Browsing Category: "International Marketing"
The world is increasingly becoming a smaller place to live and experience – thanks to globalization and modern technology. Call it the Domino Effect or otherwise, businesses are no longer remaining to the confines of a single state. Markets and economies are expanding and so are the developing countries. One of the best and the most lucrative of all jobs is the marketing job and in the international scenario – it has incentives unparalleled elsewhere. International marketing employment has truly become the buzzword of the modern days. So what does it take to be an international marketing job?Job Profile• Creativity: Creativity sells and how! Marketing jobs are getting trickier by the day and more so because of the ‘international’ word being attached to it. You’re now catering to more people than ever before and that too with varied tastes. Quite literally, if a dish is a delicacy in a country – it may be frowned upon in other countries! You need to jerk your grey cells and start thinking like you have never before.• Time: Time is a precious entity in international marketing jobs but is as scarce. That is, there are no fixed job hours for an individual. It may be the most lucrative and high-paying job on the planet, but is as exhausting. This is precisely the reason why only a few manage to cling onto the top!• Personality: Personality and appearance go hand in hand and especially when you’re catering to a global market, you always need to be in your best form. You cannot afford to be lax or complacent. The moment you fall in to the trap – someone else takes over. You need to give your best and that too every time.• Think Global: Think from the perspective of the customer you’re going to serve. This will help you market your product well. Broaden your horizons – it is time to go global. • Knowledge: International marketing jobs have a requisite that you need to upgrade your knowledge base every now and then. You cannot sell with your ‘cobwebbed’ knowledge. Upgrade yourself often and make sure you know better than the client you’re going to serve! Always be one up on the customer.There are international marketing opportunities that can be availed by sitting at some even! They pay less but are an attractive option too. You just need to have an active internet connection and you’ll be in no time starting your international marketing job. You can do the following things online to market internationally:• Write Blogs• Create websites• Help people troubleshoot their problems and market your product in between.• Indirect marketing by putting up advertisements on other websites.There are many ways you can earn. One needs a correct perspective and a positive attitude to find the best.
International Marketing
Guided by :Dr.Jelsy joseph
Director,Dept of management studies&research
KARPAGAM UNIVERSITY,COIMBATORE
International marketing refers to MARKETING carried out by companies overseas or across national borderlines . Companies must consider language barriers, ideals, and customs in the market they are approaching. International marketing is simply the application of marketing principles to more than one country. At its simplest level, international marketing involves the firm in making one or more marketing mix decisions across national boundaries. At its most complex level, it involves the firm in establishing manufacturing facilities overseas and coordinating marketing strategies across the globe.
Elements of the international marketing mix:
The “Four P’s” of marketing: product, price, placement, and promotion are all affected as a company moves through the five evolutionary phases to become a global company. Ultimately, at the global marketing level, a company trying to speak with one voice is faced with many challenges when creating a worldwide marketing plan. Unless a company holds the same position against its competition in all markets (market leader, low cost, etc.) it is impossible to launch identical marketing plans worldwide.
Product
A global company is one that can create a single product and only have to tweak elements for different markets. For example, Coca-Cola uses two formulas (one with sugar, one with corn syrup) for all markets. The product packaging in every country incorporates the contour bottle design and the dynamic ribbon in some way, shape, or form. However, the bottle or can also includes the country’s native language and is the same size as other beverage bottles or cans in that country.
Price will always vary from market to market. Price is affected by many variables: cost of product development (produced locally or imported), cost of ingredients, cost of delivery (transportation, tariffs, etc.), and much more. Additionally, the product’s position in relation to the competition influences the ultimate profit margin. Whether this product is considered the high-end, expensive choice, the economical, low-cost choice, or something in-between helps determine the price point.
How the product is distributed is also a country-by-country decision influenced by how the competition is being offered to the target market. Using Coca-Cola as an example again, not all cultures use vending machines. In the United States, beverages are sold by the pallet via warehouse stores. In India, this is not an option. Placement decisions must also consider the product’s position in the market place. For example, a high-end product would not want to be distributed via a “dollar store” in the United States. Conversely, a product promoted as the low-cost option in France would find limited success in a pricey boutique.
After product research, development and creation, promotion (specifically advertising) is generally the largest line item in a global company’s marketing budget. At this stage of a company’s development, integrated marketing is the goal. The global corporation seeks to reduce costs, minimize redundancies in personnel and work, maximize speed of implementation, and to speak with one voice. If the goal of a global company is to send the same message world wide, then delivering that message in a relevant, engaging, and cost-effective way is the challenge. Effective global advertising techniques do exist. The key is testing advertising ideas using a marketing research system proven to provide results that can be compared across countries. The ability to identify which elements or moments of an ad are contributing to that success is how economies of scale are maximized. Market research measures such as flow of attention & flow of motion and branding moments provide insights into what is working in an ad in any country because the measures are based on visual, not verbal, elements of the ad.
Advantages of international marketing
Product Issues in International Marketing
Product Need Satisfaction. We often take for granted the “obvious” need that products seem to fill in our own culture; however, functions served may be very different in others—for example, while cars have a large transportation role in the U.S., they are impractical to drive in Japan, and thus cars there serve more of a role of being a status symbol or providing for individual indulgence. In the U.S., fast food and instant drinks such as Tang are intended for convenience; elsewhere, they may represent more of a treat. Thus, it is important to examine through marketing research consumers’ true motives, desires, and expectations in buying a product.
The International Product Life Cycle (PLC). Consumers in different countries differ in the speed with which they adopt new products, in part for economic reasons (fewer Malaysian than American consumers can afford to buy VCRs) and in part because of attitudes toward new products (pharmaceuticals upset the power afforded to traditional faith healers, for example). Thus, it may be possible, when one market has been saturated, to continue growth in another market—e.g., while somewhere between one third and one half of American homes now contain a computer, the corresponding figures for even Europe and Japan are much lower and thus, many computer manufacturers see greater growth potential there. Note that expensive capital equipment may also cycle between countries—e.g., airlines in economically developed countries will often buy the newest and most desired aircraft and sell off older ones to their counterparts in developing countries. While in developed countries, “three part” canning machines that solder on the bottom with lead are unacceptable for health reasons, they have found a market in developing countries.
Branding. While Americans seem to be comfortable with category specific brands, this is not the case for Asian consumers. American firms observed that their products would be closely examined by Japanese consumers who could not find a major brand name on the packages, which was required as a sign of quality. Note that Japanese keiretsus span and use their brand name across multiple industries—e.g., Mitsubishi, among other things, sells food, automobiles, electronics, and heavy construction equipment.
PROMOTIONAL ISSUES
Promotional objectives. Promotional objectives involve the question of what the firm hopes to achieve with a campaign—“increasing profits” is too vague an objective, since this has to be achieved through some intermediate outcome (such as increasing market share, which in turn is achieved by some change in consumers which cause them to buy more). Some common objectives that firms may hold:
Legal issues. Countries differ in their regulations of advertising, and some products are banned from advertising on certain media (large supermarket chains are not allowed to advertise on TV in France, for example). Other forms of promotion may also be banned or regulated. In some European countries, for example, it is illegal to price discriminate between consumers, and thus coupons are banned and in some, it is illegal to offer products on sale outside a very narrow seasonal and percentage range.
Language issues. Language is an important element of culture. It should be realized that regional differences may be subtle. For example, one word may mean one thing in one Latin American country, but something off-color in another. It should also be kept in mind that much information is carried in non-verbal communication. In some cultures, we nod to signify “yes” and shake our heads to signify “no;” in other cultures, the practice is reversed. Within the context of language:
Writing patterns, or the socially accepted ways of writing, will differs significantly between cultures.
Pricing Issues in International Marketing
Price can best be defined in ratio terms, giving the equation
resources given upprice = ——————————————— goods received
This implies that there are several ways that the price can be changed:
Reference Prices. Consumers often develop internal reference prices, or expectations about what something should cost, based mostly on their experience. Most drivers with long commutes develop a good feeling of what gasoline should cost, and can tell a bargain or a ripoff.
Reference prices are more likely to be more precise for frequently purchased and highly visible products. Therefore, retailers very often promote soft drinks, since consumers tend to have a good idea of prices and these products are quite visible. The trick, then, is to be more expensive on products where price expectations are muddier.
Marketers often try to influence people’s price perceptions through the use of external reference prices—indicators given to the consumer as to how much something should cost. Examples include:
CULTURE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Culture is part of the external influences that impact the consumer. That is, culture represents influences that are imposed on the consumer by other individuals.
The definition of culture offered one text is “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of society.” From this definition, we make the following observations:
Culture has several important characteristics:
(1) Culture is comprehensive. This means that all parts must fit together in some logical fashion. For example, bowing and a strong desire to avoid the loss of face are unified in their manifestation of the importance of respect.
(2) Culture is learned rather than being something we are born with. We will consider the mechanics of learning later in the course.
(3) Culture is manifested within boundaries of acceptable behavior. For example, in American society, one cannot show up to class naked, but wearing anything from a suit and tie to shorts and a T-shirt would usually be acceptable. Failure to behave within the prescribed norms may lead to sanctions, ranging from being hauled off by the police for indecent exposure to being laughed at by others for wearing a suit at the beach.
(4) Conscious awareness of cultural standards is limited. One American spy was intercepted by the Germans during World War II simply because of the way he held his knife and fork while eating.
(5) Cultures fall somewhere on a continuum between static and dynamic depending on how quickly they accept change. For example, American culture has changed a great deal since the 1950s, while the culture of Saudi Arabia has changed much less.
CONCLUSION
If the exporting departments are becoming successful but the costs of doing business from headquarters plus time differences, language barriers, and cultural ignorance are hindering the company’s competitiveness in the foreign market, then offices could be built in the foreign countries. Sometimes companies buy firms in the foreign countries to take advantage of relationships, storefronts, factories, and personnel already in place. These offices still report to headquarters in the home market but most of the marketing mix decisions are made in the individual countries since that staff is the most knowledgeable about the target markets. Local product development is based on the needs of local customers. These marketers are considered polycentric because they acknowledge that each market/country has different needs.
Data mining is a niche marketing method that allows you to link data to your customer and prospect profile. This data allows you to market directly to those that are most likely to need, want and be able purchase your goods and services.
Conceptually this dramatically increases your probability for a sale.
Internal marketing is controlled and run by you. You may contract out certain parts of your internal marketing plan, such as advertising, but the overall plan is managed by you. After all, if you don’t do it, who will?
Effective marketing should bring your business a steady stream of good prospects as well as keep your company foremost in the minds of your current customers. It is management’s responsibility to make this happen.
First, understand what data you need and why you need it. Second, try to get data that is “cleaner” so your results will be less flawed.
Obviously bad data is a waste of time and money as the effort expended is not on the optimal targeted niche market. Any effort that is not on the targeted niche bull’s eye is in most instances wasted effort.
Once this data is available, it must be analyzed to sort out what your prospects need and how your business meets that need.
Whatever data mining strategy you use, it should align very closely to your business strategy of generating optimal results. That is why you are in business, no?
Apply a good analysis that targets your prospect or customer profile. You can do a technical analysis or an ‘anecdotal’ analysis to find out the best ways to reach your target markets. Or do both; by gaining perspective you gain insight.
Focus on at least one primary benefit your prospect gets from your products and services. It is a good idea to look at the entire list of benefits your products/services can deliver; intuitively the most important benefits would become marketing ‘hooks’.
Design some form of a “Call to Action” that generates a specific result, such as a visit to your store or a phone inquiry.
Simply knowing your business is there is OK but it does not mean a sale or even a potential sale. The important point is to focus on the customer and prospect profile you create and market to that profile.
Make sure your marketing stands out so it will be noticed. Remember that pretty is nice but it might not stand out. Consider being bodacious to get noticed.
It’s OK to use tricks to attract attention but benefits are what sell. Make sure your marketing efforts don’t appear as if you are hustling gimmicks.
Timing is critical. Make sure your message is a timely and relevant to your prospects. To sweeten the pie, add incentives such as a discount if purchased before a certain date.
Track your responses, refine your approach, and market again. Repeat consistently for better results. Remember the best and most accurate data is gathered internally and consistently.
Getting that good data is the key to successful data mining marketing. The good news is that data is becoming more available. Whether it be yourself or a colleague who attains one, but a data mining degree is integral to your companies success with internal marketing.
Good data is now available on new parents, homeowners, travelers, car owners, etc. It’s up to you to find and mine that data.
With all the above considered, apply your business expertise and business knowledge to your advantage. If you see a new trend in your business, take that trend into account in your marketing analysis.
Use what you know, but be hungry and open to learn more. One of the real advantages to using data mining is that it can help you learn more about your markets.
The more you know, the more competitive you will be.
Although data mining is relatively new, it is showing great promise for big ticket and repeatable sales.
The real potential for mid-size and smaller businesses is the ability to combine new technologies in marketing applications that are innovative and results driven in large niche markets.
For example, by combining analyzed data with variable image printing, personalized mailings can reach high probability prospects with products and services they need. These personalized messages stand out and are likely to be saved and used by the prospect since they are relevant.
In today’s market just “getting the word out” is not enough. As we are bombarded with thousands of marketing messages each day, simply being one of the crowd does not bring results.
The good news is that by using customer and prospect data you can internally target market those customers that can afford and benefit from your products and services.
What else do you need?