BY ALISON GARDNER

Spain and the UK don’t just differ on our choice of idioms — our media landscape and business culture are also unique. So, when you want to expand your marketing reach, how do you ensure your PR efforts translate to the Spanish market?

We typically find it to be beneficial for engineering businesses to work with the same agency for their global campaign, provided they have the agency has the right specialist skillset, language skills and media contacts. Having a single agency responsible for the campaign makes it more manageable, consistent and time-efficient.

UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE

A UK PR agency with the right expertise can take your existing ideas, content and branding and create a campaign tailored for the Spanish audience. For example, working with an agency with in-house Spanish speakers not only helps to create content in both languages, they’ll also understand colloquialisms and nuances that can ensure effective communication when interviewing clients and building relationships with media.

Not taking the care to translate campaigns properly can result in comical results that you may not want your audience to remember. For example, when the American Dairy Association replicated its “Got Milk?” campaign in Spanish-speaking countries, they were unaware that the advert now said “Are you lactating?”

Working with Spanish speakers not only helps avoid translation blunders. By understanding the values and traditions in the market, Spanish-speaking PR professionals can help tailor messaging to align with cultural context. The PR team can also work more closely with knowledgeable people in your business — some team members may find it easier to share their expertise if they can speak to a PR person in their native language.

Spanish PR specialists can also highlight the most relevant publications in your industry. When looking at technology and engineering media as an example, there are quality publications such as Automática e Instrumentación or Sumindustria, but it’s also clear that the pool of potential trade media publications is much smaller in Spain than in the UK. Working with a team that know the journalists well and have close relationships with the existing editors to achieve quality coverage.

SUCCESS STORIES

So what results do you get when all these things come together?

“By working with an in-house Spanish speaker, one of our clients saw a 300 per cent increase in coverage in this area in three years,” explained Georgia Cotterill, account manager at Stone Junction. Their understanding of the media, conversational skills and cultural understanding was key to our success in the UK and Spain.”

By collaborating with teams that have expertise across different markets, you can build strong campaigns that any audience can understand, making your international PR eaten bread.

At Stone Junction, our diverse team collectively speaks 13 languages, including three proficient Spanish speakers, all of whom actively contribute to successful global PR campaigns. Looking to build your brand’s visibility in the Spanish market? Say ¡Hola! to the Stone Junction team at www.wechangeminds.com.