Crafting Strategies For Global Marketing

By M. Isi Eromosele

In the development of strategies for global marketing, a crucial decision has to be made as to whether to implement a standard or local approach to the world market. The separation between domestic and international business has disappeared as advanced modes of communication has virtually shrunk world location distances to nothing.

The Internet has played a major role in this communication transformation. It has created a seamless conduit through which two companies from different parts of the world can hold virtual negotiating meetings, share information and transfer documents. Thus, the need for intermediaries has been eliminated. Countless products and services can be customized and offered to clients immediately without the constraints imposed by geographical distance.

A starting point for your devising a global marketing strategy is to determine what your company’s major appeal will be to its target customers. The goal would be to craft differentiation from this process. This could be called a "value differentiation". This value differentiation is a strategic centerpiece that would shape every branding and marketing decision your company makes. It would tint the entire organization, from its core competencies, its processes and its market positioning. The choice of value differentiation determines how your company brands itself.

To establish your company as a market leader through value differentiation, you will have to deliver on at least one of the following principles of business as benefits to your target customers: operational efficiency (cost effectiveness), great customer relations (outstanding service) and product superiority (top quality). In striving to achieve the above, it is advisable to maintain your organization’s competencies at the highest level of performance. Even as you focus on one of the above principles, do not completely ignore the other two.

The value differentiation is the connection to making the decision whether a standardized or localized marketing is more superior in doing business globally. The answer is a relative one. The suitable global marketing strategy for your company is dependent on its main core competencies. A cost-driven company will accrue different results from that of a firm that concentrates on exceptional customer service.

The key decision to be made is as follows: Does a company standardize its global marketing program with a one-size-fits-all approach to overseas markets or does it adjust its marketing strategies to fit local country environments? The main components to be considered in these local country environments are differences in culture and consumer purchase behaviors.

Implementation is the key to making the most effective business decisions work, whether to go with one of the two (standardized or localized) or to affect a seamless combination of the two approaches.

Standardized approach assumes that as a result of efficient global communications with the Internet as its core, consumers worldwide are now more identical in their product preferences. Standardization promises economies of scale and brand identity harmony. Localized marketing strategy is a compelling geographic marketing option. However, a company has to be careful not to completely move its adjusted localized branding message too far away from the overarching universal marketing one.

The above approaches to marketing international business are still interrelated. Though they are divergent, they can be melded in implementation. Each strategic approach could incorporate components of the other. Rather than dealing in absolutes, it is advisable to incline toward an astute blending of these two marketing approaches. This would achieve better and more sustainable business results for your organization.

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

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