Our Head of Content & Online PR, Freia Muehlenbein, shows why translating content doesn't work and why there will always be an element of localisation required.
4. Going global - your biggest concerns
*Search Laboratory Survey 2015
Establishing trust Gaining visibility
Competing against local businesses
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5. Content marketing Social media
Audience
engagement
Quality links Positive coverage
Social shares Improved rankings
Referral traffic Brand searches
Customer engagement ConversionsBrand visibility
Domain trust
Global value of content & online PR
Visibility Trust Competitiveness
Online PR
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10. Zombie Cabin….
Would you do this in another country?
“Is Halloween big?” “Is there a zombie community?
“Is The Walking Dead known?” “Is the media likely to cover this?
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11. Knowing your market
40% of businesses don’t think that communicating
with customers in their native language is important
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12. The political, legal and economic situation
Is my story appropriate?
What is dominating the news agenda?
Am I at risk of legal consequences?
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13. Cultural differences and attitudes
How does the school system work?
What is the sense of humour?
What is the attitude towards health?
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15. Appropriate images and visuals
Is my image culturally appropriate?
Have I tailored my image to the market?
Does the image appeal to the audience?
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16. Know latest trends, celebs and popular culture
Who are the local celebs?
What is being shared on social media?
What are the fashion trends?
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17. Media communication and relationships
How to contact media; how to build relationships
How to communicate; do’s & don’ts
Pitching story in English?!
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18. Appropriate social media platforms
What are the biggest platforms?
Where is my audience?
Do people use it for work?
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19. Media landscape and media outlets
What makes it into print vs. online news?
What are the major news outlets?
How do I find the right contact?
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23. Localisation
Tailored to German market
– Internet security; privacy laws
– Stats, data, references
Can be replicated but is perfect for German
audience
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24. Campaign cycle implications
Content
creation
Promotion &
outreach
plan
Media
communication
Social media
promotion
Idea
generation
Right channel
Right influencers
Appropriate
Right timing
Appealing
Localised
Local media
Local influencers
Right medium
Right language
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Political & Economic Situation:
E-mobilty (electro mobility and natural gas) find out the proportion of electric cars, natural gas cars used by hire car companies.
Stories about refugee support are currently dominating the headlines and it is unlikely for a PR related story to make the front page, even online.
LAWS (can result in cossts, legal consequences) – China complying with cencorship
Cultural Differences and Attitudes:
Halloween not big in Germany and many other European countries. In UK, fancy dress retailers will work towards Halloween as their biggest sales period. In Germany, this is Karneval.
Halloween in Muslim countries; Eid in Muslim countries etc.
FR: Beauty client for hair growth capsules which is a weird concept for people in France. They think of it as medicine and go to the pharmacy to get pills, not online.
Tolerance/limits in terms of sarcasm – high in UK, lower in other countries. Making fun of politicians
Holidays & Bank Holidays:
ES shut down in AUG, everyone is on holidays and this is well known in Spain
FR: GQ were out in August; only interns were in but not many decision makers
DE: Christmas & New Year no one is available; Christmas stories need to be sent early.
Black Friday & Cyber Monday for content marketing US
Japan look at Christmas more like we do at Valentine’s Day – don’t position yourself in same way, it’s not a family holiday
Images & Visuals:
When you have sourced images for a Tweet, make sure they’re appropriate for the different countries. E.g. don’t tweet a picture of your product with a blond-blue eyed girl when you’re promoting your product in China or an Arabic country. Make sure people are appropriately dressed on the image.
Don’t use images of people engaging in activities that are not typical for the country. E.g. in France, people want to use natural products and are careful about medicines. Don’t tweet a pic of a person taking a pill and looking happy; pick an image that embodies the way of thinking and resonates with the culture.
DE: function over fashion; visuals less important.
Trends and talking points:
Trends come at different times. Fashion trends always late in DE and less experimental. UK is very open and experimental.
UK bloggers & media have had enough of Christmas Jumper competitions. In ES, Christmas jumpers are a relatively new trend.
Celebrities: Remember that every country has different celebrities. “what do you mean you don’t know XYZ”. When I came to UK, I didn’t know Simon Cowell – because he doesn’t have anything to say in Germany. My friends don’t know Ollie Murs.
If you use a celeb in your story, make sure they are actually known in all countries.
Only people that have lived/are living in the country can now about these fine differences and trends. You cannot translate these.
Media Communication:
DE: Journalists need to know where your stats are coming from. Won’t give you much time to pitch your stories and they will be clear about this.
ES is all about relationships. ES culture is one where close personal relationships are priority which is also the case when working with the media & journalists. Face to face very important in ES & FR whereas DE is more about the content and the background of the data.
Don’t speak English, get someone local to contact media. Know how to address people – DE very formal.
Communicating with German journo on Twitter – no
Du, Sie,
Time to call people
Know who to pitch to, understand peoples’ previous content
Social Media Platforms:
In ES, Twitter isn’t as popular for PR requests as it is in UK.
In DE, journos have either got different accounts or want to be contacted in different way. Keep private and work separate. Privacy laws etc.
XING instead of LinkedIN
In US and UK Twitter is a means of communciating with journos.
VK in Russia
Media Landscape & Media Outlets:
Which story is right and where should I pitch to?
What makes it into print and what makes it into Online?
DE: Welt, FAZ may not print our stories (too prestige, driven by journalists/editors) whereas online needs quick turnaround.
Know the catalyst sites (e.g. for a Tech/Geek story in the UK this would be Cnet, Mashable, Buzzfeed, etc)
DON’T assume that everyone speaks English
Have a database of media outlets, blogs etc. and understand whether your story will work for them
Show different publications