PR i Norden
Våra franska kollegor på byrån @Yucatan i Paris har på sin blogg publicerat Björns korta text om hur mediebilden ser ut och hur PR i Norden fungerar. Har du några synpunkter?
Well for starters we are four different countries, actually even five. Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland. But we tend to be lumped together as Scandinavia or the Nordics. But make no mistake, these countries have different experiences and history even if there are some common grounds. Most of us understands the other Nordic languages, especially the Norwegians and the Swedes. Well, Finnish is a completely different language but as Finland is officially bilingual (Finnish and Swedish) you do get by in Swedish. Most of us speak reasonably well English.
But there is no media covering all the countries. Every country has its own media structure. Sweden has very influential business media with Dagens Industri as a Swedish Financial Times or Wall Street Journal with a range of media from the actual paper to weekly magazines and a TV channel. High tech news are hot topics in all the Nordic countries and new tech products are usually selling very well, especially in Norway and Sweden.
Together we are about 26 million people spread over a vast geographical area. But as for Sweden, Norway and Finland most people live in the southernmost third of the country.
Basically Finland and Sweden are quite alike in the business culture with big companies but also a lot of start-ups. Norway and Denmark tends to be more alike in many more smaller companies. In Norway of course the oil business has an important role. Sweden and Denmark are countries with a very capital centred business and media landscape. Most things happen in Stockholm and Copenhagen whereas it is much more decentralized in Norway.
Eight things you shouldn’t do in the Nordics when working with PR
- Assume that what works in Sweden also works in Denmark
- Only focus on printed media – digital and social media are very important in the region
- Try to publish stories or news with no connection to the Nordics
- Place prewritten articles
- Try to use only English for all communication – the local languages work better
- Try to use the same material in all countries – different trends in every country
- Pitch a story about “old tech” to major media – there is no space for it
- Ignore the message. It has to be adjusted to work in each country
So therefore, this is what you should do:
- Get a local spokesperson. That will get you many more interviews
- Try to find local stories or news to pitch if there are no products to show
- LinkedIn works quite well for tech news. Get LinkedIn pages in every country
- Take a look at the local media you want to get into and see what kind of news they highlight. With some Google translate it should not be too hard.
Björn Mogensen är ansvarig för PR på Oxenstierna Kommunikation, Yucatans svenska Worldcom partner
Just nu är Oxenstierna partner för kunder som t.ex. Carmignac och Thales.