In this blog, Hayley Goff, CEO, Whiteoaks, recaps the recent Whiteoaks webinar “Global PR Growth Strategies for B2B Tech Brands”, providing insights including:
- Global PR campaign models
- The need for local insight to avoid severe pitfalls
- The importance of co-ordination and planning
There comes a point when every ambitious B2B tech business wants to expand into new markets – and many continue to do so with the right PR partners. But there is a widespread misconception that what works in one market will work in another.
The reality is very different – cutting and pasting what works in one country into another seldom produces the results businesses want, leading to wasted budget, inconsistent messaging and brand dilution.
Without understanding of local markets and skilled co-ordination, campaigns are at risk of failing to connect with target audiences. Many B2B businesses, however, do not have a well of money and need to maximise the impact of every pound, dollar or euro. It is difficult to know which PR strategy to adopt for international success and who to engage with.
Tips from the experts
This was the subject of a recent Whiteoaks webinar where I was joined in conversation by Kirsten Leathers, executive vice president, V2 Communications in the US, Kristina Karachevtceva, PR manager at Hyve Managed Hosting, and Sophie King, associate director at Whiteoaks.
Bringing together B2B tech decision-makers, we discussed a common challenge experienced by businesses: while global PR networks have reach and resources, there can be a lack of accountability when an agency works well in one market but not in another. When a business wants to change who is delivering its PR campaign in a specific country, problems occur.
The alternative – engaging multiple agencies – can be very difficult to manage, however, unless there is a lead agency to act as a single point of contact co-ordinating campaigns, ensuring consistency of messaging and standardising reporting.
Collaboration and preparation are vital
For global PR success, collaboration between agencies in each country is essential, ensuring they deliver the right messages while adapting to what can be very significant differences between markets.
These factors are important because companies often spend time refining their messaging and positioning and then send it out to their agencies without any real feedback loop or insights into the local market. Within the main messaging of a campaign there should be strings of stories that are created for specific audiences or which local agencies can adapt successfully in line with the over-arching aims.
Crisis communications tactics also need to be agreed beforehand with full understanding that the legal ramifications of statements can differ between countries. This level of planning ensures that responses are fast and accurate – avoiding redrafts and the potential for serious mistakes.
The necessity of understanding varied cultural, media and business practices
To be successful a campaign needs to accommodate cultural distinctions. Some launches may benefit from local media coverage as well as trade media, but the ability to stimulate interest often depends on understanding how the country’s news organisations work – and what are currently hot topics for them. It is too easy to assume everyone everywhere has the same challenges and concerns.
Not only is language a barrier but different countries have different media ecosystems and business practices. In many countries, top-tier media want interviews in their own language and may focus exclusively on the impact of any product or service on their local market.
Local factors have major influence
Awareness of local factors is always vital. PR efforts may fail to land because of bad timing – coming out when events in a specific market are distracting people, such as national holidays, major news developments or industrial disputes. Ill-informed PR partners may operate in a way that simply does not fit into a region’s different pattern of weekly work. This is important in the Middle East, for example, where the working week runs from Sunday to Thursday.
Weak pick-up may be caused through failure to appreciate how terminology varies, or use of inappropriate images. The latter point is important because in some countries it is inappropriate to show the soles of feet or palms of hands, for example.
Regulation is also an important consideration in the tech world, especially in relation to data and cyber security. Awareness of the differences in market-specific regulation around the world is essential.
PR takes time to achieve maximum impact and should be measured
PR is a long game for the most part, and companies seeking to expand should accept that establishing a local PR presence is necessary to build any kind of momentum and credibility.
One of the keys to success in cross-border campaigns is being able to measure impact through KPIs which one lead agency should monitor to ensure effective delivery. Businesses entering new markets need a reason – a why – and their messaging needs to be built around it – whether it is pursuit of warm leads or the opening of a new office.
The metrics that emerge from the messaging discussion should be agreed at the outset and agreed across all partners. If there is misalignment of key metrics, then assessing the impact of a campaign becomes very difficult. This in turn leads to fragmented communications that slow down momentum.
Collaboration should be easy
Yet collaboration is now so easy. It only takes the effective use of SharePoint or Google Docs to make a huge difference to operations and KPI monitoring. Timings across different countries can be coordinated for launches or announcements to ensure best possible results, for instance. Where budgets are very tight, PR partners can be canny about targeting specific English-language publications or using wire releases – a method that remains effective in some countries.
There can be many challenges in a B2B tech PR campaign that runs across the boundaries of countries and selecting the right lead agency takes time and diligence. But when companies get it right, this lead agency approach will help accelerate global expansion.
To find out more, including Hyve Managed Hosting’s experience of working with Whiteoaks and V2 to achieve its global growth ambitions, watch the “Global PR Growth Strategies for B2B Tech Brands” webinar now.
