By António Eduardo Marques, AEMpress

There is this generalized idea, among many multinational companies that need to communicate their products and services in foreign countries, that “most people – and certainly the media – understand English”.

This is especially true in small markets, such as Portugal and in several North European countries, were the people do in fact have a good understanding of the English language and are used to watch subtitled movies and TV series.
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However, if that maybe be true, the reality is that it is still very important to communicate in the local language of the market one wants to enter. The idea that a company can save money by not translating press-releases in the local language of a given market or that it can still engage with customers in that market through social media even when it does not have a locally managed presence is simply nonsense.

Stéphanie Protat, Director, Oxygen Nantes

Lately, you’ve probably heard a lot about Kickstarter, Indiegogo, KissKissBankBank… More and more start-ups and individuals are using those crowdfunding platforms to raise money, obviously, but also to make sure their product is ready for the market or have visibility in international media. 
Some campaigns have been really successful, like Pebble, Coolest Cooler, Pono Music, Potatoe Salad  even Giroptic and Lima in France to give a few examples. However, some others fail: either they don’t raise the money they were expecting, or they do but don’t get enough media attention. Here are 6 tips to help you optimize your crowdfunding campaign and its media impact: 

1 – Prepare your campaign 
Don’t think communication and public relations after your campaign has started. Because behind any successful campaigns lay months of preparation, including PR. Especially when you target the US market, where it is common to pre-brief US journalists under embargo. Sending them pitches a few weeks earlier gives them time to write their piece, allows you to communicate before and secure articles on the first day of the campaign. 
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2 – Think global/international 
While it is absolutely necessary to let your local market know that you are launching a crowdfunding campaign, consider other populations that are based in North America, the Middle-East and even Asia that are ready to pledge and back your campaign. Europeans are still a bit cautious when it comes to crowdfunding. That is why it is important to spread the word to international journalists, mainly the Americans who are followed and read worldwide.