Are you looking to build a career in marketing or global business management? Are you a company owner trying to take your business to the next level and branch out into new markets? When it comes to marketing beyond the borders of the country you’re familiar with, there’s a lot to learn, and mistakes can be expensive. You will have to deal with new regulatory issues, cultural issues, and potentially different languages all while adjusting to operating on a different scale.
It’s often advisable to bring in local help in the new countries you’re targeting, at least in the early stages, but even so, there will be a lot you need to get to grips with yourself. This article will help you make a start.
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What do we mean by domestic marketing?
The answer to this may seem obvious when you first think about it, but in practice, it’s a little more complicated. Strictly speaking, domestic marketing is all the marketing that takes place within the borders of your country.
In the US, however, expanding from just one state to several states can present many of the same challenges, on a smaller scale, as international marketing. That’s even more pertinent if you’re marketing in the non-contiguous territories of Alaska or Hawaii, which are culturally quite different and present unique shipping challenges. US protectorates such as Puerto Rico and Guam constitute a sort of halfway house between the domestic and the international. This is a good thing for US companies as it means that the process of expanding from domestic to international marketing can be a gentler one, and you can explore it step by step rather than having to do everything in one giant leap.
What do we mean by international marketing?
International marketing is any marketing focused on territories outside national borders. This includes those where the same language is spoken, and there are many cultural similarities, and the challenges involved in engaging successfully are considerably greater.
Crucially, international marketing is about work done specifically for use in other countries as opposed to, for instance, advertising created for the domestic market, which is then distributed in different countries with a common language. Another essential aspect of international marketing is global SEO, which involves optimizing your online presence to rank well in search engine results across multiple countries and languages.
These strategies begin with understanding the market in those countries and then developing specific strategies accordingly. People working in international marketing need to be alert to the nuances of linguistic and cultural differences, alert to potential differences in regulatory frameworks, and capable of engaging with customers and agencies in other countries.
Expanding into international markets
When you decide to leap and expand into international markets, there are two key points to remember. First is that it’s vitally important to do all the groundwork well before taking action; second, no two markets are the same, so success in one country won’t necessarily mean success in another. Aston University’s course in Global Business Management incorporates a thorough exploration of both these areas and focuses on building the analytical and problem-solving skills needed.
Many people who develop careers in this area choose to specialize in working across just a few countries or a specific region. However, unexpected problems are still more likely to crop up than when one is dealing with one’s native culture, so it’s even more important that marketers can think on their feet. Furthermore, the bigger the business grows and the more territories it begins to sell in, the bigger the scale of overall marketing efforts and the greater the skills needed to ensure that efforts in different countries remain integrated and on brand.
Marketing by region
Although every country is different when it comes to marketing, there are regions of the world that have many things in common. Bearing this in mind can make it much easier to decide which markets to explore or seek to transfer knowledge from one country to another.
Marketing by region can be considered on several levels, and these don’t neatly overlap, so you may have more than one set of regional factors to consider in any given case. There are regions with shared regulatory frameworks, such as the European Union or the African Union. There are also culturally, linguistically, and geographically defined regions. For instance, South Africa and Benin are both members of the African Union, which affects their regulatory framework. Still, the former is predominantly English-speaking, and the latter is predominantly French-speaking. Considering factors like this enables you to identify the levels at which you need to modify a marketing campaign before it can cross borders.
Law and government
At every level of marketing, from asking questions to storing and processing information, advertising, and managing feedback, different countries have different regulations. Unless you want to risk hefty fines and wasted investment, it is vital to familiarize yourself with these before beginning your international work. These rules are not usually very expansive and any lawyer with experience in this area of regulation should be able to track down the necessary documents. Be alert, however, to the fact that what may seem like technicalities can in fact have profound implications on the development of campaigns.
If you’re working in a European Union country, for instance, you will need to take into account the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which restricts how you can store and process information. This can impact research and direct customer interactions and factors like how you use your website.
Research
Every time you approach marketing in a new country, begin with research. There’s usually a lot of useful demographic information available in the public domain, and more can be purchased from native marketing companies, but that won’t tell you whether people are aware of your brand or whether products or services like yours will be appreciated.
You’ll need to design and conduct your own research to find that out. If possible, it’s a good idea to bring local people in because the techniques best suited to collecting data in different places can vary. Locals will also be able to tell you if there are essential factors that you’re overlooking in your initial survey design. Of course, the more countries you do this in, the better you will get at anticipating where difficulties are likely to arise. In addition, you will have to research the overall state of the economy in the new territory and monitor it over time so you stay abreast of legal, cultural, and other significant changes as well as you do at home.
Language and culture
If you’re designing studies and writing adverts or translating them, it’s vital to have a native speaker check what you do or, better still, invest in using a native translation service. While most people can see why this matters with foreign languages, they don’t always realize that it also matters with other variants of English. No two English-speaking countries use language in quite the same way. If your language makes you sound like an outsider, you won’t get the same level of engagement. Worse, you might inadvertently say something quite rude.
The same applies to cultural differences. Often, it’s not the big things, like religious sensitivities or attitudes to gender, but little things that trip people up. Commonplace gestures can also have very different meanings in different places. There is no way to be safe in this regard without bringing in native consultants. Doing so, and familiarizing yourself more deeply with the new cultural environment, can create exciting new possibilities, making your work not just a challenge but also an adventure.
Expenditure
With all these factors in mind, it should quickly become apparent that international marketing budgets, even if focused on just one country, need to be substantially larger than domestic marketing budgets, at least at first. Balancing this, of course, are the enormous advantages of international trade. Once it’s up and running and you’ve established a presence, marketing overheads will decrease while the returns on your investment increase. You will no longer have all your eggs in one basket where national economies are concerned, so you will also enjoy increased security.
What’s more, each time you branch out into a new country, the work involved in developing your marketing strategy will be slightly easier, at least if you’re working within the same regions and avoiding countries known to be challenging. Most businesses find that costs decrease accordingly each time. The key is to be upfront about the initial expense and budget generously so you can be sure of having the means to do a thorough job, thus reducing the amount of time it takes to start turning a healthy profit in the new territory.
The advantages of international marketing
Properly designed and targeted international marketing, as opposed to the simple translation and replication of domestic campaigns in other territories, enables you to engage with potential customers on a par with your local competitors, but its advantages go beyond success. Working in different environments will teach you a lot about domestic ones. You’ll start to question things you always took for granted and become more aware of the unconscious assumptions you make during your work. You’ll also develop skills that allow you to reach immigrant demographics by sharing the language or culture with the other countries in which you work.
In addition, you’ll make contacts around the world, which creates new opportunities for the business and you personally, and you’ll develop a more thorough understanding of the global marketplace, advantaging every facet of your business.
Learning lessons from domestic marketing
If all this seems rather daunting, it’s worth thinking again about the complexity of the day-to-day work you do in domestic marketing. We tend to overlook this simply because it’s what we’re used to. Even when working within a single state, every time you adjust your approach to suit a different demographic, you go through some of the same processes you must employ when working internationally.
When you assess and incorporate new legislation that affects the domestic market, you are doing the same work you need to do to adjust to the different regulatory frameworks in other countries. Although the scale factor means that international marketing is always more of a challenge, you already have a lot of experience, which will help you to find your feet. Rather than consider foreigners innately different, look for the similarities within each new country you encounter and work from there.
Expanding internationally is a big step for any business, and its marketing strategy in its new territories is the most critical factor influencing its success or failure. Consequently, marketing personnel with skills in this area are highly sought after. There are always businesses struggling to progress in the global market; others may dream about it but struggle to acquire the expertise. Pursuing opportunities with them is a great way to carve out a career — and once you’ve positioned yourself as the only person who truly understands both the company and the new market, you’re pretty much indispensable.
Marketing is a career that is always full of challenges and exciting opportunities, and international marketing is even more so. If you think you’ve got what it takes, this could be your best possible career move.
