As a growing number of tech companies search for revenues outside the U.S. corridors, there’s an expectation for PR to provide air cover. Unfortunately, the same pitfalls handicap international PR time and time again. With acknowledgement to David Letterman, here’s our top-10 list of international PR mistakes. No. 1: Americanitis Some U.S. executives think that having a high profile in the U.S. market guarantees a hero’s welcome when they land on foreign shores. After all, why shouldn’t the image they’ve spent years cultivating in the U.S. magically cross the Atlantic and Pacific, conform to local societies, adapt to local market nuances and reach out to their targeted constituencies? Unfortunately, such an attitude leads to thinking that the same PR tactics and strategies that work so well in the U.S. can be thrown over the fence to be used in other countries. Instead, each and every country has its own market characteristics, culture, language, society beliefs, etc., which must be taken into account. No. 2: Lack of Budget There’s a tendency to allocate PR budgets for overseas programs based on revenue. For example, if Asia-Pacific constitutes 10 percent of the company’s revenue, then 10 percent of the PR budget should be allocated for Asia-Pacific. Based on this type of type of thinking, an annual global PR budget of $500,000 translates into $50,000 for Asia-Pacific to cover Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Needless to say, it’s just not possible. A more effective approach involves companies examining their business objectives and allocating PR budget based on supporting those business objectives. There’s no single funding formula for success. No. 3: Spreading Resources Too Thin Related to the above, companies often find they don’t have resources and/or budgets to effectively target all the markets in a given region. For example, a company might be focusing on the U.K., Germany, France and Italy, but the PR budget is only $200,000 for all of Europe. Instead of doing a good job in two of the markets, they spread their resources too thinly across the four target countries and don’t move the needle anywhere. In this type of situation, a company gains better ROI by focusing its PR dollars on fewer markets. No. 4: Corporate HQ Control Often, the funding for a PR program overseas comes out of the U.S. coffers. It stands to reason that the U.S. PR executive would want some involvement in the international PR activities and how the money is spent. Makes sense. But when the corporate HQ exercises strict control and approval over every overseas action, an incredible bureaucracy takes hold that handicaps the international PR effort. Just the simple task of approving a news release can turn into a nightmarish saga as inputs ping pong between HQ and the country office, exhausting everyone’s time. No. 5: Inability to Localize Content Contrary to some perceptions, localizing content goes far beyond the translation of materials. Look at the daily newspapers from Japan, the U.S. and Germany on any given day. The headlines will be different with the exception of major world news events. Naturally, the business issues high on the radar vary from country to country. Yet most companies aren’t willing to put in the time to localize content and messages for each target country. The more effort a company puts into shaping content to the specific characteristics of a particular market, the stronger the content becomes for the targeted audience. No. 6: Treat Translation of Press Materials as an Administrative Task A PR activity’s efforts can go down the drain if the translation of the press materials is not handled accurately. Years ago, we had a client situation in Korea in which the Korean word for merger was used instead of the Korean word for partnership. The client company was traded on Nasdaq, and all hell broke loose when the release went out incorrectly announcing a merger with a Korean company. No 7: Unrealistic Expectations An American company enjoys a high profile and substantial marketshare in the U.S., so it automatically expects the same type of profile in a foreign market. The reality is that the media doesn’t know the company or knows very little. Like any “new kid on the block,” the company needs to build its reputation through hard work and establishing new relationships. It takes time for a company to build a strong image in the U.S., and the same is true for international markets. No. 8: Conducting International PR Long Distance Some companies consider flinging their news releases into foreign countries via news release distribution services as a form of international PR. Others purchase directories that list the local media -- and in some cases, the names of publications’ reporters -- in a given country. But the power of PR comes from the relationships with the local influencers, government officials and media as well as understanding the nuances of the local market. This can only be achieved with local feet on the street. No. 9: Lack of Spokespeople Often, companies operate what amounts to a sales office in an overseas market. The top executive in such an office focuses on sales. Deploying this person as a company spokesperson can be a challenge, since he or she is rewarded based on the quarter’s sales results, not building a long-term image. And leveraging executives from outside a given country often means sacrificing local market knowledge (not to mention the language issue). No. 10: Don’t Strive to be an Asset to the Local Market “We’re committed to the local market.” Every company targeting a foreign market says these words, but many don’t take actions to support the statement. This is a bigger issue than PR. Companies should be looking for ways to become an asset to the local community and local economy. It doesn’t have to require a large investment in money and time. Instead, it’s more a symbol of the commitment and respect to the local market. With the market downturn, many U.S. companies have been hammered in the overseas media for their layoffs and not caring about the local community. Such criticism could have been diffused if they had put time into being good “community citizens.” I’ll never forget my first overseas press event in Japan years ago when the VP of marketing plopped his first transparency on the overhead projector and only two-thirds of the slide showed up on the screen. No one had told us that the format for overhead projectors in Japan was smaller than in the U.S. I was mortified while my client experienced an even stronger emotion. The lesson being, successful international PR starts by plugging into each local market. Lou Hoffman is president of The Hoffman Agency, a PR company focused on the tech sector with offices in the United States, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and the U.K. Email him at LHoffman@Hoffman.com.
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