 Choosing a specialist supplier is a risk, right? Right! You have got to
find a company that understands your business, and an agency that will
deliver quality results, on time, and within budget.
That’s hard enough even if you are looking for a company to distribute
a piece of direct mail, when all they have to do is to put the correct
materials into the envelopes and ensure that they go into the post.
So when you need some creative value-add, then the job of finding the
right supplier becomes more difficult. And it’s doubly hard again if
you are looking for this in a different country – not only do you have
the distance, but the possible time zone differences, the language, the
currency, and the local differences.
History is full of apocryphal tales where things did not go according
to plan. A Japanese car manufacturer once launched a model in Europe
called the Starion, but legend has it that the planned name was the
Stallion. If this is actually true, then something clearly got lost in
the translation.
So how does a company get it right when moving into a new market? The
answer is, don’t compromise. Don’t make excuses for a potential
supplier’s inadequacies and then tell yourself that “something got lost
in the translation”, or “it’s always a bit odd dealing with
foreigners”, unless you actually want a Starion. But if it’s a
race-bred stallion that you want, and then be sure to choose a
marketing communications agency that clearly understands what you want.
Usually, a clue is that your prospective agency will ask questions –
not because they don’t understand, but to gain a greater understanding
of what you want to achieve, and why. A good agency will use their
knowledge to guide you through local conditions, and will have the
media contacts that you need in order to get your message through to
the right people.
It’s also important not to let language issues get in the way: if you
cannot even communicate properly with your chosen marcom agency, are
you really going to entrust them with your company’s reputation?
Quite often, our conversations with prospective clients have revealed
planned announcement dates that fall on public holidays in Germany. At
this point, we usually ask if the date is absolute, in which case we
have a problem, or whether it is a notional date. The other obstacle we
often come across is that of vertical markets. The US definitions of
vertical markets don’t apply in Europe, nor are the biggest growth
markets necessarily the same.
As a marketing communications agency specialising in the IT sector, we
see our role not simply as executor, but as strategic consultants. It’s
important for us to ask the awkward questions: even if we don’t, you
can usually bet that the journalists will.
In summary, don’t risk your reputation by making excuses for potential
suppliers in new markets. If anything, be more critical than you would
in your home country. And don’t hesitate to intervene if you feel that
the brief has not been fully understood.
Simon Jones
arcendo communications
www.arcendo.com
Simon is an Englishman living in Munich, Germany. He currently works as
the General Manager for arcendo communications, a high-tech marketing
communications agency.
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