in today's marketplaces global business
and international marketing have never
been easier with so many options and
tools online brands can expand their
operations into nations and reach
untapped markets creating an
international marketing strategy however
is not easy there are many fundamental
issues that need to be considered when
marketing to different cultures some big
brands have made embarrassing blunders
when trying to cross over into new
markets so
what is international marketing exactly
what are the fundamentals for creating
an international marketing strategy
let's dive in
international marketing can be defined
as the tactics and methods used to
market products and services in multiple
countries this could be in the form of
import or export franchising licensing
and online sales each country represents
a unique challenge for marketers because
of culture language
laws
and other factors these challenges can
also be present on regional and local
levels which require even more targeted
techniques the decisions to do business
internationally and launch an
international marketing campaign could
be any of these examples expanding brand
awareness economic growth in a new
country new commerce laws untapped or
underserved markets and international
partnerships or joint ventures launching
a global operation can be simple or
extremely complicated consider a us
business expanding into canada versus
expanding into romania for example there
are much wider cultural and linguistic
differences time and distance
considerations as well as wider
differences in economic structures and
regulations what are the fundamentals of
international marketing
as with any new project or campaign
thorough research is essential when
entering a new market that is vastly
different from your own this is even
more true overall you want to gain a
deep understanding of your international
target market let's check some of the
fundamentals of international marketing
to consider before moving forward number
one understand the language and culture
it may go without saying but in order to
market to other nations you need to gain
a better understanding of their culture
and language perhaps you have already
established a connection with that
culture and that's why you've decided to
enter the market if not it will serve
you well to have a local partner or
representative that can give you an
insight into what makes the market tick
europe is a great example of a continent
that has many different cultures and
languages within a relatively small
geographic area people's languages
lifestyles daily routines and purchasing
decisions can change greatly between
countries and even regions of the same
nation humor isn't universal either and
marketing attempts at humor could fall
flat or even offend people so having as
much insight into the specificities of
each market as possible is a major
advantage for example lays has mastered
regional marketing by creating regional
flavors like magic masala in india or
hit the ham flavor in spain one way to
lower the barrier to international
expansion is by first entering countries
similar to your own these could be
nations with the same language ones that
are close to you or ones that have
similar demographics still there are
plenty of cultural and regional
linguistic differences between countries
like the us and the uk and this is where
market research pays off two do thorough
market research market research is vital
to any marketing campaign there are
numerous factors that should be taken
into account when considering or
assessing a foreign market for example
cultural differences it's vital that you
understand customs traditions religious
beliefs and how they fit or clash with
what your brand represents economics is
there an ongoing recession or a surge in
investment in growth economic timing is
an important factor to take into account
legalities and regulations laws vary
from country to country this is
especially true when it comes to alcohol
or vehicle modifications for example
certain food preservatives that are
legal in the us are illegal in europe so
doing thorough research before expanding
is always a wise choice politics is your
target region more conservative or more
liberal is there political stability
these factors play a huge role in
whether it's worth your investment if
stability is an issue cost how expensive
is it to do business in the country
shipping licenses and translation
services can quickly add to your
overhead some nations have prohibitive
taxes and fees on businesses which might
be pitfalls demographics some countries
have much older or younger populations
than others buying power is also an
important consideration can enough
people even afford your products or
services number three global seo with
proflang and canonical links while
legally targeted social ads are a great
way to market internationally building
up your global seo is a better long-term
approach if you've already established a
foreign market for your products
investing in your seo is highly
recommended international marketing will
likely require you to have separate
language versions of your website
maximize your seo and provide a smooth
user experience for consumers by using
ruffling tags in your code a good
practice is using canonical links to let
google know that your versions of the
same site are not duplicate content
riffling tags serve up the appropriate
version of your site to users based on
their location and therefore reduce
bounce rates number four create specific
social accounts just like having
multiple language versions of your site
you might also consider doing the same
for social accounts people want content
in their native language and it may help
you as a marketer to connect with them
in any and every way possible that being
said if you run a relatively small
operation it might be overkill to
maintain international social accounts
but if you're receiving many requests
and communications in a foreign language
you may want to set up a social account
for that language or region now that you
have a better image of how international
marketing works and its fundamentals
let's see four examples of successful
international marketing strategies
dunkin donuts dunkin donuts now has
around 3 200 stores in more than 30
countries how has a donut chain become
so successful on a global scale because
they adapt their donuts to appeal to
local tastes in china they serve up pork
and seaweed donuts and in india it's
saffron and pistachio donuts if your
budget allows for it customize your
offerings to match unique regional
tastes spotify spotify has grown into
one of the most successful brands that's
because they don't simply offer genres
of music for their listeners they offer
music suggestions based on activities
like exercise
or relaxation
this crosses borders and allows new
artists to reach audiences while they
might not otherwise have connected with
airbnb airbnb harnessed the power of
hashtags on social media to generate
engagement and spread brand awareness
the
oneless stranger encouraged people in
the airbnb community to perform acts of
hospitality and take photos or videos
with their guests the social campaign
was an incredible success with around 3
million people participating around the
world so creating a viral social
strategy could also work for you and put
you on the spot red bull red bull is
extremely good at making people think
it's a local brand they do this by
hosting events all around the world like
their air race in the uk grand prix in
indianapolis and rally events and
rotating locals redbull also has their
site and content in many languages with
localized content and that's all for
today i hope you found the information
useful and you learned more about
international marketing strategies and
their fundamental aspects don't forget
to like or comment or even subscribe to
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