding of Smartvatten’s business enables rapid response.

Results

The collaboration has created a unified foundation for the continuous development of marketing. Smartvatten’s in-house marketing team has access to scalable extra capacity, which enables faster progress and improves commercial impact.

From defined marketing assignments to a comprehensive partnership

Smartvatten is the leading European SaaS platform for full-cycle water intelligence, serving both real estate portfolios and utilities. Founded in Finland in 2013, the company has grown from a two-person startup into an international company with multiple offices across Europe and customers around the world.

Smartvatten’s collaboration with Aava & Bang began in 2022 and has evolved significantly over the years. Starting with fairly narrowly defined marketing assignments, the partnership has gradually expanded to cover content, graphic design, search engine optimization (SEO), optimizing for modern AI-driven search behaviors (GEO), Google Ads, and strategic support.

– One of the cornerstones of our partnership has been Aava & Bang’s understanding of our business and the complexity of operating across several markets, languages and business areas. Continuity has also been important. Having a partner who already understands our company, our offerings, and our ways of working provides us with valuable continuity: it makes it easier for them to respond quickly to our needs,” summarizes Smartvatten’s Head of Marketing, Katarina Cavala Andelic.

Thanks to this partnership, Smartvatten’s in-house marketing team can tap into the additional expertise and capacity offered by Aava & Bang as needed. This is particularly valuable because their internal team manages a broad range of responsibilities and priorities can change rapidly.

– Aava & Bang’s existing knowledge of Smartvatten allows us to move more efficiently from a need or idea to execution. They can support both larger initiatives and smaller operational assignments without requiring a completely new onboarding process each time.

This flexibility has helped us manage fluctuations in workload and react faster when new commercial or organisational needs arise, says Cavala Andelic.

“Trust between us has been built through open communication, flexibility and the ability to challenge each other when needed.”
– Katarina Cavala Andelic, Head of Marketing, Smartvatten

Going global requires both brand consistency and local adaptation

Cavala Andelic points out that in an international B2B company, everything — from branding and content to lead generation, SEO/GEO, and paid advertising — is closely connected. At Smartvatten, they appreciate that Aava & Bang understands the broader context and is able to support the overall marketing strategy, rather than treating each assignment as a standalone task.

– Compared to a purely campaign-based agency partnership, there’s more continuity and consultation involved. Aava & Bang has supported both our planned projects and needs that arise on short notice. As our marketing organization and goals evolve, we also expect our partnership to become increasingly proactive and data-driven. We need clear recommendations, action plans that prioritize key areas, and an honest assessment of what should be changed when an activity is not delivering the expected results.

Operating internationally requires marketing to not only maintain consistency but also take local needs into account — for example, regarding languages, customer segments, and varying levels of market maturity. This is where Aava & Bang has been able to support Smartvatten.

– The balancing between central consistency and local relevance remains an ongoing process. In addition to the brand, the partner must understand that the same message or approach will not necessarily work equally well in Finland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany. Aava & Bang has helped us produce and adapt our activities for multiple markets while maintaining a common direction, says Cavala Andelic.

Consistency Delivers Results

One of the most important benefits of the collaboration for Smartvatten has been the comprehensive support in developing its overall marketing strategy. Cavala Andelic points out that success does not come solely from increasing content production or driving more traffic. Rather, it is about reaching the right target audiences, creating qualified demand and demonstrating a stronger connection between marketing activities and business outcomes.

– Aava & Bang has helped us establish a more structured and consistent approach to content, SEO/GEO, and SEM across several markets. This collaboration has helped us develop our international visibility and given us a stronger foundation for analyzing and improving our digital marketing, says Cavala Andelic. At the same time, she emphasizes the long-term nature of this development:

– It’s important to remember that this is an ongoing process. Especially in paid search and organic rankings, we still have goals to achieve. With clear recommendations for action, we can identify areas where our investments are most likely to produce commercial impact.

Aava & Bang shares the view that a B2B organization focused on international growth should treat search engine optimization as an ongoing core investment, not as a separate marketing project. Paid search advertising is also necessary, for example, during the transition phase following a website redesign, when search engines are learning the new structure and visibility may temporarily drop.

At Smartvatten, the website redesign and active SEO/GEO optimization efforts have nearly doubled the number of long-tail search terms related to AI visibility, and visibility has clearly shifted from consumer searches toward topics important to B2B buyers.

“The combination of continuity, broad expertise and the ability to react quickly is especially valuable for a growing international company. Looking ahead, the greatest opportunity is to combine this operational flexibility with even clearer strategic recommendations, prioritisation and measurable commercial outcomes.”
– Katarina Cavala Andelic, Head of Marketing, Smartvatten

Smartvatten: A Flexible Partnership Supports International Marketing

Internationally expanding Smartvatten is strengthening its marketing efforts with the wide-ranging expertise offered by Aava & Bang, which combines an understanding of brand consistency with the needs of different markets.

Challenge

Solution

Results

From defined marketing assignments to a comprehensive partnership

Going global requires both brand consistency and local adaptation

Consistency Delivers Results

Contact

Timo Koponen

Partner, uudet asiakkaat

Services

Offices

In social media