Advertising in Spain for the Russian-speaking audience: how Yulia Dmitruk built Live Spain Club

When I look back at the road I have travelled, I can see that it was never laid out according to some neat diagram from a business book. It was an uneven road: there were turns, long uphill stretches and moments when I wanted to drop everything, but each time I got up and carried on. I always believed things would work out, because I never learnt how to give up on what I had started.

The first years in Spain and the immigration business

In Ukraine I worked for a large pharmaceutical company. It was a stable, predictable chapter of my life, yet inside I always felt that one day I would have to start all over again. Moving to Spain turned out to be exactly that moment: a new country, a new language, new rules of the game and not a single guarantee that I would make it.

My first years in Spain were a school of endurance. I tried everything I could: cleaning, working as a guide, selling in a wine shop, shifts at the airport, translation. I had no clear strategy; I simply had to keep moving, look for my own path and earn a living.

Looking back, I can see that this is when I learnt to adapt quickly and without unnecessary questions. If today I had to hand out leaflets, then today I handed out leaflets. If tomorrow I had to meet tourists at the airport, then tomorrow I was there. That period toughened me far more than I realised at the time.

In time, together with a partner, I set up an immigration business. We helped people move, sort out their paperwork and settle in a new place. The project grew, and I worked in it for ten years. In that time I came to know every detail of relocation and adaptation, and I also learnt to work with clients from completely different cultures and fields. We saw joy, fear and confusion, and we helped people get through it.

How Live Spain Club came about

There was always a pull in me towards something creative and fast-moving. I watched businesses grow in Spain, I saw entrepreneurs and experts arriving, and I understood that they needed to make themselves known but had no idea how. That is where the idea of Live Spain Club came from.

Honestly? It was not born out of a perfect business plan. There was no team in place, no properly presented product, no system. There was only a strong wish to create a platform where businesses and experts could talk about themselves honestly and professionally, share what they had learnt about moving to a new country and help others avoid the same mistakes. And the people who needed them would be the ones to see it.

At the start I wrote to people myself: “Let’s film a video about you, for free. Just tell your story on my channel.” It was an exchange: they got an audience, I got content and experience. There were failures, budgets that went nowhere, moments when I stared at a spreadsheet and thought: “Why am I doing all this?”

But I kept going… Because inspiration alone will not keep a business standing. You need a system. You need to build the ability to work when you are tired, when there are no quick results, when everything seems to be going wrong.

Little by little, Live Spain Club grew. Today it is the largest advertising platform in Spain for Russian-speaking businesses and experts. I am approached not only by beginners but also by companies with audiences in the millions. And the approach has stayed the same: I go just as deep into every project, whether it is a young expert or a major brand.

What media visibility means for an expert and a business

Media visibility is one of the main themes I work with. Many people think it is about “hype” or popularity for the sake of likes. But media visibility is about trust and recognition. When you have moved to a new country, your reputation is your visibility and your trust. And the reverse is true as well: your visibility is your reputation. It means being known in your niche, so that your clients can see you are a real person who understands them and solves their problems.

My story shows that there is no need to wait for the perfect moment or a flawless idea. Start with what you have and work. Day after day. Because in business, as in life, the winner is not the one with the fastest start but the one who knows how to go the distance.

A good product or a decent service is no longer enough on its own. People need to know you exist. You need to be in plain sight in the channels where your clients are.

Advertising in Spain for the Russian-speaking audience: a format for every niche

I always say there is no universal formula. What took off for a food business will not necessarily work for a psychologist or an IT start-up. So we test, we try, we analyse. I choose the format to fit the niche, not the trend.

For me it matters to use every channel that can bring a result. That means not only social media but also collaborations, offline events, press publications and work with bloggers. All of these are parts of one system. When they work together, the result is always stronger.

What the road from odd jobs to Live Spain Club taught me

Looking back now at the road from my first odd jobs to building Live Spain Club, I can see that every job, every acquaintance and every project was a brick in the house I live in today. Even cleaning or selling wine was practice in talking to people, in hearing them and seeing what they needed.

Many clients come to me because they know I will not sell them an illusion. If a project is still raw, I will say so. I will help package it so that it sounds right, but I do not promise miracles. My job is to build a system that works for the client.

Live Spain Club has already helped many people move to Spain, open a business here, find clients and partners. For me that is the most valuable thing of all: seeing someone start a new chapter in life thanks to our content and advertising.

I do not believe in accidental success. I believe in daily work, in the ability to adapt and in a systematic approach. If you do something once, it may be luck. But if you can repeat the result again and again, that is mastery.

I keep developing Live Spain Club, trying new formats and widening the audience.

I remember how it all began, with a single message: “Let’s film a video about you, for free.”

Today I carry on building Live Spain Club, and I am glad to work with everyone who has the courage to step into the media spotlight.

Where to find Live Spain Club

• YouTube: @livespainclub
• Instagram: @live_spain.club