Global marketing is nothing but marketing done on national and international level and which involves understanding the similarities, dissimilarities and taking advantage of the opportunities to attain the goal. Concentrating on global marketing is as important as concentrating on domestic marketing if a company is aiming to increase sales.
The domestic market has become saturated in most categories of products and services, in all industrialized countries and hence, they started to deal with other countries to increase their sales. Usually in such case, goods that are too expensive for the domestic customers to buy are exported to other well-off countries.
When a company does marketing within the boundaries of a specific county, it has to compete with other domestic companies as well as international companies who are a part of the market. The marketing steps taken by the professionals are based on the taste of a specific audience. The product might not suit the taste of customers at a higher level. The other domestic companies that plan to go global hinder the growth of such companies. They become invisible at the international level as they are unable to cope with the growing competition and might not be aware of potential competitors. The product development is dependant on the need of the local residents. Such kinds of businesses are ethnocentric and are only bothered about their performance in the domestic marketplace.
Companies planning to go global should start with export to a foreign client first. The returns wouldn’t be satisfying in the beginning. The export department can be introduced at the headquarters that deals with all the laws. There can be a possibility of becoming secondary exporters by bringing export management company into the picture, who will deal with the language problem, time difference, paperwork and customers. If managing the exports without any help, the export department can be started at an office located abroad. This office works in collaboration with the regional headquarters. But the respective offshore offices take the marketing decisions, as they will have best knowledge about the particular market they are operating in.
Multinational marketing involves marketing in many countries. The marketing is based on the requirements of different countries and the returns are rewarding. Each region should be studied individually based on development, production and marketing. Such kinds of markets are known as region centric. Global marketing involves the whole globe. The entire world is summarized as a single market and the products that are released in the market should fit the needs of any regional marketplace. Marketers all over the world make the marketing decisions. Such a kind of market is known as geocentric.
Automotive industry is one such market that saw a global boost in sales during the last fifty years. Earlier only the local companies like Ford and General Motors used to produce cars in America, but today other international competitors like Toyota and Honda are operating in the same market and have out done the local companies. Another key factor to the global marketing is the Internet, which introduced e-commerce. Businesses went going online and global. This encouraged the sales of the company and the figures are only increasing because of ever increasing Internet users. The geographical location of customers is no longer a hindrance. Global marketing management and business-to-business e-commerce is growing rapidly.
Product, price, placement and promotion are the elements of global marketing. The product created should be such that it can sell anywhere using the same method. It should consider the primary elements of all the markets. However, the language in which the product is named can be changed, where as the content can remain the same. The price is never constant. It should be decided after reviewing the market and the currency of the country. The variables which affect prices are location where the product is being produced, cost of ingredients, transportation charges, labor charges, etc.
Placement is how the product is distributed and how it reaches the targeted market. Like in third world countries, there is a lack of superstores, so they can be placed or sold at ordinary shops. After the product is developed and distributed, it should be promoted precisely known as advertising, promotion is one of the major steps of marketing and consumes major part of the budget. If it is possible to send out the same message worldwide in a relevant and cost-effective way, it sure must be put into practice but the challenge is really big.
How to make a marketing campaign appealing?
Marketing campaigns cannot survive if they boring. Everyday there are more than three thousand marketing messages reaching out to the customers and it is really a huge competition if one expects to be recognized among the crowd. This message should talk to the customer and influence his mind. Strong, creative, confident and exciting are the key factors that a message should have, as that will embed it into the customer’s thinking and he remembers it for a longer time. The customer should feel empowered and should think of taking some action right away. For instance Nike’s catch line is Just do it, it’s a line that has such a great impact on the minds of the people that they use that line even when talking about everything else, along with Nike products. It is obvious that by adding certain features, the marketing appeal can be multiplied.
Scientists agree to the fact that using visuals to make a person learn something is the best option than any other means and as one of the famous saying goes “a picture speaks a thousand words”. So the best bet is to add visuals to promote marketing. Visuals can be anything like pictures, animations, or graphics. See yourself what wonders it does by placing a picture of a representative and products on the company’s website. This not only brings the customers close but also strengthens the relationship.
Different colors depict different types of emotions. Messages can be delivered to people suing colors and meaning can be added to it. Red and blue are colors liked by aggressive shoppers where as yellow color can catch good attention of the on lookers. Green reflects health, money and nourishment, so it can be used in food advertisement. Black means strength and power that is why it has been used by Jaguar, on their website background and advertisement. Wealth and royalty means purple. Colors used on business cards can also be used to attract the customers. But the colors should be carefully played with, too much can be distracting. A professional help can be sought when selecting colors for business cards, website font, website background, logo, etc., to send the right message. On websites, fonts can be added which change colors and graphics that move.
There are lots of options available when thinking of what technology to use. The good news is that most of the options are cheap and easy to use. Audios and videos can be added to your website to attract attention. Like when one visits the Pepsi homepage, they are greeted with energetic music, which attracts teenagers instantly. To make a more realistic approach, welcome message, introduction video, interviews, or how the goods are produced, can be added to the website. Hearing a voice can be very touching and a rapport can be immediately developed with the visitor. Like Adidas’ website opens with a video which truly fits their punch line, Impossible is nothing.
Business cards should be outstanding and at its creative best. Professionally designed graphics can be added to a brochure type of card. Information about the company, contact information, quotations, and picture can be added on four sides of it. The fonts should be the same.
Just listing the benefits isn’t enough. Customers want more, they want their needs to be met. Like if some is thinking of buying an exercise equipment, don’t just say that the machine has display, automatic incline, cooling device, CD player, programs, but also add that there is a program with audio instructions which encourages the person to do exercise, which is meant for people who need real motivation to get out of their couch and to start sweating out. So convey exactly why the customer should use the product, be more precise.
Uniqueness is the biggest key factor. Not only should the products and services be unique, the marketing campaign should be unique too. Not only will the effort be appreciated but also the impression will be everlasting. Once faith of customers is gained, they will be like free walking advertisement and will spread the word to their friends and acquaintances like anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment