MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Marketing Management

Marketing Management

PART 1: General Research

Marketing communications in international markets needs to be conducted with care. This lesson will consider some of the key issues that you need to take into account when promoting products or services in overseas markets. There will be influences upon your media choice? cultural issues to be considered? as well as the media choices themselves - personal selling? advertising? and others.

Personal Selling in International Marketing

Personal selling has a number of pros and cons:

It is beneficial where wages tend to be low? since staffing costs will be comparatively low.

Where there are many languages? you'll need trained sales personnel that can convey your message in specific tongues (see culture above).

The sales force will need to be supported. Commercial administration staff will have to take care of sales enquiries? send out product literature and samples? and make quotations - often online.

You'll need to invest time and effort in recruiting? motivating? organizing and training a local sales force. Recruits will need to know about products and markets? language and culture? the location of target segments? customer buyer behaviour - and that's just the beginning.

There is a dilemma as to whether to place expatriate employees into your international target market? or to recruit locally. Local is best! (http://info.emeraldinsight. com)

Where business etiquette varies from culture to culture? you'll need to train your people in what to expect - or recruit salesmen from the local market.

Advertising in International Marketing

Advertising has a number of pros and cons:

When considering press advertising try to anticipate the levels of literacy within the nation in question. Where literacy levels are lower? perhaps you could use a more visual campaign. (http://info.emeraldinsight.com)

Which language(s) is the press written in?

What is the split between regional and national press in your target market?

What types of television channels are available? Are they HDD? digital? analogue? satellite? cable? via the telephone? via a broadband or ADSL connection?

Which TV channels do our target segments watch?

Is there space on the suitable TV channels when we want it? or at a price that we can afford?

Where visual communication is paramount? are there suitable poster locations?

What is the behaviour of the target population in relation to cinema? For example? Cinema is tremendously popular in India.

Radio has similar issues as TV and press. Which stations do your target groups listen to - news? sports or music? Is there space available with the most suitable stations?

Other Media Choices in International Marketing

Other potential media would include:

Web-based marketing using your own domestic site? or one developed specifically for the target market. Chinese websites are very different to Western sites. They are very busy and every single space is filled with images and text. Affiliate or pay-per-click advertising may be available.

International tradeshows? trade missions? sponsorship (for example international sporting events)? Public Relations (for example oil companies) and a variety of other international marketing communications are available to the international marketer.

So? to finish? this lesson aimed to summarize the key options and issues that face the international marketer when dealing with marketing communications and ...