Benelux Companies: Three Markets, Three Ways to Approach the French Press

Three markets, three logics

Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are close by, but each has its own media landscape. Benelux companies often underestimate the adaptation required: Belgium shares the language but not the market, the Netherlands shares the language of business, English, but not the language of the media, and Luxembourg has to deal with a fiscal image.

Belgium: language isn't enough

French-speaking Belgian groups often assume the step into France is natural. In practice, Belgian media (Le Soir, La Libre, L'Écho, De Tijd) have neither the same sections nor the same readers as their French counterparts. Vocabulary differs too: Belgianisms and Belgian number forms (septante, nonante) are not used in France. And an article in a Brussels paper carries no weight in a French tender file.

The Netherlands: English shuts you out of the French press

In the Netherlands, communicating in English is the norm. In France it's a filter: journalists write in French. Dutch companies tend to communicate very directly, with figures: that's a strength, but it needs a narrative and a French angle on top.

Luxembourg: defusing the tax image

Luxembourg-based financial players, fiduciaries and holdings must build a message centred on real activity: clients, jobs, expertise, projects. Overly institutional or technical communication earns little coverage, and one clumsy phrase can feed a negative angle.

The Lille-Paris-Brussels corridor

Physical proximity is an advantage: several newsrooms can be met in a single day. Benelux companies that succeed in France use that ease to build ongoing relationships with journalists rather than sending releases.

The most common mistakes

• Reusing a Belgian or Dutch release with only light translation
• Communicating in English with French newsrooms
• Treating France as a simple extension of the Benelux market

How we help

We adapt the communications of Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg companies for the French media: messaging, content written in French, journalist outreach and monthly coverage reporting.