visit us at https://blog.laowaicareer.comtweet us @laowaicareer

Contrast in Global Marketing Strategies

Click here to learn more about global marketing

strategies. If you have no idea what this means even more reason to

learn more :-p

Before a new market entry, a company must conduct a thorough cross-cultural analysis to

compare the differences and similarities between different country markets. In as much as there are

several risks involved in expanding the market worldwide, the benefits are also insurmountable and if you fail to provide a product to the world

market, your competitor will.

It’s important to note that some products are more appropriate for global market

expansion than others. However, any business type can benefit if it requires fewer changes in its global marketing strategies to reach consumer markets

anywhere in the world.

To take a business worldwide means that you will be able to find new markets for your

products or services, go into markets with less competition and reach new consumers

overseas. The cross-cultural is quite essential since it provides some insight on the

appropriate international strategy whether it is multi-domestic or global.

Global Marketing Strategy

This strategy makes an assumption that all consumers in all geographical regions

or countries are the same. This strategy is best suited for standardized products such as Coca-cola and copy machine,

where little or no product differentiation is required.

For instance, Coca-Cola can be found just anywhere in the world and can easily be

identified as such. It is imperative to note that in as much as countries have narrowed down their differences thanks to globalization, some small differences still which have a huge influence on

how exactly companies will look at and put plans in effect for global marketing behavior still occur.

Standardization Vs Localization

Since companies have begun to market their products globally, they are faced with

the dilemma of whether to standardize (the same marketing concept in each and

country) or localization (adjusting the marketing strategy to match the specific

dimensions of the local market).

For most companies, they decide on standardization of marketing mix for global

markets for cost or efficiency scores and also because of lack of consistent global

marketing strategy.

Standardization is a more cost-driven concept for marketers since it leads to supplying the same

product/service/template configuration to create economies of scale as well as cost savings. When you create a single strategy for the international

market and standardization of marketing mix elements, then you can gain consistency with

customers and also lower costs.

It’s believed that companies can easily achieve long-lasting success by solely concentrating on

producing a standardized product that is functional, reliable, low-priced and advanced rather than focusing on the specifics of what anybody else thinks they might prefer. This

easily leads to a much better resources allocation, higher profits, higher efficiency and

consistent marketing.

During the implementation of a standardized strategy, companies make an assumption of homogenized consumer requirements. Thus, minimally invest in international marketing

research in relation to changing the marketing mix. The marketing mix is made up of the

company’s efforts in relation to the 4 marketing P’s: Place (distribution), Product, Promotion,

and Price.

Pros• Expected quality level of a specific product to be the same around the

world• Supporting positive consumer perception of a specific product• Positive word-of-mouth can easily result in an increase in the sales

across the globe.• Cost reduction since selling in large quantities of a similar, standardized

product and buying content in bulk reduces the cost per unit.• Results in improved R& D, lowers cost of investment and marketing

operational costs.• Helps companies focus the same marketing mix especially on a single

product, thus aids for quality improvement.

Cons• Different markets would mean different preferences and

fail to recognize that might make the local market not to react, allowing for the competitors to gain the market share if their products are tailored to match domestic market needs, for instance, Walmart’s failure to get into the global market by imposing its values all over the world.

• Largely depends on economic scales (international markets and products) with several countries implementing trade barriers, localization id predestined.

Localization/ Adaptation

This global marketing plan takes into consideration the intrinsic diversity existing in global markets and treats people as ‘cultural beings’ whose behaviors and values are defined by the specific culture they

live in. The adaptation strategy focuses on understanding the local consumer needs and other

location-specific requirements then localizes the marketing mix as well as other business concepts to

satisfy consumer wants and needs.

Some brands have failed to localize their products with their communication offending some individuals

in global markets for instance Pepsi, Colgate and Chevrolet had non-localized messages which were

misinterpreted in several countries. China’s automobile industry also faced global barriers related

to the perceptions that Chinese cars are of poor quality despite the industry growing too fast and

being ready for the global expansion.

If localization is done properly, it can really save you some bucks because the cost of repositioning after offending a number of

consumers can be very high and sometimes the damage is permanent. To localize the

product names into local languages without necessarily compromising brand identity can

be quite a challenge.

Also, the issues of packaging are also differently perceived in a different

culture, for instance, a golf ball company lost potential markets in China and Japan for packaging the balls in fours and in the

two countries number four sounds like death hence considered bad luck.

Even with the challenges, many companies have found a way to

perfectly target the international markets by proactively localizing their

marketing mix and product, for instance, McDonald’s and KFC.

In China, the two companies have always had success stories and

recorded profits in China even with the financial crisis. They have achieved this

by localizing their food retailing strategies and menus.

Another example would be Unilever which saw an opportunity with low-income Indians

who wished to buy the high-end personal care products and detergents but could

never afford them. The company would then develop low-end packaging to ensure that

they could be able to access them.

Pros• Customers keep their landmark and

feel noticed• Respect local specifications and

expectations• Excellent local image.

Cons• Higher cost, it’s quite expensive when

trying to localize a product.• Time-consuming and poor speed of

execution• Difficulty to know what consumers really

want.

Ultimately, it’s all about striking the balance since both global business

concepts have logical, coherent and rational advantages as well as valid

inefficiencies. To this effect, it’s safe to say that marketing for multinationals doesn’t

lie on either of the two but when they coexist especially in the same country.

Click on the link below to read the full blog post! Don’t forget to comment, share, tweet…

https://www.laowaicareer.com/blog/contrast-global-marketing-strategies

/

LaowaiCareer.comblog.LaowaiCareer.com

• Search Jobs• Register as a Job seeker.• Subscribe to our Newsletter, Job offers and Blo

gs• Read our blog