The global agricultural market is worth almost £3.5 trillion in 2024 and is projected to rise to more than £4.2 trillion by the end of the decade. There are an estimated 2.5 billion farmers across the globe, all helping to feed a hungry world.
For agribusiness leaders, this presents a colossal opportunity. Why should your goods and services be restricted to one market and at the mercy of the fluctuations of an individual nation’s fortunes?
British agricultural technology, machinery and solutions are respected across the globe and there is demand for your solutions. But how do you break into a new agricultural export market and, perhaps more importantly, how do you raise awareness of what you have to offer?
Red Stag Media has been working internationally for a number of years, delivering international PR and marketing strategies for companies based in the UK who are looking to break into new overseas opportunities, and with a range of businesses from other countries who are looking to break into the UK or other global markets.
Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate enough to work in various international markets, delivering PR across regions like the US, the Far East, the Middle East, and Africa. While with Red Stag Media we’ve had some great international PR success stories securing valuable coverage in regions ranging from Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East through to nations in Central and South America and South East Asia.
In this blog, we wanted to share some of our top tips and key considerations if you’re looking to target international markets with your PR and communications. Targeting international markets with PR is a big task, but by applying some of these rules, you can secure coverage and start building your brand in other countries.
PR should be a fundamental part of your export toolkit. By raising awareness and demonstrating the value of your offer within the market you are targeting, it can be the key to creating demand, opening doors for distributors or your sales teams and kickstarting a new chapter of growth for your business.
The first tip is to bring a clear focus to your international PR strategy. The global market is vast—195 countries—and you need to create a tailored approach for each one.
Much like you would with regional PR in the UK, where you tailor content to each region, the same applies globally. Simply sending the same press release to several countries and hoping something sticks won’t be effective.
For international PR success, you need to focus your resources, target one key market at a time, and ensure you’re doing it properly and effectively.
Once you’ve focused on a market, the next step is to make sure you properly understand it. This involves understanding the local media landscape. Where will your press releases go? What are the key media outlets? Who does your target audience turn to for their news, insights and updates?
Every region has its own agricultural titles, online outlets, and influencers and all of these can be leveraged to get your voice heard and make sure people start to understand what you have to offer and how you can help them.
Understanding the market also means understanding your target audience’s challenges. By understanding what keeps them awake at night or what causes the biggest headaches in their daily working lives, you can then start to find the angles you need to create an impact for your brand.
This knowledge will help ensure your press release has the biggest impact, as it will resonate with the local audience.
It is hugely important to make your message local and relevant to the market you’re targeting. This means finding angles that people in that market can relate to and can use it to understand how your technology or solution could be applied in the region.
Comparisons can help to make that connection. For example, if you’re a leading supplier to farmers in the north of England, find an equivalent type of business in that market to help them understand what type of company you are. By providing an example of something they already understand, they will know what to expect of you and will start to consider how they can work with you going forward.
While global issues affect everyone, they impact regions differently. For example, the effects of climate change vary wildly between the UK, Northern Africa, and the Middle East.
It is important to tailor your message to reflect these local differences, and use local case studies or customer testimonials when possible. If you don’t have local customers, use representatives on the ground to show that your business is already engaged in that region.
In the UK, any successful PR agency must always have strong relationships with journalists across their sector (if your PR agency can’t offer this, give me a call!). And, building relationships with journalists is just as important internationally as it is in the UK.
When approaching a new region with your international PR, reach out to journalists and influencers in your target market, understand what they’re writing about, and tailor your content to their needs.
Social media can be a great way to make that initial contact and build a connection but make sure you’ve done your research, and you know what they like to write about. Keep contact quick, simple and efficient and make it clear what you have to offer. The key is to be friendly and flexible, making sure you can get what they need in a timely and accurate fashion.
Building relationships can also help you better understand the market and what’s considered newsworthy.
There are multiple ways to distribute your press release to internation media outlets.
When starting out, direct contact with key targets can be the most effective option. Though time-consuming, it means you can continue to build those fledgling relationships you’ve established with international journalists. It will require methodical research and finding contact details, but the rewards can be much greater than general distribution.
Another option is using international wire distribution services, which can be expensive but gives you access to a wide network. The downside is that you won’t get direct contact information to follow up if you just opt to pay to put it on the wire. You can also pay for access to global databases of journalists with quality media monitoring and distribution services too.
A third option is working with a local PR agency, which can leverage its expertise and relationships to get your press release in front of the right people.
A word of warning is that some markets don’t really get the concept of PR and often operate on a bit of a pay to play approach where you are expected to couple editorial with advertising. This has value but, if you’ve put the work in and have a quality story, you can still secure earned media coverage without paying for an advert.
A good example of this is a recent campaign we ran with Engage Crop Solutions in South America. I’d put the work in and built some relationships with journalists on the ground and, in many instances, was warned they didn’t really “do PR”. Despite this, the press release we sent to central and southern America still secured coverage in a number of publications.
This was because I’d researched the issues they were discussing and created content that was tailored directy to the market and featured relevant and local information that would add value to their readers.
This is arguably the most important lesson as understanding the culture of your target market is essential.
Different cultures have different attitudes toward the media, so you need to tailor your content accordingly. What’s considered newsworthy in one market may not be in another.
Consider local spelling and language preferences and make sure you understand local agricultural practices. Different countries also have different working patterns and time zones, so make sure you’re communicating at the right times.
With more than 7,000 languages spoken around the world, inevitably you are going to have to make sure you are speaking in the local tongue when you send out a press release.
Often you will find a contact that speaks English or you may even find an English language newspaper in your target region, but the reality is that you must translate your press release if you are going to secure valuable coverage that communicates with growers on the ground.
Translation is critical and is the only way you can be sure your message is heard and understood in a foreign media market.
The best solution is to work with a quality translation provider who will not only translate the words but will also make sure your press release has the cultural nuances that are necessary to make sure your press release is well received.
I have experimented with AI translations and these have been successful. However, I have only used this option when I’ve been able to test the press release on a local contact who can speak both English and the local language.
The danger of AI is that it will not be able to avoid any cultural pitfalls, so the small investment in quality translation will be worth it in terms of the potential coverage you will receive.
As with all PR campaigns, measurement is key. Don’t just send your press release into the international media void and then move on, make sure it is landing and resonating with the target audience.
Not all PR campaigns will be perfect at the outset and you mist remain agile and ready to adapt to the local market needs.
If your press release isn’t working, consult the relationships you’ve built and adjust your strategy accordingly. International PR is a learning curve, so don’t be afraid to make changes along the way.
International PR is, quite literally, a whole new world to conquer and it can be daunting, but the rewards can be great.
One press campaign in a region is unlikely to transform your fortunes overnight but a well-researched and strategic PR campaign will start to build your voice in a target market and that helps to build a brand that will soon turn into sales.
If you take one thing away from this blog, it’s to make it local. With international PR, its easy to fall into the trap of just targeting a region of the world with one giant broadcast and hoping something sticks. If you take the time to really focus down one a single market, tailoring the content to suit their individual challenges, understanding their culture and speaking their language, you will see far greater rewards in terms of the media coverage you need.
This is by no means a comprehensive guide to international PR strategies but hopefully provides some insights into how you can get your voice heard overseas. If you need any advice or have any questions, get in touch with me here.
