A leading PR firm has published a detailed guide about how to deal with different states when running publicity campaign across the U.S..
Agencies often struggles with the cultural idiosyncrasies of getting their message across to different areas of the culturally and socially diverse area.
The CCgroup, which is based in London, has published the resource after collaborating with agencies from nine recognised U.S. regions.
Richard Fogg, Managing Director of CCgroup, said: ‘It’s been a running joke in European PR circles for years: U.S. marketers think of ‘Europe’ as a single, homogenous entity.
‘Of course, that’s nonsense. But, if you asked European marketers how PR practice – especially influencer relations – differs between U.S. regions, it would be a short conversation.
‘So, working with regional specialists on the ground, we decided to find out – and I have to say it’s been a very insightful exercise.’
The company found four areas that stood out in the analysis:
Media personality and cynicism
Typical levels of influencer cynicism vary greatly across the U.S., but are at peak levels in New England where media scepticism is rated by local PR professionals as 10 out of 10. In this region, reporters typically distrust PR efforts and ‘border on cranky’. The other end of the scale is the East South Central region, where PR professionals encounter more respectful and curious influencers whose cynicism is typically rated as 5 out of 10.
In other U.S. regions, influencer attitudes tend to reinforce some long held stereotypes: NYC (Mid-Atlantic) media are in a real hurry, West Coast reporters take the most ‘international’ view of news and, in the South Atlantic region, influencers are generally more laid back and willing to listen.
Entertainment: norms and practices
The issue of influencer entertainment differs wildly across the U.S. In West South Central, media hospitality is becoming a thing of the past, with influencers rejecting most invitations. This is the direction of travel in the Mid-Atlantic region, as influencers struggle to get away from their desks. In most divisions – in contrast to European PR markets – journalists insist on paying their own way at lunches and coffee meetings.
Only in the Pacific, East South Central and South Atlantic regions is influencer hospitality considered acceptable.
Regional idiosyncrasies
There are some fascinating localised habits and behaviours exhibited across the U.S. In the South Atlantic region, expect things to move on ‘Southern Time’ – which demands patience. In New York, expect journalists to be glued to their mobile device during conversations (they are listening, just multi-tasking!). In West North Central, influencers crave hyper-local content and angles.
Regional idiosyncrasies
There are some fascinating localised habits and behaviours exhibited across the U.S. In the South Atlantic region, expect things to move on ‘Southern Time’ – which demands patience. In New York, expect journalists to be glued to their mobile device during conversations (they are listening, just multi-tasking!). In West North Central, influencers crave hyper-local content and angles.
“The U.S. is a diverse communications environment and cannot be approached with a homogenous PR strategy. Even the level of detail we’ve uncovered in this project risks gross oversimplification, but it demonstrates the value of working with regional specialist PR teams and hitting the road to build relationships with influencers across the U.S.,” concluded Fogg.
