Going international: PR across multiple markets
Plan for a second country to roughly double your PR work and budget, not add 10 percent. Each market is a separate program with its own outlets, reporters, news cycles, and definition of a story; almost nothing carries over except your underlying facts. So budget per market, not per region, and expand only into countries where a placement actually changes the business.
What changes per market
- The outlet list - WSJ and TechCrunch won't cover your German launch the way Handelsblatt or local trade press will. A reporter relationship in New York is worth nothing in Tokyo.
- The news hook - "first in the US" is not news in London. Each market needs a reason to care that is local to it.
- The timing - holidays, embargo norms, and what counts as a slow news week differ by country. A launch date that works in San Francisco can be dead air in Paris.
- The judgment - native fluency matters less for translation than for knowing which angle lands and which reads as foreign. When you vet a firm, ask who makes that call in each country, not just who sends the emails.
What only you can supply
A firm can source local reporters and route the story. It cannot decide why each market matters to you. Before you spend, settle three things: which markets actually move revenue or hiring, the single local proof point in each (a customer, a hire, a regulatory win), and who approves regional messaging so you don't ship a different company in each country.
How to staff it
| Model | When it fits |
|---|---|
| One firm with local partners | Most companies. One contact coordinates in-country specialists. |
| Separate firm per market | Deep, ongoing presence in two or three priority markets. |
| In-house lead, firm support | You have a comms hire who owns strategy and buys execution. |
Whichever model you pick, price it per market. A second country typically costs close to what the first does. Be wary of a firm that adds "international" for a small premium; that price usually covers translation rather than a real second program. Localization is more than translation: CSA Research found 76% of consumers across 29 countries prefer information in their own language, so a story that is only translated reads as foreign.
A second market rarely pays until the first is working, and the page on scaling your PR program covers how to read that. PressFriendly has run programs for clients across 32 countries to date, most under the one-firm-with-local-partners model; see pricing for where international scope lands.