The Digital PR Newsletter #53

How to Improve Your Outreach in the US (If You’re Not From There)

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In this edition of the newsletter I’m going to share how you can improve your outreach in the US, especially if you’re not from there (like me). Understanding local differences is key, and I realised this recently when I saw a news story about a sinkhole.

The Surrey Sinkhole

Last month I had the TV on in the background and a story popped up about a sinkhole on a Surrey highstreet.

I’m from Surrey (a county in the UK), so it immediately got my attention, could it be my hometown? Perhaps the next town along where I went to college, or where one of my friends lives?

Either way, I couldn’t believe something like this was happening so close to where I’m from.

Only it kinda wasn’t.

You see, yes, I am from Surrey (Haslemere), but the sinkhole appeared on the other side of the county in Godstone, and while in Surrey, isn’t local to where I’m from. It’s an hour and 30 min drive away, and I don’t think I’ve even been there.

I’d even go as far as to say that the people from Godstone and Haslemere are different, it’s subtle, but Godstone is just outside of London, and Haslemere is more in the countryside.

Haslemere borders two other counties, Hampshire and West Sussex, and I’d consider those towns around that area more local than Godstone on the other side of Surrey.

When I played football as a kid, I played for Haslemere, and the team we considered our biggest rival wasn’t a team in Surrey, it was Liphook, which is in Hampshire.

Haslemere under 12’s (I think), no prizes for guessing which one I am.

Now what I’m explaining here are details that I only know because I’m from the area. So unless you are, or you know the area well, then understanding the geography, culture, and local rivalries is going to be very difficult.

If these nuances exist in Surrey, imagine how much more pronounced they are in a country as vast as the US.

The Scale of the US

To illustrate that, here’s the state of Texas overlaid on top of Europe. Just look how many European countries it covers (I count 6, ok maybe 7?).

Often when I see people do campaigns for the US, they’ve broken it down by state or cities (both are great approaches).

Example of a campaign broken down by state.

But one small problem with breaking things down purely by state is that you’re treating everyone from there the same.

I’ve not been to Texas, but I’m sure the people from the North of Texas which borders Oklahoma, are going to be different to the people from the South which borders Mexico.

Advertisers know this too.

Which is why Nielsen has broken down the whole of the US into different markets or DMAs (designated market areas), forget 50 states, here there are a total of 210 market areas.

You can see a larger version of the map here.

A DMA is a region where local TV stations operate. Each one reflects a unique media market where people consume news, watch TV, and engage with local content differently.

Key point: The media landscape is slightly different in the US, and you can get online coverage on the website of TV stations (which is less common in the UK).

DMAs can be particularly helpful if you’ve done a US campaign that has been broken down by city.

Here’s why

Local Knowledge

It may not be perfect, but you can now get a better idea of local rivalries, if you have data on one city, you can check out the map to see what other cities are in the same DMA and make sure that in your press release you put them head to head when pitching journalists in that area. This may increase your chances of getting coverage.

Identifying Places to Pitch

Wikipedia has listed all the DMAs here (you’ve also got them for other countries there too).

But if you click on a DMA, it’s going to show you all the TV stations that service that area.

Let’s say for example I’ve got a US campaign and I’ve got data applicable for the Dallas-Fort Worth DMA.

I can go ahead and click on that

And it’s now given me a list of US TV stations that service that area.

I can now click on each TV station.

Then see if they have a website, and if so, whether they have a relevant section on that website that I could pitch and get my campaign featured.

So next time you’re working on a campaign for the US, check out the DMAs. While you will never fully understand the nuances of the area unless you’re from there, it goes some way in helping, and you might be surprised at how much better your results are.

Thanks all this time, thanks for reading, and see you next month!

All previous newsletters can be found below.

— Mark

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