Expansion is often the name of the game in business, and with that being the case, it’s easy to forget that it isn’t such a linear progression that brings only improvements. With expansion comes change, and while that might be something that you’re willing to accept, it still might not be clear what that will look like. Of course, there’s no way of telling what the future holds, but understanding how communicating with a wider audience affects your PR strategy can help you to make the leap as gracefully as possible.
The ways in which your audience expands could be numerous, so it’s difficult to prepare for the specifics in advance—perhaps encouraging you to think more broadly instead.
Breaking down barriers
If your audience has expanded to the point where you need to take different languages and dialects into account, the way in which you focus your public relations strategies is naturally going to vary. This is because you want to preserve the core of what you’re trying to communicate about your business without risking the kinds of misunderstandings that are sometimes present with direct translations. This means that you’re going to need the help of professional translators or the interpreting equipment tools that only select services can offer.
In any case, this might be a stage of your expansion that is difficult to ignore due to the increasingly connected online world and how sometimes your business opportunities will draw your attention to other countries and locations.
The digital frontier
Though before you get to the stage of conferences and face-to-face meetings with a wider audience, perhaps with collaborating businesses, you might find that a lot of your interfacing with your new audience takes place online. Marketing through social media and similar online channels is nothing new, but learning how to adapt your tone of voice or approach for different audiences can be difficult when you can’t physically see the recipient.
Market research can help you to understand the different needs and wants of new digital audiences, especially when you’ve taken the time to seek them out. However, it might also be that a recent collaboration has you inundated with new interested parties, but it’s worth understanding whether changing your approach could risk alienating your core audiences or not before doing so.
Inclusivity and consideration
Sensitivity, understanding and inclusivity are all hallmarks of what can help you to stay on the good side of the general public, especially when it comes to drawing in new audiences. However, as your current audience might comprise a certain demographic, you might not have a whole well of experience to draw on when it comes to discussing issues that pertain to people outside of that.
What’s important here is to not charge on regardless of this ignorance – it’s okay to accept that you’re not as knowledgeable about something as you could be, and taking the time to learn about the discourse around topics like modern identity could help you to avoid a negative PR situation down the line.
