Don’t Just Launch “One English Website”
- catlinpuhkan
- 21 hours ago
- 6 min read
Interview with Neringa Petrauskaitė, Strategist & Partner at WeAreMarketing and Chair of the Board at British Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania.
Neringa will talk about B2B marketing in Parrot B2B marketing conferences in Riga and Vilnius on 11-12 February.
From a B2B marketing perspective, if a Baltic or Lithuanian B2B company wants to enter the UK market or expand there, what are the main challenges?
First of all, it’s a mindset issue. In the Baltics, we have a very different understanding of how business should be done and how fast things should move. Of course, there are differences between Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, but overall our sense of pace and business norms still differs from how things work in the United Kingdom. So there is clearly a cultural dimension here.
And I’m speaking specifically from a marketing and business development perspective. What do we see in practice? We see small—but important—misunderstandings around how to communicate, how to position yourself, how to pitch, how aggressive to be, how much to push (or not push), what kind of wording to use, and how to read the signals being sent back to you.
These are some of the main challenges because, quite simply, we are more direct in the Baltics. In the UK, it doesn’t work the same way—especially when you are dealing not with other internationals, but with British locals. The culture is different.
For us, being very hands-on, moving fast, and following up frequently feels normal. In the UK, however, this can be perceived as impolite, pushy, or sometimes even egoistic. That’s simply not how they prefer to do business.
This leads to the next challenge: building business relationships takes more time. In some cases, we’ve seen that generating leads and establishing trust can take up to three times longer than in markets like Poland—which is also a foreign market for us—or even compared to other Baltic countries.
We need to understand and accept this slower pace—but it’s important to note that this is a different kind of “slowness” than, for example, what you encounter when entering Sweden. When you are ready for that slovliness, you can devote the required resources and do not struggle that it takes much more than you expected.
If you compare Europe or the Baltics with the US, people say we are slow, and in the USA things happen really fast. How would you compare the UK? Some say the UK is the closest culture to the American business culture in Europe. Is the UK somewhere in between?
I don’t see the UK and the US as similar markets at all—absolutely not. The only real similarity, in my view, is the language.
From our experience running campaigns for both the US and the UK, the differences are very clear. The wording has to be completely different, and even the way you present pricing—which is a critical part of both marketing and sales—changes significantly. Pricing strategy and value communication work very differently in the US compared to the UK.
So from a marketing and sales perspective, I don’t see real similarities between the two. They are fundamentally different markets that just happen to share a language. And that’s where many companies make a common mistake.
Often, they think: “We have a product that’s ready for global markets. Let’s start with an English website.” They assume that one English version will serve all international audiences—that launching in the UK will naturally generate leads, and maybe even leads from the United States.
That’s a mistake—and a crucial one. Companies underestimate how important cultural adaptability really is. Everything matters: how you present the product, how you pitch it, how you set expectations around delivery, and how you communicate throughout the entire customer journey.
How does the UK market compare to the German market?
Germany is Lithuania’s third-largest export market, and we have gained valuable experience from working with it. When entering the German market, it’s important to look beyond marketing alone. One factor I would strongly emphasize is the role of the German Chamber of Commerce in achieving a successful market entry.
In Germany, personal introductions carry significant weight - being introduced by a trusted organization makes a real difference. Membership in this business community, even through the German Chamber of Commerce in Lithuania, serves as a strong door opener and a credibility guarantee. This approach differs noticeably from what we see in many other markets where chambers are important but not to that significant extent.
Even this single example can require a complete redesign of your market-entry marketing funnel. It highlights why a foreign market entry strategy cannot be treated as universally applicable - what works in one country often requires significant adaptation to succeed in another.
The UK has a large Lithuanian community—could that be a good entry point?
After the financial crisis around 17 years ago, many people from the Baltics emigrated. Today, this diaspora represents a real strategic advantage and can play an important role in international expansion. Rebuilding and activating relationships with these communities can be a powerful part of a market-entry strategy.
In Lithuania, for example, we have the Global Lithuanian Leaders community, which brings together Lithuanians living and working abroad. This network has proven to be an excellent door opener in foreign markets. I’ve heard a strong example from a Lithuanian company—an all-in-one employee engagement platform—whose UK market entry strategy began on LinkedIn. They identified Lithuanians working in HR roles in the UK, particularly those in C-level positions, and reached out to them directly.
While this approach required significant effort, it proved highly effective. What they discovered was that Lithuanians in senior positions in the UK were very open to conversations with fellow Lithuanians—willing to learn about the product and explore potential opportunities. This kind of mutual support challenges the old myth that expatriates are reluctant to help each other. Instead, it shows that as the Baltics have regained independence and grown more ambitious, we’ve also embraced a “united for one goal” mindset—even when it comes to international growth.
I have a strong sense that this dynamic is similar in Latvia and Estonia as well, and I believe it represents one of the core competitive advantages of the Baltic region as a whole.
Let’s talk about reputation. In Germany and Sweden, some businesspeople still have stereotypes about the Baltics being post-Soviet, “Wild East”. Do you feel the region image affects things in the UK as well?
From what I hear from our clients and from my personal experience, I don’t feel this as strongly in the UK.
But of course, reputational issues always exist, as expats work in a wide range of roles and cultures tend to be labeled differently at different levels.
When it comes to management level, I believe Lithuanians—and Baltic professionals more broadly—have a very strong reputation. We are seen as hardworking, which likely stems from our history and mindset—having to work hard to secure our position, to maintain independence, and uphold strong values.
And that’s why we see many Baltic professionals succeeding in C-level roles in the UK, with numerous strong career stories. So I wouldn’t say the old labels apply across all levels.
You will be a speaker at Parrot B2B conferences in Riga and Vilnius. What are you planning to talk about, and what value should participants expect?
First, it’s about understanding the differences in how the same product is perceived and positioned within the Baltic and UK market mindsets. This will be my main focus: walking through an example that shows how our client developed and designed a product for the Baltic market—where it performed very well—and then they introduced it to the United Kingdom, where it initially did not. I will explain how we identified why it wasn’t working and what adjustments we made to the product and market entry strategy.
Second, it’s about understanding the true cost of entering the UK market. Too often, we lack a realistic view of international growth costs. As a result, we struggle to calculate a reasonable return on investment or properly assess the real market potential. Entering the UK requires thoughtful consideration and a clear financial commitment. Investing small amounts—such as a few thousand euros—while expecting significant results rarely works in market entry.
What I want the audience to take away is a clearer understanding of how to read market signals, what to adjust in their strategy, which direction those adjustments may take, and what the real cost of entering the UK market actually looks like.
