Partners Group director Karen Tinkler is preparing to swap her office on The Mount for the beaches of India to help develop international PR support for the region's small and medium sized businesses.

As vice chairman of International Public Relations Team (IPR Team), Karen will attend the global PR network's third conference in Goa from 1-3 November, where discussions will focus on growing the network to help ensure SMEs across our region and beyond can draw on the right marketing and PR support when entering new overseas markets.

York-based Partners Group is the sole UK representative of the IPR Team network, which was established four years ago to fill a gap in the market. Says Karen: "More and more firms are seeing potential for their products or services in overseas markets. There are many big, global PR networks working with blue chip companies, but none to provide this support for smaller businesses.

"IPRTeam is made up of thirteen PR and marketing agencies located across Europe, Australasia, Asia and the USA, who all work with small and medium sized businesses.

"By bringing these experts together, we can offer publicity support in thirteen countries. For example we recently successfully helped a Yorkshire manufacturer run a PR campaign in Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal to raise their profile and support sales."

"The focus for this year's conference is very much on growing the network to provide even more widespread support for firms keen to expand globally."

IPRTeam helps firms looking for overseas representation to find a suitable agency in their target country. Alternatively, clients can work through an agency in their home country to plan and implement a publicity campaign, drawing on local knowledge, contacts and expertise in the target country but eliminating the difficulties associated with briefing a foreign agency.

For more information about the IPR Team network visit www.iprteam.org.

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