Living amidst the increasing global interconnectedness, organizations are venturing into international arenas. No longer confined to domestic markets, they are reaching a diverse range of audiences, expanding business operations beyond local boundaries. This expansion requires businesses to understand international markets, overcome language and cultural barriers, and form cross-border partnerships.
Expanding to global markets can be a challenging task. Moving to international markets requires a nuanced understanding of cultural intricacies. Requiring organizations to focus on international marketing strategies. This helps to guide them to tap the market potential and build on growth opportunities.
What happens in international marketing?
Businesses adjust their communication strategies, content placement, product features, distribution channels, and more to match the local practices. In this way, they manage to effectively establish a brand name in global markets. Grow their foreign operations, build brand recognition, spread consumer awareness, and achieve market success.
The concept of international marketing is not new; many brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s have been using this strategy for decades. What is new is the large-scale use of digital media, social channels, and navigating the geopolitical scenarios globally.
As an international marketing expert, the focus is on:
a. targeting audiences across multiple countries
b. multiple languages
c. deep understanding and adaptation to diverse cultural norms, traditions, pop culture references, preferences, etc.
d. complying with international laws, regulations, etc.
e. dealing in multiple currencies
f. broader range of international competition
g. high investment in research, translations, logistics, etc.
Leading strategies in international marketing
Here are some strategies that international marketers can build upon:
1. Localization
This means adapting the brand’s product or service to feel like it’s made for the local market. Even if the product comes from elsewhere. What does this mean? It simply means adapting popular local communication and cultural content. This can range from tweaking visuals, colours, language, slang, and designs to suit local preferences.
Let’s use the example of an investment app in this case. A good design means understanding Western style of ‘First-Last’ name format is not common in South Asia. In countries like Japan and South Korea, the ‘Last-First’ name is the norm. Brands that need users to sign up, like financial or investment apps, would gain more customer confidence from this small cultural nuance.
2. Glocalization
Another key international marketing tactic is the merging of the words – local and global. Marketing efforts that reflect a local flair but have a global appeal. Marketers must develop a larger strategy that is global.
It’s two-tiered, where the first tier is a global campaign setting the overarching theme. And the second tier is the local strategy. Where the local marketing team is given the flexibility to adjust the messaging and execution as it fits their region’s preferences, culture, and trends.
3. Transnational strategy
While this may sound like glocalization, here the difference is that brands focus on creating products and brand identities that create social, economic, and emotional connections in the new national markets. Based on deep-rooted marketing research and focus group learnings, brands tweak its products and marketing strategies. They find the sweet spot between being globally consistent and locally relevant.
While their core features stay standard (like the core features of a product), they customize features like packaging and advertising. Dove, as a brand, is a great example of transnational strategy.
4. Global standardization strategy
This refers to setting global marketing standards for all campaigns across cultures and countries. Brands run centralized global campaigns. It helps with brands where there is no difference between the usage and understanding of the product across cultures or countries. However, it is only practical for brands to learn when it’s time for a shift towards localization.
Think of brands like Nike and Adidas, which offer standard products, lifestyle & athletic shoes across international locations. They use a standardization policy to create a consistent brand experience. (Nike’s—Just Do It, to Adidas’s—Three stripes.)
Global brands with successful international marketing campaigns
1. Coca-Cola: Crafted campaigns to build ‘the universal beverage’
One of the most iconic brands, Coca-Cola, celebrates its customers with its marketing campaigns across global locations. Think of ‘Open Happiness’ and ‘Share a Coke’, campaigns that resonate at an emotional level globally. Another example is how they work with a global standard policy to merge into cultures easily. Like in Japan, they introduced vending machines based on their convenience culture, while in India, they marketed affordability and family values. Highlighting their think global, act local strategy, making them a global marketing success.
2. Dove: Curious study of how to build a globally inclusive brand
Dove is a masterclass in international marketing. They work with global purpose-driven marketing messaging. Running critical campaigns globally, like Dove’s ‘real beauty’ campaign. It’s globally recognized for its iconic visuals, tone, and social issues. In India, it focused on the self-esteem of women, supporting their natural skin tone, directly addressing cultural biases and norms. In Brazil, the brands focused on self-esteem in schools. It maintains a global mission of -Redefining beauty while adapting to social issues in each country.
Other examples include technology-first brands like Spotify and Airbnb. Showcasing their localization storytelling, culturally sensitive messaging, and data-driven approach. With Spotify’s annual Wrapped campaign, connecting global audiences to Airbnb’s user-generated content that encourages users to share stories, allowing marketing to be organic in every region, these brands are a curious study for international marketers.
Are you interested to learn how these brands have become global leaders? Gain more insights into the case studies of other global marketing campaigns.
Explore with us at MBA ESG, India with our global MBA International Marketing.
