Global Marketing Mix Strategies
Global Marketing Mix Strategies
Global Marketing Mix Strategies
\
Global Marketing Strategies
Global marketing strategies are actually important parts of a global strategy. In
order to create a good global marketing strategy, you must be able to answer:
“What I am trying to achieve in an international market?” “What are my
company’s strengths and weaknesses for that market?” “How can I counter
challenges in the market?” “What potential will I have in this market?”
Moreover, a good global marketing strategy incorporates all the countries from
all regions of the world and coordinates their marketing efforts accordingly. Of
course, this strategy does not always cover all the countries but should be
applied for particular regions. For example, you can break down regions like
North America, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East, Asia and the
Pacific, and Africa.
Beyond its breakdown per country or region, a global marketing strategy almost
always consists of several things: (1) uniform brand names; (2) identical
packaging; (3) similar products; (4) standardized advertising messages; (5)
synchronized pricing; (6) coordinated product launches; and (7) harmonious
sales campaigns.
As a whole, these two are the most well-known global marketing strategies used
by companies expanding internationally:
Create a consistent and strong brand culture. Creating a strong and consistent
brand that always seems familiar to customers is a priority for companies
growing internationally. With the ever-more rising and expanding internet,
brand structure has become more of a brand culture. To be more specific, it has
become more prevalent nowadays that the brand you support reflects your
culture. It can be damaging if you compromise your brand culture. For example,
Google found out the hard way when it launched a self-censored search engine
in China, even though China subjects its new media to government blocks.
Google’s brand has been known to make the world access information at any
time. How can Google set up something in China against its own culture? As a
result, customer backlash versus Google was substantial.
Market as if there were no borders. Due to the proliferation of digital platforms,
brands cannot always adopt different strategies per country. In a way, due to the
internet, companies have to adopt a marketing approach that is more or less
unified.
Global Marketing Mix:Product
Basic marketing concepts tell us that we will sell more of a product if we aim to
meet the needs of our target market. In international markets this will involve
taking into consideration a number of different factors including consumer's
cultural backgrounds, religion, buying habits and levels of personal disposable
income. In many circumstances a company will have to adapt their product and
marketing mix strategy to meet local "needs and wants" that cannot be changed.
McDonalds is a global player however; their burgers are adapted to local needs.
In India where a cow is a sacred animal their burgers contain chicken or fish
instead of beef. In Mexico McDonalds burgers come with chilli sauce. Coca-
Cola is some parts of the world taste sweeter than in other places.
The arguments for standardisation state that the process of adapting the product
to local markets does little more than add to the overall cost of producing the
product and weakens the brand on the global scale. In today’s global world,
where consumers travel more, watch satellite television, communicate and shop
internationally over the internet, the world is a smaller than it used to be.
Because of this there is no need to adapt products to local markets. Brands such
as MTV, Nike, Levis are all successful global brands where they have a
standardised approach to their marketing mix, all these products are targeted at
similar groups globally.
As you can see both strategies; using a standard product and an customised
product can work just as well. The right approach for each organisation will
depend on their product, strength of the brand and the foreign market that the
marketing is aimed at.
The level of media development and availability will also need to be taken into
account. Is commercial television well established in your host country? What is
the level of television penetration? How much control does the government
have over advertising on TV, radio and Internet? Is print media more popular
than TV?
The internet has created further challenges as customers can view global prices
and purchase items from around the world. This has increased the level of
competition and with it pricing pressures, as global competitors may have lower
operating costs.
Coca cola
Even though Coca-Cola is a big corporation, it also concentrates on programs in
small communities and infuses a lot of funds and time in small charities.
Case in point, Coco-Cola built 650 clean water installations in Beni, Suef in
Egypt and sponsored meals (Ramadan) for children in the Middle East.
Moreover, the brand goes with an emotion that everyone knows — happiness.
Dominos
Domino’s positioned menu innovation in the forefront to increase its
international awareness and interest. They have consistent items for the pizza in
all markets like their sauce, bread, and cheese, where it works anywhere.
They just update the toppings for every market. If it is Asia, they have fish and
seafood, for example.
Dunkin’ Donuts
Did you know that Dunkin’ Donuts China has seaweed and dry pork donuts?
With thousands of stores in over 30 countries worldwide, Dunkin’ Donuts
updated its menus to satisfy its international consumers.
In Lebanon, they have the Mango Chocolate Donut; in South Korea, they have
the Grapefruit Coolatta; and in Russia, they have Dunclairs!