What Matters When Localizing Press Releases for the DACH Market.
The DACH market is highly attractive to cybersecurity companies—it is economically strong yet has significant ground to make up in terms of IT security. But how do international providers of security solutions gain a foothold here and reach decision-makers in the business community?
Alongside other PR options, press releases remain the primary channel for external communication for many companies. And they can be effective if you avoid certain mistakes and understand the local market. Otherwise, they’ll just gather dust in the already overflowing inboxes of editorial offices
Many foreign corporations and IT security providers operate on a “one-size-fits-all” principle, assuming that press releases designed for the U.S. market, for example, will work just as well in other regions. But that’s a mistake. Pure business news, quarterly figures, or award wins are rarely picked up by relevant magazines here, but they do make it into top-tier media in the international or Anglo-Saxon sphere. The DACH market has the specific expectation that its readers want to understand the technical aspects of a security solution as well as its specific benefits. Readers in this region want technical details and measurable results—preferably from their own region. Studies only make sense if they specifically include DACH figures.
Another distinctive feature of the local market is the significant role played by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In Germany, SMEs account for 99 percent of all companies, which corresponds to 3.4 million. In the U.S., so-called “small businesses” also make up the lion’s share of companies; however, they generally do not have a different corporate culture but usually differ from “middle businesses” only in terms of size. The difference between German SMEs and large companies and conglomerates, however, is primarily a qualitative one. Ownership and management of the company are concentrated in a single entity, which means these businesses are more tradition-oriented and place greater emphasis on stability than on growth. This difference is also reflected in the demands placed on their IT infrastructure, whose resources are often limited compared to those of startups and multibillion-dollar corporations. Reporting must therefore reach these decision-makers through different channels than, for example, the well-established IT systems of a multibillion-dollar corporation.
And then there’s the issue of data protection. This is taken very seriously throughout Europe—as evidenced not least by the GDPR, which has been in effect since May 2018. Consequently, the DACH region also places a very high priority on the secure processing of personal data. Customers want to know what happens to their data, who stores it, and for what purposes it is shared with whom. The server’s location or the choice of cloud provider may be of greater importance to IT decision-makers in this region than the latest features of a solution. This fact may come as a surprise to U.S. corporations in particular, but it makes it all the more important to keep this in mind when announcing new solutions and thus to preempt potential questions along these lines.
Even if a press release is tailored to the local market in terms of content, a simple AI translation ensures that it flies under the radar of most editorial teams. Too many buzzwords—which work well in an English press release—often make readers here think of marketing and paid ads. This undermines credibility. Merely literal translations often come across as inappropriate. In such cases, the sentence—or even the entire paragraph—may need to be adapted so that the message remains clear and understandable, yet the language does not sound like an English press release forced into German. A keen sense of language and reading habits is essential here.
Added to this is the generally more sober and technical style that readers of trade magazines in this country expect—a style that stands in stark contrast to the enthusiastic and visionary style common in the English-speaking world. Superlatives of all kinds may underscore the size and ingenuity of a company or a solution in the U.S., but they tend to be met with rejection and incomprehension by German journalists and readers. Tone and technical vocabulary must be carefully adapted to the local market; only then can a news story with compelling content achieve maximum impact.
Mass emails sent out indiscriminately—using the same standard pitches for hundreds of different media outlets and contacts—probably don’t work particularly well anywhere, but here more than elsewhere, journalists place special value on personal conversations and relationship-building.
A press release may fulfill all the points mentioned above, but if it is accompanied by an impersonal cover letter and the journalist has no personal relationship with the sender—a relationship that would guarantee the high standards the journalist expects—the chances of it being published are still very slim. Every media outlet has its own areas of focus; knowing these and understanding when and to whom to send which press release—and also to whom not to send it—is a crucial part of a successful PR strategy that should not be underestimated.
In addition, journalists here value personal contact. If, for example, they can communicate with German speaking contacts and ask follow-up questions, the chances of publication are greater than if they receive a press release from an international source they are unfamiliar with.
PR is not a sprint, but a marathon. This is especially true for the DACH market. Long-term relationship-building, personalized pitches, an understanding of the concerns and needs of small and medium-sized businesses, and the general desire for GDPR-compliant data security shape the press landscape here. For foreign companies, it is therefore crucial to have a professional local partner who knows the rules of the media game and ensures that their solutions and texts are appropriately localized and categorized by topic. Only the expertise gained through years of working with editorial teams and maintaining personal contact with trade journalists can ensure that a press release reaches exactly the right journalist at the right time and achieves maximum visibility in the local market.
At Kafka Kommunikation, we have been helping international IT and security companies gain a foothold in the DACH region for many years. Contact us for a customized PR strategy.
What Matters When Localizing Press Releases for the DACH Market.