Media Relations | (more) | Dix & Eaton

Global companies need to remember that the United States is a foreign country, too.

Years ago, a U.S. statesman was mediating peace talks between Arab and Israeli counterparts. But the talks weren’t going well. In exasperation, the American statesman threw up his hands and said, “Can’t we all get along like good Christians?”

It might be good for a laugh now – the diplomat from Washington clearly did not think about the fact he was talking to Muslims and Jews – but it wasn’t funny at the time.

And of course such gaffes aren’t limited to governments. In every country around the world, people can tell stories about U.S. corporations that made big mistakes there. Those companies didn’t know the culture, language, or history. Those companies thought that they way they operated in the U.S., was they way they could operate everywhere else too.

American parochialism, it seems, knows no bounds. Or boundaries. But keep in mind that we here in the United States have stories about foreign companies, too.

The fact is that there are increasing numbers of global companies that are based elsewhere around the world and which are targeting the United States as a growth market. For example, some of the largest alternative-energy companies in the world, sensing the rising interest here in solar and wind energy, are moving to seize growth opportunities in the United States.

Global companies coming here need to be careful not to make the same mistakes – or even worse errors – that U.S. companies have made abroad. After all, the United States is a foreign country, too. And just because you may know a lot of Americans, doesn’t mean you know America.

The reason this is on my mind is that a European company asked our opinions about “Buy America.” Does that mean, they wondered, that Americans won’t buy from them. It does not.

But as is the case when doing business in any other country, there is much that global companies need to understand about the United States, and factor into any marketing and communications programs aimed at audiences in this country. Here is what this means for global companies:

1. It costs more. Whatever the budget may be for marketing and communications programs in other nations, is irrelevant. It is going to cost more here. This often shocks foreign corporations. Here are two factors to keep in mind. First, if this country is important to you, it is important to your competitors and they will be here too. And domestic competitors will do whatever it takes to protect their market. Consumers or companies to which you want to market and sell your products and services here, have what can look to be limitless choices. Why should they pick you? And how do you even get through the inordinate clutter of marketing and communications messaging that bombards everyone everyday in this country, to reach them at all. You have to be bold and creative to differentiate yourself. That takes budgets. Second, this is an expensive place to do business no matter where you are or what you do. Of course, it is because consumers and companies have so much money that you want to be in this market.
    
2. You need Facebook. It doesn’t matter what you’re trying to sell here. It doesn’t matter if you are business-to-consumer or business-to-business, you aren’t going to reach much less persuade your various audiences if you are not on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social media. If you want to reach people here, you’ve got to get into the social networks, because that’s where people talk to each other. Here is what I mean. If you want to sell anything to women, keep in mind they often make purchasing decisions based on word of mouth from other women. Unsurprisingly, women look to blogs written by other women. The emergence of “Mommy Blogs”has created growing sales opportunities for companies that get good reviews by mothers in these blogs. People believe other people who have similar interests, more than they believe anyone else. More than any other factor, the rise of such ultra-specific demographic segments explains the popularity of social media here in the US.
    
3. New York and LA, are not the USA. A friend of mine in Moscow once told me that there is Moscow, and then there is Russia. They are not, he said, the same. The same holds true here. New York and Los Angeles are among the biggest cities in the world. But New York and LA are not the USA. In fact, across this country there often is considerable bias from and toward these two cities. Every communications professional here knows the story of a New York public relations professional who visited a client in Memphis and then wrote on a social network that he had no idea how people could live there. That did not  endear him to the client. The truth is that how you transact business and how you conduct communications in these two cities on either coast is likely going to be much different than how you do so elsewhere in the 3,000 miles between them. When you leave New York or Los Angeles for other cities, leave those big cities entirely out of your business and communications strategies elsewhere.
    
4. This country is so big, it is small. Nothing really is close to anything else here. It’s a big country. Because it is so large, it is really a small country. There are a number of well-known regions such as New England, or the Deep South. Even these regions are so large that within each one there are smaller areas where linguistic and cultural differences can be immense. If I drive two hours east from where I live and visit Pittsburgh, people there are different. We may speak the same language, but we have much different idioms and expressions. When you target individual regions of this country, or states or cities, you need to devote time to understand how each is different, and how each views itself from all the others. Think about this. If American businessmen are expected to eat chicken feet when they attend a business banquet in China, what are Chinese businessmen – or those from any other part of the world – expected to eat at such dinners here? That banquet menu would be different in every single city across this country.
    
5. You, and the jobs you offer, are welcome. When experts talk about the economic crisis of the past few years, they say that this time it’s different. They’re right, but there have been subtle shifts that are positive for global companies that conduct business here, particularly those with manufacturing facilities in the United States. In the last downturn to rival this one, in the early 1980s, there was such xenophobia about jobs going overseas that one of the most popular automotive bumper stickers read “Hungry? Eat Your Imported Car.” But this time it really is different. The unemployment rate would be 3-5% higher if not for jobs at US operations of global companies. That translates into tens of thousands of jobs for Americans. And people here understand and appreciate that fact. This is an unusual moment in time when global companies can seize this good will through discrete community relations programs that focus on every stakeholder in their communities – politicians, universities, corporations, neighbors, everyone. Global companies, many of which have kept low profiles because of protests in the past, cannot afford to waste this opportunity to establish or enhance strong relationships in the communities where they have operations and employ people. There will not be another chance like this one.
    
6. But you still need to be prepared for problems. The speech with which the “acceleration” crisis overtook Toyota is startling and frightening. The most immediate lesson is that when any corporation faces a crisis here, the company must respond immediately or it will lose control of the situation. That does not just mean lost sales, it means possible lawsuits and investigations. What global companies need to know about conducting business here is the importance of concomitant risk and crisis management strategies. Global companies acquired manufacturing facilities here only to discover they became liable for environmental issues related to those facilities – even if there has been remediation of the facility and the surrounding soil or water. You need to have in place a risk management strategy for legal protection, and a crisis management strategy for reputation management. This is as important, perhaps more so, than any other component of your marketing and communications strategy in the United States.

This article has 0 comments. Join the conversation

Gulf disaster was a wake-up call only to BP. So, what do other companies worry about?

Almost a year after the event, I still get a lot of questions about the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. One of the most recent questions was whether this disaster was a “wake-up call” for chief executive officers as far as crisis preparation and management at their companies.

There were two disasters that confronted BP. One was the explosion that killed a number of people and which spilled countless tons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. One was the continual communications blundering. These disasters do serve as a warning to chief executive officers that anything can happen anywhere in the world at any time.

But I would argue that the Gulf of Mexico crisis is an anomaly. Few companies ever will face a crisis of that magnitude. So yes, chief executive officers as well as communications professionals around the world watched closely as these two disasters unfolded. But more from an intellectual perspective because few of them will believe such a crisis can happen to them.

There were other events last year to which chief executive officers did pay more attention. One of these was the rash of strikes by Chinese factory workers who demanded more pay.

News coverage focused on strikes at large companies, among them some of the best-known global brands. But this is a challenge that could confront any global company, and every chief executive officer whose company has operations in China is well aware of such a threat. And these days, that includes not just Fortune 100 companies but small and midsize companies too.

Here is what this means for you.

If you have operations in China, it is because of the opportunity to be close to customers there and elsewhere in Asia. That suggests the greatest growth prospects for your company are in Asia.

Any crisis such as a labor strike in another country is not just a local issue, it is a threat to your continued success. But dealing with a crisis in another country, is not always the same as dealing with one here. That is particularly true in a country such as China.

Global media may make it seem that business success and consumer affluence are common in China but these are still new developments for most people. So is working for a global company. And unless you foster the company culture, Chinese will have no particular loyalty to you.

If there is a problem, Chinese employees will talk. For that matter they may also walk if they do not believe you care about them, their community or their country.

But they will talk on social networks and blogs because this is how people learn about what is happening. What they say about you will help dictate how quickly the problem is resolved, and whether the problem becomes a public issue. If that happens, all bets are off.

Because if employees are critical of you, Chinese media soon will hear of the problem. They are increasingly nationalistic and will criticize you for caring about money and not about people.

Sound far-fetched? Not to companies that faced labor strikes last year.

And that is a challenge that any company conducting business in China – or other countries – can face. Because that can happen to any company, that is the real wake-up call for all CEOs.

What to do?

Crisis preparation in China begins with employee communications, including the use of social networks to reach your employees, to build employee loyalty that can help you with reputation management if you do have any issue or crisis. It can also help with talent retention, still a problem for many companies particularly at a time when Chinese employees are beginning to move from successful global companies to successful domestic companies.

Crisis preparation simultaneously includes far greater emphasis on frequent planning and training sessions, right down to every single plant manager and shift leader in your facilities. Because people at this level have never been through a crisis – they may be young and have known only success – they may well fail you when you need them most.

This happened to one global company. There was a fire at one of its manufacturing plants, which was covered by the Chinese media. When the plant manager left for the day, he was ambushed the media. He ran back inside because he did not know what to do. The resulting video coverage made it difficult for the company to prove that it was on top of the situation and that it had the interests of the local community at heart. That is important to success in China.
 

This article has 0 comments. Join the conversation

Coming Soon to a Computer Near You – Really Local News

If you’re wondering what the title of this, yet another blog, means, I can explain.

It used to be that when reporters turned in their stories, they typed (more) at the bottom of every page, so that their editors would know there was in fact more to the story.

And that is exactly why I wanted to give this blog the name – (more).

Certainly I’m going to be talking about what is happening in the world. I’m going to talk about business, politics, journalism, communications and more, and from around the world.

I intend to offer you more than just an opinion, as brilliant as it may be. When I tackle a topic, I’m going to tell you what it means to you, and how you can use it to your benefit in your world.

Here is what I mean. Ever hear of Patch? Check it out … www.patch.com … This is a web site where local news is available in growing numbers of cities around the country. Take a look at any site in any state and what you will see is exquisitely local news in a small community.

This is called “hyper local news.” For the longest time, the joke in newsrooms was that “hyper local news is the next big thing, and it always will be.” It is now the next big thing. And Patch is perhaps just the most visible and so far successful venture on hyper local. It may well succeed.

Here is what this means for you.

There is nothing too small, no person too unknown, no event too parochial, not to be of interest to Patch. Do you have a small business? Patch is interested. Do you have a global company with local operations? Patch is interested. Do you want to honor a local employee? Patch is interested. Do you want to be seen doing good in your community? Patch is interested.

Patch knows something most local newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations have forgotten. Patch knows that everyone wants to know what is happening in their community. Patch wants to give people stories that they cannot get anywhere else.

What is it that you want to achieve in your community, or those communities where you conduct business, have employees, or live? What is it that you want people to know about your company?

I’ve met few business executives who think much of their local paper. Among the complaints: When covering the company, local papers often get the facts wrong. And local papers won’t cover stories executives think are interesting because they’re “not news.”

You have an opportunity that you haven’t had in years to tell those stories about your company.  

This article has 1 comment. Join the conversation