Some investment firms serve predominantly U.S.-based clients but the actual nature of their business focuses on selecting, researching, or transacting investment opportunities in other countries. It can be helpful to find media opportunities in both the U.S. and overseas. U.S.-based financial media can reach these firms’ clients, while local media overseas can reach their business partners and potential investment targets such as corporate management teams.
Here are several suggestions for engaging with reporters based overseas:
- Be aware of time zones. If sending news releases to Asia, do so in the evening U.S. time in order to reach inboxes in the morning hours for recipients.
- Develop lists. Monitor overseas local coverage. Initiate online trial subscriptions to English-language newspapers in order to see who’s covering what. Monitor Twitter. Consider subscribing to a media contact database that includes foreign media, but be aware that even more than in the U.S., these databases are likely to vary substantially in their reliability.
- Recommend to clients that they follow overseas and US-based reporters on Twitter. Some reporters will follow back, in turn. This can serve as an initial introduction into the themes the client organization can speak to.
- Develop multiple versions of a news release. Sometimes it’s helpful to frame the same news differently for a U.S. audience and a country-specific overseas audience.
- Focus on developing personal relationships. Pitch stories that tie into local news in a given country. When a client does get interviewed by a reporter, take steps to establish your client as a go-to source for a set of topics. Often the hardest part is establishing the relationship from the outset. Once that’s done, a client may benefit from the fact that overseas reporters likely have relatively fewer U.S.-based contacts to provide perspective on a given issue.
- Pick up the phone. For English language publications, it may be helpful to leave a voicemail or talk directly to a reporter, if possible. Not everyone will be going to that much effort to establish a connection.
- For larger news, consider local language wire releases. These can get your news placed in multiple markets and the price generally includes translation.