Marketing to the big three
India, China and the US have been identified as three potential growth markets for a number of sectors including advanced manufacturing, digital and healthcare, especially in light of the UK’s forthcoming exit from the EU, organisations are looking for opportunities further afield.
Many companies are requesting that we develop PR and SEO campaigns to help them to maximise awareness and sales to overseas markets. Here we give some tips on international marketing – plus advice on how we can help.
Tip 1 Spend time gaining an insight into each countries’ specific media.
It’s important from a cross cultural perspective to get to know how the media and companies write in those countries. In some cultures, the language can be quite creative and ‘salesy’, whilst in others it has to be more factual and impartial. An experienced international PR agency, like Dragonfly PR, can offer that insight and advice on press release and article style and the best tone of voice to use in overseas markets.
As a PR agency with international expertise, we have contacts with the most relevant media for many industrial sectors and have invested time in getting to know what their requirements will be. We have the ability to draft copy that is tailored to specific media, whatever the country.
Tip 2 Work with an industrial translation partner
At Dragonfly PR we have built good relationships, over the past 15 years, with a couple of translation partners who have expertise in specific industrial/commercial areas and markets, such as China, India and Europe. Even where the press release or article is technical, we can assure you that it will be checked and double checked by native language speakers and those which have industrial sector expertise. This ensures that there are no misunderstandings, even about technical terms and phrases and opportunities are being maximised.
Tip 3 Don’t tackle each market in the same way
It is important not to fall into the trap of thinking that all international website traffic can be monitored in the usual way by Google Analytics. Traffic from countries such as China, for example, is more challenging to track via Google Analytics, due to the firewall. We have worked with alternative analytics tools, which operate within the China Firewall and are worth considering if monitoring traffic from Chinese users is important to your PR campaign.
Tip 4 Consider the social media that are most widely used in your international target market
Some social media channels, such as WhatsApp and Facebook, are banned in countries such as China. The best alternative is the Super App ‘WeChat’ which is the most common social media channel used by the Chinese, with over 1 billion active users. As a social media agency, we can advise on which channels are best to reach your target market internationally and can set these up and put together social media content plans designed to increase followers and engagements.
Tip 5. Make yourself relevant
Make sure you understand what is newsworthy in the country you’re marketing to. What may be interesting for your customers at home may sound irrelevant for your new potential customers in other countries.
Most publications have English language versions available, so we take time to research angles for news stories that are of interest to them, then use this to generate interesting and relevant press stories. Some international markets are technologically-driven, some by sustainability, some by legislation or business protocol. An experienced PR agency can help you with this and ensure that your press releases sent to that country’s media are something they will find are worth publishing.
Tip 6. Be transparent
Transparency is a valued credential and important to consider when entering new markets. Is your company happy to share its story in full with the media, or are there some potential negative angles or crises, either from the past or future, looming? What we’ve found is that in the US, the Vice Presidents are usually happy to confide in their PR teams, but in other markets, this is less common. It is therefore important for the PR agency to establish a clear crisis management protocol to protect the company’s reputation in its new markets.
It is worth appointing an experienced PR Agency, like Dragonfly PR, that not only has expertise in international marketing, but also understands specific cultural differences.
Our team has almost 20 years’ experience in dealing with international PR and social media campaigns. We handle any issues sensitively and in a manner that takes your company’s needs, values and ethics into account, as well as the needs of your customers, to ensure damage to our client’s reputation is kept to a minimum.
For more information, or for a no obligation chat about how we can work with your company to maximise its presence in international markets, contact our PR team on 0114 349 5345 or email hello@dragonflypr.co.uk.
Dragonfly PR is a Sheffield-based PR and content marketing agency that specialises in media relations, event management and organic SEO for business to business companies, particularly those looking to export.