Digital Marketing is a dynamic field. It constantly changes every day with a rapid speed and that is evident through the trends that we as a Digital Marketing Agency keep a track of on daily basis. In this cut-throat competitive world where there are so many agencies coming up on a daily basis, people are also alert and updated. They only want to work with the innovative and top notch branding agency who keeps a watch on Digital Marketing trends. In order to be consistent and for maintaining our success rate we as a top digital marketing agency identify all the current trends and try to capitalize on the some. Below are some of the strategies that best digital marketing agency follows:

Marketing through Mobiles :

We see a mobile in every hand these days! Don’t we? Mobile is today being used by the masses and thus should be targeted by the marketers on a priority basis. Being completely compact, easy to carry and accessible, the frequency of content that people read on a mobile is much more than they read it on laptops or computers. Google has specially mentioned in their various press conferences that to facilitate search engine optimization on mobiles is their main criteria. Thus we as the best SEO company in Gurgaon focus on content that is readable on Mobile phones.

Spreading the content on Social Media

We have vast experience as a Social Media Marketing Agency and thus we know the kind of power that content has! Content is basically fire that ignites all the Social Media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and so on within seconds after it gets posted! Content is basically a bait that is used to catch the audience attention. Every platform has it’s own set of trends and followers. Being the top Social Media Agency, we focus on powerful content and then drain all our resources in spreading it like a forest fire on Social Media Platforms. Always remember that the content that you post on LinkedIn must have both formal and professional tone unlike Facebook and Twitter. 

Video interaction with audience

Today do you have time to read a lot of content? Do you prefer reading a novel or prefer watching a movie made on the same? The answer is unanimous! Movies! In this always running time, people have hardly got the time to sit back and read the content that is on Social Media Platforms. But the video that they see not only entertain them but also stays in their mind for a longer period of time. So, always focus on making and posting videos that are both engaging and entertaining! This generates much more audience traffic.

Pay for what you promote

In the yesteryears people spent very less on online marketing. But today the scenario has changes. We as a PPC Marketing Agency have observed the trend where marketers and brands invest a lot of money and resources to promote their products or services on various Social Media platforms. With this they target specific audience and specific demography which yields them fruitful results!

Do you have any other trend on mind that we missed? Do let us know!

http://www.silverstrokecommunications.com/

Source by sunita

Societal marketing: McDonald’s
Business executives are often perplexed by the continuous expansion of society’s expectations of corporations. For example, in the corporate world, numerous laws and extensive government regulation affect virtually every aspect of business activities. They touch “almost every business decision ranging from the production of goods and services to their packaging, distribution, marketing, and service” (Carroll, 1979, p. 98). Thus, not only are companies held responsible for maximizing profits for the owners and shareholders and for operating within the legal framework, they are also expected to support their employees’ quality of work life, to demonstrate their concern for the communities within which their businesses operate, to minimize the impact of various hazards on the global environment, and to engage in purely social or philanthropic endeavors.
Among researchers, this issue has provoked an especially rich and diverse literature investigating the role of business in society. Research in this area has followed two major streams. The most popular of these studies have focused on the relationship between a firm’s social responsibility and its financial performance (McGuire, J., Sundgren, A., & Scheeweis, T., 1988, p. 858). The other stream of studies has examined the effect of board members’ demographic and non-demographic characteristics on their individual corporate social responsiveness orientation (Wood, 1991, p. 389).
Since the societal marketing involves some kind of corporate response to social demands, the first step is to identify and classify the numerous social needs. There are three categories of such needs. First, survival needs consist of the various needs that are necessary for individual members of the social segment to survive, such as food, shelter, and the preservation or restoration of one’s health.
A second category is concerned with safety needs. These are the needs that are necessary to protect the members of the social segment from external and internal threats. Not only do nations have defense establishments for protection from external threats, but they also enact and enforce laws to protect individuals and groups from others in society. Such laws cover numerous areas ranging from environmental protection to safeguarding individual liberties.
The third category is composed of various growth needs which, in turn, can be broken down into material needs and spiritual needs. The former are concerned with the enrichment of the social segment through economics (the allocation of limited resources) and technology (the use of tools and techniques to generate wealth). Spiritual needs are related to the spiritual growth of the social segment; they include metaphysics, education, science, arts, and entertainment.
Social segments expect different agents to fulfill these needs. These agents can be an individual (e.g., a parent who supports a family), a group (e.g., political parties and interest groups who represent their members), a business organization (e.g., a corporation which supports inner city revitalization), a not-for-profit organization (e.g., a hospital that provides services to the community), and government (e.g., for protection from external threats). Both the type and extent of the needs to be fulfilled and the agent who is expected to satisfy these needs will depend upon the social segment’s culture and ethics, the legal environment, and the degree to which the members of the social segment perceive that such needs are not fulfilled.
As a key member of society, a corporation should take into account the societal needs that are expected to be met by business. These needs constitute a social demand. Thus, social demand incorporates not only demand for a firm’s products and services, but also extends to the fulfillment of other societal needs. With this framework in mind, it can be stated that the scope of a business organization, i.e., what products and services it provides, is determined both by the organization itself and by society’s expectations. In other words, it can be said that a given firm operating in two different social segments has, in effect, two different scopes. Failure on the part of an organization to understand and satisfy the various demands of the social segments within which it operates will lead to its rejection by society and its eventual demise. Consequently, a firm’s mission and objectives should not only address traditional organizational concerns such as profitability and markets served, but should also be concerned with determining and meeting various societal expectations.
One of the aspects of the societal marketing includes alliances that have arisen between environmentalist groups and businesses in the last decade. The new relationships have been described as path breaking and innovative (e.g., Long & Arnold, 1995; Wasik, 1996). Typically, they are distinguishable from the prior charitable (e.g., donations to or sponsorships of environmental causes) and commercial relationships (e.g., calendars, T-shirts produced for environmental groups) because they engage the expert knowledge of the environmental group and involve it, to varying degrees, in joint problem solving or strategic decision making with the corporate partner (Clair, Milliman, & Mitroff, 1995, p. 188). In this category are green product endorsements, audits by environmental groups of business programs or practices, and joint projects of the type engaged in by green alliance between McDonald’s and Environmental Defense Fund, where the corporate partner’s business practices are evaluated and improved according to ecological criteria.
Green alliances also function rhetorically in a more complex way than traditional business-environmentalist relationships. Here I follow Levy who has pointed out that environmental management – that is, corporate practices to reduce the ecological harm of economic processes – serves symbolic and political purposes by helping to construct business as green and thus to legitimate its role as manager of the natural environment (1997, p. 127). Green alliances, a strategy within corporate environmental management, also have symbolic and political value – for both partners. The corporation borrows not only the environmental expertise, but also the credibility, of the ecology group, which by its allegiance implicitly or explicitly endorses company actions – e.g., producing earth-friendly products and services or operating in pollution-free ways (Ottman, 1994, p. 86). The partnership also brings corporate actors into the group of those to be entrusted with the work of saving the earth.
McDonald’s is the leader of the fast-food industry, with worldwide operations employing approximately 500,000 people in 11,000 restaurants and serving 22 million customers a day. At the time Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) approached McDonald’s, its entanglement in controversy over its packaging frustrated the company. From EDF’s perspective, McDonald’s leadership position, its problematic history of waste management, and the iconic value of waste management as an environmental issue made the company an attractive candidate for partnership. EDF saw significant opportunity for both environmental action and a major, high visibility, opportunity to test its innovative approach to environmental problem-solving through corporate partnerships.
With environmentalism on the rise among the general public in the 1980s, consumer-driven businesses were particularly subject to and sensitive about public pressure (Livesey, 1993, pp. 2-4). Plastic had been demonized by several environmentalist organizations including the grassroots groups Greenpeace and CCHW. The use-and-dispose philosophy at the core of McDonald’s business and its distinctive plastic clamshell sandwich boxes, which helped to make the company one of the largest single users of polystyrene in the United States, had made McDonald’s a continuing target of ecology groups (Livesey, 1993, p. 4).
Throughout the late 1980s, McDonald’s instituted and publicized a number of environmentally positive steps in its domestic operations. It reduced consumption, for instance, by using lighter weight paper in straws, paper bags and other items and recycled paper and cardboard packaging. In 1987, it switched from polystyrene (used for the clamshells) blown with CFCs, the family of chemicals which destroy the ozone layer, to plastic foam that used hydrocarbon blowing agents (Annual Report, 1989, pp. 10-15). In 1989, the company instituted a pilot program in 450 New England stores to recycle its plastic clamshells (Livesey, 1993, pp. 12-14). In April, 1990, it committed $100 million, or one quarter of the company’s annual building and remodeling budget, to buy recycled materials for restaurant construction, remodeling, and operations under a program called “McRecycle” (Livesey, 1993, pp. 13-14).
In 1989 and 1990, McDonald’s bolstered its environmental management practices with a proactive public relations campaign. The centerpiece was the 1989 Annual Report, which highlighted the issue of the natural environment. McDonald’s also offered in-store flyers to educate customers about the company’s environmental management practices, policies, philosophies, and positions on particular issues such as rainforest beef and the ozone problem. Brochures on environmental topics, including packaging, were available from its public relations department. In addition, McDonald’s worked with several different environmental and nonprofit groups (e.g., the World Wildlife Fund and the Smithsonian Institution) to coproduce elementary school materials on the environment.
McDonald’s 1989 annual report represents an aggressive attempt by the company to manage the public discourse around the company’s role as an environmentally responsible corporate citizen and construct itself as green. The report belongs to the category of epideictic advocacy, the discourse of praise and blame that is commonly used to establish or consolidate value premises, especially in corporate issue management campaigns; such discourse often serves as a basis for later persuasive efforts (Cheney & Vibbert, 1987, p. 183). Epideictic rhetoric works by building on shared premises and borrowing from values and beliefs embedded in the common culture. In this case, given the new ecological awareness of the public, McDonald’s positions itself as having concerns ecological and practical, social as well as economic.

As described by the media, the 1989 Annual Report looks “more like an Audubon Society brochure than a financial statement” (Horovitz, 1991, p. D2). Nature pictures, poetry, and quotations from national and international figures prominent in the environmental movement (e.g., Gro Brundtland) are interspersed throughout the report, along with product and financial information. The cover contains a four-page foldout picture of the Northwest American forest with a quotation from Chief Seattle about man’s proper relationship to the earth. The report itself is “dedicated” to a “discussion of the [environmental] challenges which lie ahead” (McDonald’s Annual Report, 1989, p. 2). The discussion is contained in a 10-page supplement.
The themes of dialogue, rational discourse, pragmatic solutions, the value of individual effort, and stewardship or shared social responsibility for the earth that are played out in the supplement are initially articulated in the shareholders’ letter. This letter is as notable for what it omits as for what it says. It at once implicates the reader, inviting dialogue, and yet leaves the situation ambiguous, particularly vis-a-vis the company’s responsibility and intentions.
The supplement contains several distinct parts: an answer to a letter from Dan Getty, an 11-year-old boy who calls for responsible action from McDonald’s (Annual Report, 1989, pp. 7-8); a general outline of McDonald’s philosophy and historical commitment to “responsible [environmental] conduct,” including company founder Ray Kroc’s mandate to crews to clean up litter near McDonald’s restaurants (p. 9); three sections addressing facts and expert opinions about solid waste management, resource conservation, and recycling (pp. 10-15); and a collective call “to Help [sic]” in solving the challenge of the environment (p. 16).
The letter of response to 11-year-old Dan Getty illustrates several of the rhetorical strategies McDonald’s uses to achieve a symbolic identification with its customers and the general public. First, McDonald’s constructs itself as a naive, non-expert, and innocent individual actor. Like Dan Getty and “people of all ages,” McDonald’s is “asking questions about our environment” and learning that the answers to environmental issues are “complex” (Annual Report, 1989, p. 7). It eschews inaction in the face of complexity: “It’s easy for each of us to claim we’re not responsible for these complex forces. But then we have to ask, ‘Who is?’ “(p. 8). At the same time, it sounds a cautionary note: It is important “to do what is environmentally sound, when the responsible course of action becomes clear” (p. 7). Who or what will provide clarity leading to action is left ambiguous.
Second, McDonald’s positions itself as one of a community of stewards of the earth: “Each of us, knowing what we have at stake, must make a commitment to a course of action that will preserve and enhance the environment we hold in trust for future generations. . . . You can count us in” (p. 8). Through appeal to the words of Gala theory originator James Lovelock – “It’s personal action that counts” (quoted in McDonald’s, 1989, p. 8) – and founder Ray Kroc’s dictum – “None of us is as good as all of us” (quoted in Annual Report, 1989, p. 8) – the boy’s call for help from McDonald’s is transformed into a call for everyone to act. The actions and identification that it invites are personal. Identifying with its customers, McDonald’s asks that they identify with it. McDonald’s puts itself on a level with the 11-year-old. Thus, through rhetorical sleight, of-hand – in Cheney’s (1992) words “the sheer juxtaposition of images . . . as a substitute for reasoned discourse, for argument” (p. 174) – McDonald’s equates natural persons with the corporate persona, and power differences – the differences between producer and consumer, corporate giant and small child – are made to disappear: The people at McDonald’s, no different from people everywhere, must act to save the earth. Of course, at one level, McDonald’s people are like people everywhere and, like them, probably hold a range of opinions about the problem of the natural environment. However, at another level and at the same time, McDonald’s people constitute a corporate body.
McDonald’s defends its environmental record by listing specific actions that it has taken to manage waste and conserve resources by reducing, reusing and recycling materials. It cites experts who support its position on plastic packaging and who point out the small contribution of the entire quick-service restaurant industry to America’s waste. It also criticizes “the ‘Not In My Back Yard’ syndrome – or NIMBY” (for instance, people in McDonald’s communities who opposed company incinerators in their neighborhoods) as posing barriers to responsible waste solutions (Annual Report, 1989, p. 11).
Also, McDonald’s emphasizes individual personal action: Plant a tree, switch off a light, recycle a clamshell. Yet, it also describes itself as a proactive corporate actor looking for opportunities to work with individuals, public officials, and other companies, as well as with the communities we serve.
The more McDonald’s constituted itself as “green,” the more it was required to accommodate environmental issues affected by its business practices. McDonald’s attempts at recycling, resource reduction, incineration, and the like were not simply symbolic. The company was both the subject and the object of its own eco-discourse. The emerging storyline it constructed had positive environmental effects at the material level, in addition to opening the company to potential dialogue with EDF.
In April 1991, the McDonald’s-EDF joint task force released its final product, a corporate waste reduction policy and a comprehensive waste reduction action plan with 42 initiatives. Many real environmental improvements were generated by the task force. For instance, environmental criteria were integrated into corporate packaging decisions which before had been driven by quality and cost criteria (see McDonald’s Final Report, 1991). The media mostly praised the results of the alliance (Reinhardt, 1992, p. 14), and the story was recycled over several years (e.g. Gutfeld, 1992). Ultimately, the partnership entered the green business literature as a milestone marking a change in the relationships between business and environmental groups (Long, F. J., & Arnold, M. B., 1995, p. 80).
Thus, McDonald’s steps in managing environmental issues are the examples of societal marketing. People become increasingly aware of the damage that can be caused to the environment by products, packaging, by-products and production processes. They may gradually learn to adopt more environmentally friendly products and, in particular, reject throwaway products. Green issues are increasingly seen as important by consumers and this is being reflected in the types of products consumers want to use. Organizations have to change the nature of their products to meet these requirements. Many companies appear to possess a social conscience or see the benefits of meeting the demands of green issues; this is the case with McDonald’s.
The belief that environmental responsibility is now a corporate function is based on research indicating that consumers want such changes and will theoretically repay industry investments by accepting higher prices. In a survey by Dagnoli (1990), 82% of the respondents claimed to have changed their purchasing decisions because of environmental concerns. Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed also reported that a company’s environmental reputation influenced their choice of brands. Environmentalism is enough of a concern that 78% of the respondents said they would switch to an environmental container if it were priced 5% higher than a less-environmentally friendly container. Another 47% said they would pay as much as 15% more for environmental packaging.
Businesses currently involved with the environmental movement have noticed the increasing number of markets influenced by environmentally concerned consumers, and naturally are hoping this trend can boost their companies’ long run profits. Proactive companies like McDonald’s are attempting to take leadership roles in the area of environmentally friendly products in order to gain a competitive advantage (Smyth, 1991, p. 70).
For McDonald’s, environmental marketing has become one of the primary societal marketing tools. Although much confusion still exists concerning the specifics of green marketing, one thing that has been learned is that consumers will not always pay more for green products (Winski, 1991, p. 3). Despite consumer claims to the contrary, the initial sales of environmentally friendly products and packaging have been slow (Reitman, 1992, B1). Recent trends indicate a lack of willingness to actually pay premium prices for such products (Wasik, 1992, p. 17).
Thus, today’s market for environmentally-friendly goods is greater than ever. To capitalize on this movement, managers and marketers, as McDonald’s case shows, must promote the environmental benefits of their products and maintain prices in a range near that of their competitors that do not emphasize environmental concerns. Promoting the environmental friendliness of products will be most attractive to some customers, while attributes aimed at convenience will be attractive to others. Although these aspects of the product mix are important, competitive pricing of environmentally-friendly goods may be the key to capturing a significant market share. Once high market shares are reached, cost reduction programs should allow producers to increase profit margins from green products.

Source by Andrew Sandon

Suggestions to Market your Website

As we recognize, New Year 2016 is at the door. With all new start, high class demanding situations and diverse opportunities, 2016 will deliver more inside the area of IT and business.

This alteration will turn especially within the case of business with the wide variety of latest and exciting processes like it become anticipated final year for 2015 particularly in the advertising and marketing of your internet site.

All you want is a piece of assist to run your advertising approach back heading in the right direction. And guess what? We’re meting out some of the creative marketing and marketing thoughts and inspirational guidelines that will help you to bust thru that brick wall.

• Make the maximum of your content material
• Make sure you’re cellular-pleasant
• Partner with large industry blogs
• Attend neighborhood networking occasions
• Paid for social media advertising and marketing

Make the maximum of your content material:

Despite the fact that replica written content material can deter traffic and negatively have an effect on your search engine optimization, you may nonetheless make the maximum of the money and time spent on unique content through importing it in some of formats. You can create podcasts or movies to accompany your articles, imparting a 2nd option for users with a particular choice or accessibility issues.

Make sure you’re cellular-friendly:

Statistics from September 2013 (according to Google), showed that nearly 18% of the United Kingdom’s internet users connect thru a phone or tablet, so it’s crucial that your internet site shows and features properly on all devices, like the Apple iPhone or Google Nexus. Ever-developing numbers of us are the use of our telephones or capsules for paintings and social browsing, so a cellular-optimized internet site ensures you aren’t isolating a portion of your capacity audience. Also, Google offers precedence ratings to cell particular websites on its mobile search function.

Partner with large industry blogs:

There are popular blogs for reviews and information articles from all variety of industries, all of that have the ability to enhance your emblem reputation and drive visitors for your website. Why not contact some blogs out of your respective enterprise and talk the possibility of an evaluation, news update, or maybe a visitor put up?

Attend neighborhood networking occasions:

Business networking events allow you to meet with representatives from other industries, offer a small pitch approximately your services or products, and trade commercial enterprise cards. This could open your website and commercial enterprise up to a brand new ability target market, as other attendees can also require your services themselves, or bypass the facts directly to others.

Paid for social media advertising and marketing:

The likes of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube all provide paid advertising, which can be of unique benefit for smaller groups without an online presence or big following. You may set daily or lifetime budgets, to make certain you doubtlessly reach hundreds of thousands of clients while nevertheless ultimate underneath finances. Whichever social networking platform you pick, you’ll be able to specify precisely what you’re deciding to buy – from pay according to view to pay per click on, to feature Tweets or featured profiles.

Conclusion:

Having a first rate advertising, your plan will now not prevent at growing one. It is essential to set dreams then track your development. Figure out what your weaknesses and strengths are. This will allow you to understand the exceptional times and locations on your advertising and marketing and advertising efforts.

Source by arcube.ic

Rural marketing and its Significance

Introduction

Rural marketing involves delivering manufactured or processed inputs or services to rural producers or consumers so as to soak up the huge size of the untapped rural market. In today’s congested and difficult markets, both local and global, all FMCG as well as other companies search for new opportunities, consumers and markets. The 800 million potential consumers in rural India presented both an opportunity and a problem, as this market has been characterized by unbalanced growth and infrastructural problems. Thus looking at the opportunities which rural markets offer to the marketers it seems that the future is very promising for those who can understand the dynamics of rural markets and exploit them to their best advantage.

Significance

In recent years, rural markets have acquired significance in countries like China and India, as the overall growth of the economy has resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities. On account of the green revolution in India, the rural areas are consuming a large quantity of industrial and urban manufactured products. In this context, a special marketing strategy, namely, rural marketing has taken shape. Sometimes, rural marketing is confused with agricultural marketing– the later denotes marketing of produce of the rural areas to the urban consumers or industrial consumers, whereas rural marketing involves delivering manufactured or processed inputs or services to rural producers or consumers. Also, when we consider the scenario of India and China, there is a picture that comes out, huge market for the developed products as well as the labor support. This has led to the change in the mindset of the marketers to move to these parts of the world.

Strategies

Dynamics of rural markets differ from other market types, and similarly rural marketing strategies are also significantly different from the marketing strategies aimed at an urban or industrial consumer. This, along with several other related issues, have been subject matter of intense discussions and debate in countries like India and China and focus of even international symposia organized in these countries.

Rural markets and rural marketing involve a number of strategies, which include:

• Client and location specific promotion
• Joint or cooperative promotion..
• Bundling of inputs
• Management of demand
• Developmental marketing
• Unique selling proposition (USP)
• Extension services
• Business ethics
• Partnership for sustainability

Conclusion

Rural markets, as part of any economy, have untapped potential. There are several difficulties confronting the effort to fully explore rural markets. The concept of rural markets in India, as also in several other countries, like China, is still in evolving shape, and the sector poses a variety of challenges, including understanding the dynamics of the rural markets and strategies to supply and satisfy the rural consumers.

                                                                             C.Pavithira

                                                                             M.Phil., (Commerce), Research Scholar

                                                                             Periyar University, Salem

                                                                             Ph. 9842550487. Pavithira01@yahoo.co.in

Source by C.Pavithira

International Marketing

Guided by :Dr.Jelsy joseph

Director,Dept of management studies&research

KARPAGAM UNIVERSITY,COIMBATORE

INTRODUCTION

International marketing refers to MARKETING carried out by companies overseas or across national borderlines . Companies must consider language barriers, ideals, and customs in the market they are approaching.International marketing is simply the application of marketing principles to more than one country. At its simplest level, international marketing involves the firm in making one or more marketing mix decisions across national boundaries. At its most complex level, it involves the firm in establishing manufacturing facilities overseas and coordinating marketing strategies across the globe.

Elements of the international marketing mix:

The “Four P’s” of marketing: product, price, placement, and promotion are all affected as a company moves through the five evolutionary phases to become a global company. Ultimately, at the global marketing level, a company trying to speak with one voice is faced with many challenges when creating a worldwide marketing plan. Unless a company holds the same position against its competition in all markets (market leader, low cost, etc.) it is impossible to launch identical marketing plans worldwide.

Product

A global company is one that can create a single product and only have to tweak elements for different markets. For example, Coca-Cola uses two formulas (one with sugar, one with corn syrup) for all markets. The product packaging in every country incorporates the contour bottle design and the dynamic ribbon in some way, shape, or form. However, the bottle or can also includes the country’s native language and is the same size as other beverage bottles or cans in that country.

Price

Price will always vary from market to market. Price is affected by many variables: cost of product development (produced locally or imported), cost of ingredients, cost of delivery (transportation, tariffs, etc.), and much more. Additionally, the product’s position in relation to the competition influences the ultimate profit margin. Whether this product is considered the high-end, expensive choice, the economical, low-cost choice, or something in-between helps determine the price point.

Placement

How the product is distributed is also a country-by-country decision influenced by how the competition is being offered to the target market. Using Coca-Cola as an example again, not all cultures use vending machines. In the United States, beverages are sold by the pallet via warehouse stores. In India, this is not an option. Placement decisions must also consider the product’s position in the market place. For example, a high-end product would not want to be distributed via a “dollar store” in the United States. Conversely, a product promoted as the low-cost option in France would find limited success in a pricey boutique.

Promotion

After product research, development and creation, promotion (specifically advertising) is generally the largest line item in a global company’s marketing budget. At this stage of a company’s development, integrated marketing is the goal. The global corporation seeks to reduce costs, minimize redundancies in personnel and work, maximize speed of implementation, and to speak with one voice. If the goal of a global company is to send the same message world wide, then delivering that message in a relevant, engaging, and cost-effective way is the challenge. Effective global advertising techniques do exist. The key is testing advertising ideas using a marketing research system proven to provide results that can be compared across countries. The ability to identify which elements or moments of an ad are contributing to that success is how economies of scale are maximized. Market research measures such as flow of attention & flow of motion and branding moments provide insights into what is working in an ad in any country because the measures are based on visual, not verbal, elements of the ad.

Advantages of international marketing

• Economies of scale in production and distribution
• Lower marketing costs
• Power and scope
• Consistency in brand image
• Ability to leverage good ideas quickly and efficiently
• Uniformity of marketing practices
• Helps to establish relationships outside of the “political arena”
• Helps to encourage ancillary industries to be set up to cater for the needs of the global player

Disadvantages of international marketing

• Differences in consumer needs,wants and usage patterns for products
• Differences in consumer response to marketing mix elements
• Differences in brand and product development and the competitve environment
• Differences in the legal environment, some of which may conflict with those of the home market
• Differences in the institutions available, some of which may call for the creation of entirely new ones (e.g. infrastructure)
• Differences in administrative procedures
• Differences in product placement.

                   Product Issues in International Marketing

Product Need Satisfaction.  We often take for granted the “obvious” need that products seem to fill in our own culture; however, functions served may be very different in others—for example, while cars have a large transportation role in the U.S., they are impractical to drive in Japan, and thus cars there serve more of a role of being a status symbol or providing for individual indulgence.  In the U.S., fast food and instant drinks such as Tang are intended for convenience; elsewhere, they may represent more of a treat.  Thus, it is important to examine through marketing research consumers’ true motives, desires, and expectations in buying a product.

The International Product Life Cycle (PLC).  Consumers in different countries differ in the speed with which they adopt new products, in part for economic reasons (fewer Malaysian than American consumers can afford to buy VCRs) and in part because of attitudes toward new products (pharmaceuticals upset the power afforded to traditional faith healers, for example).  Thus, it may be possible, when one market has been saturated, to continue growth in another market—e.g., while somewhere between one third and one half of American homes now contain a computer, the corresponding figures for even Europe and Japan are much lower and thus, many computer manufacturers see greater growth potential there.  Note that expensive capital equipment may also cycle between countries—e.g., airlines in economically developed countries will often buy the newest and most desired aircraft and sell off older ones to their counterparts in developing countries.  While in developed countries, “three part” canning machines that solder on the bottom with lead are unacceptable for health reasons, they have found a market in developing countries.

Branding.  While Americans seem to be comfortable with category specific brands, this is not the case for Asian consumers.  American firms observed that their products would be closely examined by Japanese consumers who could not find a major brand name on the packages, which was required as a sign of quality.  Note that Japanese keiretsus span and use their brand name across multiple industries—e.g., Mitsubishi, among other things, sells food, automobiles, electronics, and heavy construction equipment.

PROMOTIONAL ISSUES

Promotional objectives.  Promotional objectives involve the question of what the firm hopes to achieve with a campaign—”increasing profits” is too vague an objective, since this has to be achieved through some intermediate outcome (such as increasing market share, which in turn is achieved by some change in consumers which cause them to buy more).  Some common objectives that firms may hold:

• Awareness.  Many French consumers do not know that the Gap even exists, so they cannot decide to go shopping there.  This objective is often achieved through advertising, but could also be achieved through favorable point-of-purchase displays.  Note that since advertising and promotional stimuli are often afforded very little attention by consumers, potential buyers may have to be exposed to the promotional stimulus numerous times before it “registers.”
• Trial.  Even when consumers know that a product exists and could possibly satisfy some of their desires, it may take a while before they get around to trying the product—especially when there are so many other products that compete for their attention and wallets.  Thus, the next step is often to try get consumer to try the product at least once, with the hope that they will make repeat purchases.  Coupons are often an effective way of achieving trial, but these are illegal in some countries and in some others, the infrastructure to readily accept coupons  (e.g., clearing houses) does not exist.  Continued advertising and point-of-purchase displays may be effective.  Although Coca Cola is widely known in China, a large part of the population has not yet tried the product.
• Attitude toward the product.  A high percentage of people in the U.S. and Europe has tried Coca Cola, so a more reasonable objective is to get people to believe positive things about the product—e.g., that it has a superior taste and is better than generics or store brands.  This is often achieved through advertising.
• Temporary sales increases.  For mature products and categories, attitudes may be fairly well established and not subject to cost-effective change.  Thus, it may be more useful to work on getting temporary increases in sales (which are likely to go away the incentives are removed).  In the U.S. and Japan, for example, fast food restaurants may run temporary price promotions to get people to eat out more or switch from competitors, but when these promotions end, sales are likely to move back down again (in developing countries, in contrast, trial may be a more appropriate objective in this category). 

Legal issues.  Countries differ in their regulations of advertising, and some products are banned from advertising on certain media (large supermarket chains are not allowed to advertise on TV in France, for example).  Other forms of promotion may also be banned or regulated.  In some European countries, for example, it is illegal to price discriminate between consumers, and thus coupons are banned and in some, it is illegal to offer products on sale outside a very narrow seasonal and percentage range.

Language issues.  Language is an important element of culture.  It should be realized that regional differences may be subtle.  For example, one word may mean one thing in one Latin American country, but something off-color in another.  It should also be kept in mind that much information is carried in non-verbal communication.  In some cultures, we nod to signify “yes” and shake our heads to signify “no;” in other cultures, the practice is reversed.  Within the context of language:

• There are often large variations in regional dialects of a given language.  The differences between U.S., Australian, and British English are actually modest compared to differences between dialects of Spanish and German.
• Idioms involve “figures of speech” that may not be used, literally translated, in other languages.  For example, baseball is a predominantly North and South American sport, so the notion of “in the ball park” makes sense here, but the term does not carry the same meaning in cultures where the sport is less popular.
• Neologisms involve terms that have come into language relatively recently as technology or society involved.  With the proliferation of computer technology, for example, the idea of an “add-on” became widely known.  It may take longer for such terms to “diffuse” into other regions of the world.  In parts of the World where English is heavily studied in schools, the emphasis is often on grammar and traditional language rather than on current terminology, so neologisms have a wide potential not to be understood.
•  
• Slang exists within most languages.  Again, regional variations are common and not all people in a region where slang is used will necessarily understand this.  There are often significant generation gaps in the use of slang.

Writing patterns, or the socially accepted ways of writing, will differs significantly between cultures. 

Pricing Issues in International Marketing

Price can best be defined in ratio terms, giving the equation

resources given up
price  =     ———————————————               
goods received

This implies that there are several ways that the price can be changed:

• “Sticker” price changes—the most obvious way to change the price is the price tag— you get the same thing, but for a different (usually larger) amount of money.
• Change quantity. Often, consumers respond unfavorably to an increased sticker price, and changes in quantity are sometimes noticed less—e.g., in the 1970s, the wholesale cost of chocolate increased dramatically, and candy manufacturers responded by making smaller candy bars. Note that, for cash flow reasons, consumers in less affluent countries may need to buy smaller packages at any one time (e.g., forking out the money for a large tube of toothpaste is no big deal for most American families, but it introduces a greater strain on the budget of a family closer to the subsistence level).
• Change quality. Another way candy manufacturers have effectively increased prices is through a reduction in quality. In a candy bar, the “gooey” stuff is much cheaper than chocolate. It is frequently tempting for foreign licensees of a major brand name to use inferior ingredients.
• Change terms. In the old days, most software manufacturers provided free support for their programs—it used to be possible to call the WordPerfect Corporation on an 800 number to get free help. Nowadays, you either have to call a 900 number or have a credit card handy to get help from many software makers. Another way to change terms is to do away with favorable financing terms.

Reference Prices. Consumers often develop internal reference prices, or expectations about what something should cost, based mostly on their experience. Most drivers with long commutes develop a good feeling of what gasoline should cost, and can tell a bargain or a ripoff.

Reference prices are more likely to be more precise for frequently purchased and highly visible products. Therefore, retailers very often promote soft drinks, since consumers tend to have a good idea of prices and these products are quite visible. The trick, then, is to be more expensive on products where price expectations are muddier.

Marketers often try to influence people’s price perceptions through the use of external reference prices—indicators given to the consumer as to how much something should cost. Examples include:

• Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP). This is often pure fiction. The suggested retail prices in certain categories are deliberately set so high that even full service retailers can sell at a “discount.” Thus, although the consumer may contrast the offering price against the MSRP, this latter figure is quite misleading.
• “SALE! Now $2.99; Regular Price $5.00.” For this strategy to be used legally in most countries, the claim must be true (consistency of enforcement in some countries is, of course, another matter). However, certain products are put on sale so frequently that the “regular” price is meaningless. In the early 1990s, Sears was reported to sell some 55% of its merchandise on sale.
• “WAS $10.00, now $6.99.”
• “Sold elsewhere for $150.00; our price: $99.99

CULTURE OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

Culture is part of the external influences that impact the consumer. That is, culture represents influences that are imposed on the consumer by other individuals.

The definition of culture offered one text is “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of society.”  From this definition, we make the following observations:

• Culture, as a “complex whole,” is a system of interdependent components.
• Knowledge and beliefs are important parts.  In the U.S., we know and believe that a person who is skilled and works hard will get ahead. In other countries, it may be believed that differences in outcome result more from luck.  “Chunking,” the name for China in Chinese, literally means “The Middle Kingdom.”  The belief among ancient Chinese that they were in the center of the universe greatly influenced their thinking.
• Other issues are relevant.  Art, for example, may be reflected in the rather arbitrary practice of wearing ties in some countries and wearing turbans in others.  Morality may be exhibited in the view in the United States that one should not be naked in public.  In Japan, on the other hand, groups of men and women may take steam baths together without perceived as improper.  On the other extreme, women in some Arab countries are not even allowed to reveal their faces.  Notice, by the way, that what at least some countries view as moral may in fact be highly immoral by the standards of another country. 

Culture has several important characteristics: 

 (1)  Culture is comprehensive.  This means that all parts must fit together in some logical fashion.  For example, bowing and a strong desire to avoid the loss of face are unified in their manifestation of the importance of respect. 

 (2)  Culture is learned rather than being something we are born with.  We will consider the mechanics of learning later in the course. 

 (3)  Culture is manifested within boundaries of acceptable behavior.  For example, in American society, one cannot show up to class naked, but wearing anything from a suit and tie to shorts and a T-shirt would usually be acceptable.  Failure to behave within the prescribed norms may lead to sanctions, ranging from being hauled off by the police for indecent exposure to being laughed at by others for wearing a suit at the beach.

 (4)  Conscious awareness of cultural standards is limited.  One American spy was intercepted by the Germans during World War II simply because of the way he held his knife and fork while eating. 

(5)  Cultures fall somewhere on a continuum between static and dynamic depending on how quickly they accept change.  For example, American culture has changed a great deal since the 1950s, while the culture of Saudi Arabia has changed much less.

 CONCLUSION

If the exporting departments are becoming successful but the costs of doing business from headquarters plus time differences, language barriers, and cultural ignorance are hindering the company’s competitiveness in the foreign market, then offices could be built in the foreign countries. Sometimes companies buy firms in the foreign countries to take advantage of relationships, storefronts, factories, and personnel already in place. These offices still report to headquarters in the home market but most of the marketing mix decisions are made in the individual countries since that staff is the most knowledgeable about the target markets. Local product development is based on the needs of local customers. These marketers are considered polycentric because they acknowledge that each market/country has different needs.

 

Source by U.Archana