Global Marketing in 5 Steps

When companies attempt to expand their businesses into the global market, many times they are unsuccessful. Crystal Vilkatis, writer for Red Rocket Media Group, explains that it is because marketing efforts are not adapted to reflect the specific country's differing values, beliefs, and culture. In her article Global Marketing: 5 Steps to Succession, she suggests that companies need to change their marketing approach when working internationally. She introduces 5 steps that can help companies move to a global level and market internationally.

Her first vital suggestion, which encompasses all others: Research .. and research more. Market research is especially important when marketing internationally because the targeted audience is much different than previous audiences. Researching demographics is important to discovering where there is a want or need for the product.

Vilkatis stresses learning as much as possible about the country being marketed. Cultural differences have a significant impact on what messages are portrayed where. Countries can differ in so many ways. This includes language, religion, social structure, and education. There are also vast differences in values, preferences, tastes, and traditions. If, she says, one does not take the cultural differences into account then most likely their campaigns will be considered meaningless. This ineffectiveness can damage the credibility of the company.

Through research, Vilkatis suggests identifying important groups of consumers through market segmentation. This can be done through demographics, social factors, psychological traits, and any other purchasing behavior that sets a group apart. Once a segment is determined, a marketing mix that will appeal to them must be created. This unique mix contains choices about product attributes and various strategies for communicating the message, which includes distribution, pricing, and placement.

Vilkatis's forth suggestion requires looking at the world more as a single entity. Discovering similarities between consumers all over the world creates new segment groups who can be targeted in the same way. Values, age, and lifestyle choices are three traits that frequently translate into similar purchasing behaviors. If companies can do this then, in some cases, they can sell a standardized product worldwide using the same basic marketing mix.

Vilkatis final step requires a look into whether standardized advertising is the best option for the campaign. Using the same ads instead of developing new ones per country is a huge money saver and may yield more results, but streamlining a campaign to fit more than one country is no easy task. Cultural diversity makes it hard to develop one message that will be successful worldwide. Also standing in the way are various laws and regulations, which vary from country to country. Vilkatis points out that what might be acceptable in one country is illegal in another.

Vilkatis major suggestion, it appears, is to do your homework. Find out who you are targeting and what the best way to reach them is. If you're lucky, maybe the message can work in more then one place. The most important thing is finding how the product is needed or used and then attempting to reach the people who want it.

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Red Rocket Magazine