What has global marketing strategies and global branding got to do with a small business owner like me? I don’t intend going global, why do I need to study global branding? What has global marketing strategies and branding got to do with local businesses? Well, I advice you read on to find the answers you seek.
“If you are not a brand, you are a commodity.” – Robert Kiyosaki
Before I dive into the details of this article, let me clear your mind on the issue of global marketing and branding. The fact that you are a small business owner today does not mean you cannot grow to become a big business owner someday. All you have to do is dream about it, set the goal and get to work.
Believe me, you will get there. For instance, Facebook was started by Mark Zuckerberg as a college affair; but it went global when the idea caught on like wild fire. Now let us go back to the business of the day.
What is Global Marketing and Branding?
Global marketing is nothing but marketing done on a national and international level, which involves understanding the similarities, dissimilarities and taking advantage of the opportunities to attain the goal of doing business globally. Concentrating on global marketing and branding is as important as concentrating on domestic marketing; if a company is aiming to increase sales and brand loyalty.
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The Future of Global Marketing and Branding
The domestic market has become saturated in most categories of products and services in all industrialized countries such as USA, Russia, Japan, China, Sweden, etc; hence the need to start dealing or exporting goods and services to other countries, all in a bid to either sustain or increase 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 part of the market. The marketing steps taken by the big companies are based on the taste of a specific audience in that region.
Sometimes, a product might not suit the taste of customers at the domestic level; thus the need to go global. Almost all domestic companies plan to go global but they are often hindered by bigger companies. Thus, they become invisible at the international level as they are unable to cope with the growing stiff competition.
How to take your company global in the face of stiff competition
When planning to take your business global, it is advisable to start exporting to a foreign client first for initial testing of the marketing. Note that the returns would not be encouraging in the beginning but with time, it will improve.
Global marketing and branding 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, regional demographics, psychographics and marketing. Such kinds of markets are known as region centric.
Global marketing and branding 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.
Global Marketing Opportunities
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Companies that started local and successfully went global
The automotive industry is one such market that saw a global boost in sales during the last fifty years. Earlier on, 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.
Examples of other companies that started locally and successfully went global include Coca Cola, McDonald’s, Virgin, Apple, Sony, LG, Dell, Pepsi, Heineken, Nestle, Cadbury, Microsoft, Adidas, Oracle, Nike, Dangote Group, Standard Bank Group, Etisalat Group, MTN, etc.
Another key factor to global marketing and branding is the Internet, which introduced e-commerce. Businesses are therefore going online and global. This encouraged and boosted the sales of the company and the figures are 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. Companies such as Amazon, Ebay, Dell, Cisco, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook are examples of pioneer companies that leveraged the internet in their global marketing effort.
4 Elements of successful global marketing strategies and branding strategies
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Global Marketing Strategies and Products
Just like every other form of marketing; product, price, placement and promotion are the elements of global marketing. All global marketing strategies are hinged on these four factors. When engaging in global marketing, ensure that the product created should be such that it can sell anywhere using the same method.
Your product or service should consider the primary elements of all the markets. However, the language in which the product is named can be changed; whereas the content can remain the same.
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Global Marketing Strategies and Pricing
When marketing globally, the price of your product or service 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 and so on.
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Global Marketing Strategies and Placement
Placement is how the product is distributed and how it reaches the targeted market. For instance, in developing countries where there is lack of super stores; your products can be placed or sold at ordinary shops. After the product is developed and distributed, it should be promoted precisely.
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Global Marketing Strategies and Promotion
Promotion is one of the major steps of marketing globally and it consumes a large chunk of the budget. If it is possible to send out the same message worldwide in a relevant and cost effective way, it must be put into practice but the challenge is really big.
As a final note, these are the fundamentals or basic facts you need to know about global marketing and branding. I will be exploring the subject of global marketing and branding critically in subsequent articles, so keep a date with us.