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June 11, 2001 |
Localization Key To Going GlobalBy Seo Jee-yeon With lackluster sales at home, companies are fighting for attention from a wider market. As they “go global” companies must use public relations wisely by localizing the language and content of the PR program in line with market characteristics in the target country, according to Lou Hoffman, head of the Hoffman Agency. In a seminar hosted by IandI Asia (Internet and Information Asia) at the COEX Trade Center in southern Seoul last Friday, Hoffman stressed the power of localizing public relations in the target market to increase a company’s awareness or reputation as it cuts advertising budgets during the economic slowdown. In honor of the first anniversary of the opening of the Seoul chapter of IandI Asia, the Hong Kong-based online community for global Internet professionals invited the head of Hoffman Agency, an eponymously named technology-focused PR firm, to the ceremony at COEX as part of their offline activities to complement their online community. Under the title of “Global Public Relations During an Economic Downturn,” Hoffman showed in his one hour presentation how Virtual Ink, a U.S. based-maker of virtual white boards, made a successful debut in the Chinese market through localizing its PR content that took into consideration local market conditions. “When Virtual Ink realized that Chinese culture emphasizes education and that there were several government initiatives to use technology in schools, it positioned the company’s virtual white board as an e-education tool and established relationships with the Tsinghua University by donating equipment and providing training for professors,” he said. Furthermore, Virtual Ink invited Tsinghua faculty, including the director of teacher training and the director of the equipment and laboratory department, to the press event. Hoffman said that the advertising campaign must have localized content : a human interest story. Hoffman continued, “It is forgotten in this world of technology services and products that ‘people’ are still running and operating the company. My point is that you can bring up human interest stories from your companies, which has power in the world.” For instance, some two weeks ago there was an auction for the oldest pair of jeans in the world and Levi Strauss spent $46,532 for the 1880 piece of clothing. Levis didn’t worry about localizing content. It just sent out news, with photographs, around the world and newspapers picked up the story thanks to the human interest. Specializing in public relations for technology-driven companies, Hoffman added some words on the importance of the chief executive’s role in increasing a company’s awareness and in building its brand in the global market. Many technology companies still feel their superior products or services help their brand and reputation, but the human element, such as a CEO’s role, also plays an important part in shaping companies’ personality and reputations. Hoffman noted “I think a market downturn puts even more attention on leadership, on what he or she is going to do to change this.” “I also recognized the importance of the CEO from a lot of my travel here in Asia. For the boss to take attention for itself could be a challenge because the society has a more team oriented market environment, not focused on a single person,” he said. He advised Asian CEOs to stand out and get involved, to stretch communication networks, stressing the influence of the CEO in building a company’s brand and reputation in the global market. To extend the reach of the CEO, he suggested leveraging business trips or press meetings using them to build relationships with the media, to publish monthly update letters, and to keep up e-mail dialog with an array of contacts around the world. For start-ups, he said that the number one thing is for them to build a relationship with their customers, to move above and beyond the frenzy for increasing revenues. “Defining a great global company all starts with great customers,” he said, suggesting that it takes some time to build a global company, not to be fooled by the myth of the speed of the Internet. The Hoffman Agency entered the local market last year and local clients mostly consist of global high tech companies such as Virata, Google and Commworks. Hoffman Agency Korea said it plans to provide a media communication workshop for Korean executives to prepare them for dealing with the inquisitive U.S. press.
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