Pete Snyder spent years living out of a suitcase serving clients around the world, which gave him first-hand knowledge of public relations in other countries. “Think globally, act locally” became the motto of several international public relations firms beginning 10-12 years ago, and though it seems simple, it’s loaded with challenges.

He said it is important to understand cultural nuances and client needs. "Public relations practices vary because of society differences," Snyder said. "Global public relations references published over the years are excellent but do not provide all of the pitfalls that U.S. practitioners can fall into."

Snyder provided six tips:

1. Try to avoid U.S. bias. Worldwide, the practice of public relations is growing slower outside of the U.S. and England, so those two countries have many more specialists than other countries have. While practitioners of such specialties as labor relations, investor relations, the IRS and non-profits are familiar with regulations in the U.S. and possibly England, Snyder said they should not assume other countries have the same regulations and specialists as the U.S. Ethics, media relations, etc. are not assumed to be the same as in the U.S.

2. Not all situations can go global. Snyder provided several examples of U.S. products whose names failed to achieve the desired results in other countries. When translated into other languages, those names meant something far different than they did in the U.S. “Product names translated into other languages can be problematic,” he said. We must listen better to hear not what we want to hear, but what we don’t want to hear, Snyder said. And we must understand what we hear. Don’t just yell louder because you think they do not understand; they probably do understand you, they just have not bought in to what you have said, Snyder said.

3. Foreign public relations will cost you more than you think.

4. Do not discount the local comfort zone. “Are clients or prospects in other countries going to be as comfortable working with you as working with local practitioners?” he asked. Snyder recommended using local public relations firms because you cannot force local individuals to go beyond their comfort zone.

5. Professional practitioners need to hold themselves accountable. “Are we doing what is right and moral?” he asked. He said we can be ethical but not necessarily correct. We can’t be blameless for the dot-com collapse, corporate scandals, lying CEOs, Enron, Tyco, Martha Stewart, etc., Snyder said. When public relations people disseminate information that turns out to be wrong, he said, aren’t we accountable? When does it go from information to hype?

6. For students: be proficient in journalism. Understand how media works and write journalistically.

Notes from: - Chuck Reitter, PRSA-St. Louis Board Director