The Pitch: Not all Asians are alike, so tailor your message

By JOSEPH RAJENDRAN


Much has been said about Asia in recent days. "Renew ties with Asia ... Plug into the Asian grid ... Asia is the next growth market ... Reap valuable competitive advantages from partnerships with Asian businesses ... "

The list goes on, and it is echoed in the language of businesses and organisations promoting trade and investment with and in Asia.

But how can companies use public relations to establish a beachhead or raise their profile in Asia?

The starting point lies in understanding a little about how public relations works in Asia - and it is not about one-size-fits-all.

First, let's get this myth out of the way. Very often, as this consultant's experience has shown, companies arrive in Asia and ask how much they have to pay the media to get positive coverage. It may sound funny, but companies new to Asia do ask this question.

The truth is that the practice exists in some pockets of the media in selected countries, but by and large it is a total fallacy to believe that a monetary gift is linked to positive coverage.

Second, there is no such thing as an "Asian media". The political and cultural sensitivities vary across borders. They react to different issues like salt and pepper.

Hence, when a large American projector company launched its heavyweight machine in five Southeast Asian countries using bodybuilders, it refrained from using them in Indonesia, where it is culturally taboo.

Also, understand that different media platforms deliver different results in Asia. Online media will get businesses a far greater reach in countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, but lifestyle and consumer titles, as opposed to daily newspapers, will get much greater reach in markets such as Indonesia.

Third, tweak your key messages to your respective audiences - there is no homogeneous Asian type. This is easy to understand but hard to execute.

Here's one case. A former client, the Southeast Asian chief of a Nasdaq-listed company, went into a broadcast interview with a mightier-than-thou attitude of "I know what to say".

Ten minutes later, after the interview, his reaction was: "Why was the reporter so keen to know about the difference in our service offerings in Singapore and Bangkok? Why was he so keen to know how we are positioned against local service providers when we are the biggest global provider?"

The point is to localise your key messages to the Asian marketplace - an often missed cause.

Fourth, know your business environment and tailor your strategy carefully.

One particular former client comes to mind.

Companies often try for maximum coverage in tier-one media, regardless of the target audience.

This Chinese power generator seeking a public listing in Singapore said it wanted to target Mandarin speakers because it was going to have a small float and wanted to attract an audience interested in mainland investments.

Such focus and targeted campaigns help. Getting coverage in an international newswire may not help your business cause - unless your target audience is pan-Asian.

As the saying goes, it's not a cinch!


* Joseph Rajendran is a former Singapore-based account director for Hill & Knowlton now working as an independent public relations consultant.
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