Pre-note by Bas van den Beld: At SES London in the panel “Marketing to the European Union” four different people from four different countries took the stage, including State of Search’ Bas van den Beld and Mikkel deMib Svendsen. This was one of the view sessions we didn’t cover. Mikkel talked about the differences between several European countries. His talk was based on an article which he wrote for me back when I was editor at Searchcowboys. Mikkel and I decided to re-publish his post here now, because it is still relevant and still a very good post which deserves the place here. So enjoy this guestpost!

When I speak at conferences in the US local business owners often ask me how they can market themselves best in Europe. Europe? I ask. There is no Europe and there are no Europeans!

There is a politically united Europe. There is a geographical Europe. There is a dream among some that we will one day get a United States of Europe. But from a marketing point of view the fact remains that there is no Europe and there are no Europeans!

We (in Europe) don’t speak the same language, we don’t hear the same music, we don’t have the same laws, we don’t follow the same norms, we don’t laugh at the same jokes and we don’t share the same religions. (more…)