Every creator with clients in both halves reports the same difference. They are not inventing it. The explanation they give for it is wrong.
What actually differs
You are talking to different trades
The two halves of the country do not have the same economic composition: the weight of sectors, the average size of companies, the presence of international headquarters and the structure of local commerce all differ. A creator writing on one side to consumer goods brands and on the other to service providers is not observing a cultural difference, they are observing a difference of trade, which the accident of their prospecting has aligned with language.
What that does to the cost of a yes
In a small structure, the person who replies decides, and a yes costs a conversation. In a larger organisation, the person who replies passes it on, and a yes costs a meeting, a budget and sometimes a supplier registration. Timescales, amounts and the number of exchanges change accordingly, which produces exactly the impression that the two markets behave differently.
And the third case, which is neither
There is a third category that is systematically forgotten: companies whose headquarters are elsewhere and whose marketing team works in English. They belong to neither logic, they have their own calendar, their own forms and their own working language, and they often represent a significant share of the available budgets.
What that changes in practice
Seven concrete adjustments, all linked to the type of counterpart.
Writing shorter to a small structure, more documented to a large one.
Attaching a price from the first message in the first case, a range in the second.
Preparing a complete supplier file when the company is structured.
Chasing at seven days in one case, at fifteen in the other.
Offering a short assignment to the first, a programme to the second.
Adapting the vocabulary to the sector, not to the region.
And accepting that the decision cycle is twice as long on one side, without reading it as a lack of interest.
When you get it wrong
Six frequent misreadings.
Attributing to language what comes from company size.
Concluding from a sample of five messages, which proves nothing.
Comparing two different periods, one of them a quiet season.
Forgetting that you are not writing to the same sectors on both sides.
Taking a long reply time for a refusal, when it is an internal circuit.
And adapting your pitch to a supposed difference, which creates a real one.
How to know who you are dealing with
Seven clues to check before writing, all more reliable than the region.
The approximate number of people in the company.
The existence of a marketing team separate from the owner.
The presence of a supplier form or a purchasing department.
The default language of the site and that of job adverts.
The sector, which determines the decision cycle more than anything else.
The existence of paid advertising in progress, a sign of an established budget.
And whether your counterpart signs with a job title or with a first name alone.
Writing to both, without complicating your life
Six simple rules.
Two message templates, distinguished by company size and not by language.
One version in each language of each of those two templates.
The same price on both sides, always.
The language of the reply noted in your table, for subsequent exchanges.
A single chaser, adapted to the expected cycle.
And an English version ready, for the third case dealt with above.
What does not change from one side to the other
Six constants everybody forgets.
Bad sound gets a video refused everywhere.
A clear quote is appreciated everywhere.
A reply within the hour raises the signature rate everywhere.
Poorly defined usage rights cause problems everywhere.
A late delivery is remembered everywhere.
And an example visible in one click beats a long message everywhere.
What changes from one client to another
| Point | What varies | What stays the same |
|---|---|---|
| The language of exchanges | The client's | Nothing to assume |
| The language of the voice | The target audience's | It is asked, never guessed |
| The delivered formats | Nothing | The same technical requirements |
What is asked in the first message
Which language the client wants to correspond in, and which language the video must be delivered in. Those two answers do not always match, and merging them costs a reshoot.
What doubles the value of one shoot
Recording the voice in both languages on the same day. Twenty extra minutes produce two deliverables instead of one, and it is the simplest income lever on this market.
What your figures will probably tell you
Five frequent findings once the count is done.
Your reply rate depends above all on the sector you targeted.
Your average amount depends above all on the size of the companies contacted.
Your time to signature depends on the number of people involved.
Your failure rate is higher where you know the vocabulary least.
And the difference between the two halves is smaller than you thought, once those three elements are neutralised.
One last marker: in Belgium there really are two markets, but they do not divide where people think. Count before explaining, adapt to the counterpart rather than to the map, and keep the same price on both sides: that is what distinguishes a creator working in the whole country from one working in one half while explaining away the other.
