| Alison Candelaria 
Reaching new audiences is a constant challenge for most brands. And with so many promotion options across social, paid, earned, and owned media, a multichannel strategy is the only way to successfully connect with today’s influencers and customers. But are you missing out by limiting your geographic influence? Expanding your message’s reach beyond your home country's borders has the potential to unlock a treasure trove of new audiences and future brand enthusiasts. When preparing your press release and content distribution strategy for a multinational audience, there are many questions that need answering. To alleviate any last-minute worries, check out our international distribution checklist, then keep reading for an in-depth breakdown of each tip. 
What is your press release's purpose? Before planning anything else, consider the big picture. Brands publish press releases to announce information, share their point of view, and inspire journalists, customers, investors and other audiences to take action. However, your audience is busy (just like you and me!). They aren't wanting for content; in fact, it's usually quite the opposite. All around the world, content consumers are bombarded with ads, shared stories, social posts, and more. To make sure your content doesn't become white noise, you need to deliver a relevant message in the most user-friendly way possible. Your press release's goal and audience are the most important factors to identify because they will inform the rest of the decisions you make. Is your goal driving leads, targeting trade media, increasing awareness of thought leadership content, launching a new product, or attracting new investors and funders? Moreover, which types of audience will be instrumental in meeting your goal? While most brand goals benefit from promoting content across a mix of general media, trade publications and online channels, others may be better suited by specifically targeting an online or media audience. However, you won’t be able to decide this until you’ve reflected on what you want to accomplish. PRO TIP: Learn how to identify your content's audience and the best ways to serve them with our guide Gain Targeted Audience Attention with PR Newswire. Where do you want your news to go? Once you've answered the first question, you can begin to consider the specifics of your international distribution. Although a lot of focus is given to where your audience digitally lives, their physical location cannot be overlooked. Think about countries, not continents. Oftentimes, two countries within the same region have very different needs that your PR and marketing strategy must take into account. For instance, significant language differences across a continent can lead to a large number of translations, while diverse customs and rules may necessitate tailoring your message for each country. Targeting the most relevant markets will not just deliver better results, it will also save money and time. When deciding on which countries you want to reach, start with your known markets – countries that house a local office or are major players in your industry (green technology in China, energy in Canada/South America, etc.). But don't stop there. Have you noticed a recent spike in traffic to your website or press releases from a specific country? It may be an emerging market you should consider branching into. After determining your list of countries, look for overlap across larger regions and entire continents. PRO TIP: Read Expanding Into Emerging Markets for additional advice on aligning your brand's message with a specific country's needs. What languages do your audiences speak? This might seem obvious, but translations are crucial to international success. You want to remove any barriers between your audience and your message. Providing content in the language of your readers makes it easy for journalists to write about your story and online audiences to find it. A high-quality, human (not machine!) translation can take time. Allow for 1-2 business days if possible. If that’s not possible, consider staggering the distribution of your various translations across local business hours. PRO TIP: When you're thinking about your lead time, review your internal processes. Do you need time to review translations internally? Do you have highly technical or specific terms that you prefer be translated a certain way? The more information you provide your translator in advance, the quicker and more accurate your translations will be. How does your story impact your international audience? Ultimately, how broad or specific you get with press release distribution should be based on whether or not your brand's story matters to audiences on the other end. You have a very brief window to grab attention. You're much more likely to earn coverage if local media can quickly tell why their audience will react to your story. Because each press release offers another opportunity to build and reinforce relationships with the international markets you're targeting, localize your content whenever possible. If you are opening a new office in Mumbai, but you know this also impacts your audience in Philippines, show them how! Additionally, identify what action you want your reader to take and place it prominently in your content. At minimum, if you have a local website or domain, ensure that it's accessible. PRO TIP: For your press release and other content to succeed, you must reach your audience with the information they need, when they need it. Download the Buyer 2.0 Content Strategy Checklist and learn how to plan out content your audience will care about. Storytelling is universal. Good content that tells a compelling story can rarely be contained by borders, languages, or time zones. For every good story told, there are many more people who want to hear it. Just make sure you're making it easy for them to do so! 
Alison Candelaria is director of international sales at PR Newswire. She spends her time helping organizations of all sizes target their message to global communities. | 
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