How to Influence of a Culture on International Market

Abstract:

Culture is the totality of our life style & personality. At a glance is can be said that, culture is
that what we are i.e. our way of dressings, specking, eating, thinking, learning, attitude,
believes, values, norms etc all included in our culture. International marketing is the
marketing activities of a company outside their country of origin. Culture has a great impact
on international marketing. A marketer must have to study about the local culture in-depth
before offering a product to them. Because of every marketing promotion has done to
promote the product i.e. communicating product feature to the customers and influence
customers to buy it. To have an effective communication one must send the message
according to the receiver's culture, customs and learning process. There are some major
barriers by which effective communication can be hampered. Self Reference Criterion (SRC)
and Ethnocentrism can make the effort worthless.

Introduction:

Marketing cultures worldwide is a thriving business as the world moves closer to a global
economy. International companies have been marketing to countries around the world for
years and many have had some degree of success without ever taking cultural differences into
consideration. Craft your marketing message with host country values in mind and boost your
chances of success. Companies like IBM, Coca Cola, Nike, Kellogg’s, Nestlé, McDonalds do
business around the world. An important challenge for the international marketing phase of a
firm is the need to understand the different environments the company needs to operate in. To
understand different cultural, economic, and political environments is necessary for the
success of a company. Culture is one of the most challenging elements of the international
marketplace.

Review:
The purpose of this report is to review the influence of a Culture on International Market. We
have discussed here the theories and analysis related with this. We have summarized here
both positive and negative relationships between Culture and International Market. The final
part of this section will focus on the influence of a Culture on International Market.

Objectives of the Study:

Culture is the human made part of human environment. So we tried to focus on the elements
of culture that influence the international marketing.

Methodology:
We have discussed Culture, Common Marketing Mistakes, Online Marketing Mistakes,
Email Marketing Mistakes, Social Media Marketing Mistakes, Elements of Culture and its
effects in International marketing, Cross Cultural Marketing Blunders, and given required
examples with them to understand the topic.
Culture:
Culture is the human made part of human environment – the sum total of knowledge, beliefs,
arts, laws, morals, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as
members of society. Culture is the “software of mind”. It provides a guide for humans on
how to think and behave.

Culture on international marketing

Culture is the way that we do things around here. Culture could relate to a country (national
culture), a distinct section of the community (sub-culture), or an organization (corporate
culture). It is widely accepted that you are not born with a culture, and that it is learned. So,
culture includes all that we have learned in relation to values and norms, customs and
traditions, beliefs and religions, rituals and artifacts (i.e. tangible symbols of a culture, such
as the Sydney Opera House or the Great Wall of China).

Therefore international marketing needs to take into account the local culture of the country
in which you wish to market.

The Terpstra and Sarathy Cultural Framework helps marketing managers to assess the
cultural nature of an international market. It is very straight-forward, and uses eight
categories in its analysis. The Eight categories are Language, Religion, Values and Attitudes,
Education, Social Organizations, Technology and Material Culture, Law and Politics and
Aesthetics.

 Language: The concept relates to the balance between the verbal and the non-verbal
communication. In a low context culture spoken language carries the emphasis of the
communication i.e. what is said is what is meant. Examples include Australia and the
Netherlands.

 Religion: The nature and complexity of the different religions an international

marketer could encounter is pretty diverse. The organization needs to make sure that
their products and services are not offensive, unlawful or distasteful to the local
nation. This includes marketing promotion and branding.

 Values and Attitudes: Values and attitudes vary between nations, and even vary
within nations. So if you are planning to take a product or service overseas make sure
that you have a good grasp the locality before you enter the market.

 Education: The level and nature of education in each international market will vary.
This may impact the type of message or even the medium that you employ. For
example, in countries with low literacy levels, advertisers would avoid
communications which depended upon written copy, and would favor radio
advertising with an audio message or visual media such as billboards. The labeling of
products may also be an issue.

 Social Organizations: India has an established caste system – and many Western
countries still have an embedded class system. So social mobility could be restricted
where caste and class systems are in place. Whether or not there are strong trade
unions will impact upon management decisions if you employ local workers.
  Technology and Material Culture: Technology is a term that includes many other
elements. It includes questions such as is there energy to power our products? Is there
a transport infrastructure to distribute our goods to consumers? Does the local port
have large enough cranes to offload containers from ships? How quickly does
innovation diffuse? Also of key importance, do consumers actually buy material
goods i.e. are they materialistic?

 Law and Politics: The political ideology on which the society is based will impact
upon your decision to market there. For example, the United Kingdom has a largely
market-driven, democratic society with laws based upon precedent and legislation,
whilst Iran has a political and legal system based upon the teachings and principles
Islam and a Sharia tradition.

Common Marketing Mistakes

1. Not being prepared with a marketing plan, USP and budget.
2. Targeting everyone instead of focusing on a specific target audience.
3. Misrepresenting your experience and making unsubstantiated claims.
4. Being inconsistent with your marketing message.
5. Ignoring your existing paying clients and only marketing to the unknown.
6. Not listening to feedback on your marketing activities.
7. Following the competition instead of creating your own place in the market.
8. Not following up with leads quickly.
9. Not editing/proofreading your copy before going public.
10. Underestimating customer service and the power of word of mouth.
11. Not having business cards on you at all times.

Online Marketing Mistakes

1. Forgetting to test your site across various platforms and browsers.
2. Not updating your site design or content, ever.
3. Assuming SEO will take care of itself.
4. Ignoring the needs of your target audience when writing your site content.
5. Not including easy-to-find contact information.
6. Blanketing your business web site with ads that distract from your core message.
7. Copying content from competitors’ web sites.
8. Not providing an informative and engaging about page.

Email Marketing Mistakes

1. Sending messages to people who have not opted in.
2. Selling your subscribers’ contact information.
3. Blatantly spamming by sending unrelated and unwanted messages.
4. Not testing HTML emails in many types of email clients.
5. Making it hard to subscribe or to unsubscribe.
6. Not including a specific call to action in every email.

Social Media Marketing Mistakes

1. Ignoring your online reputation.
2. Forgetting it’s a marathon, not a sprint and cramming in too much, too fast.
3. Not updating your profiles regularly and keeping them consistent.
4. Focusing on sales instead of forming real relationships.
5. Overlooking the importance of conversations.

Top Ten Biggest International Marketing Mistakes of All Time

1. When Parker Pen marketed a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read
& quote; It won' it leak in your pocket and embarrass you & quote.
2. In Spain, when Coors Brewing Company put its slogan, &quote; Turn it loose & quote;
into Spanish; it was read as &quote; Suffer from diarrhea & quote;.
3. When Braniff International Airways translated a slogan touting its upholstery, & quote; Fly
in leather & quote; it came out in Spanish as & quote; Fly naked & quote.
4. When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their
slogan, &quote; Pepsi Brings You Back to Life & quote; pretty literally. The slogan in
Chinese really meant, & quote; Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors back from the Grave & quote;
5. Chicken magnate Frank Perdue's line, & quote; It takes a tough man to make a tender
chicken, & quote; sounds much more interesting in Spanish: & quote; It takes a sexually
stimulated man to make a chicken affectionate. &quote;
6. Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American
campaign: &quote; Nothing sucks like an Electrolux & quote;.
7. A hair products company, Clairol, introduced the & quote; Mist Stick & quote;, a curling
iron, into Germany only to find out that mist is slang for manure. Not too many people had
use for the manure stick.
8. The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, & quote; Salem-Feeling Free & quote;, was
translated into the Japanese market as &quote; When smoking Salem, you will feel so
refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty. &quote;
9. PepsiCola lost it dominant market share to Coke in South East Asia when Pepsi changed
the color of its vending machines and coolers from deep &quote; Regal & quote; blue to light
&quote; Ice & quote; blue as Light blue is associated with death and mourning in SE Asia.

Recommendations:

From the discussions above, the following recommendations are made:

 Foreign marketers are entreated to pay the particular attention to the culture of the
environment within which they operate.
 They must abreast themselves with cultural tunes in their area of operation in other to
adjust to the changing needs of the people.
 Leadership must also be seen as necessary push, hence must take centre stage for
international marketing to succeed.
 Skilled marketer is an indispensable asset in the marketing of a company’s product or
service internationally.

Conclusions

It is concluded that culture indeed impacts on international marketing. Technology and

leadership are also issues that are likely to impact on the international marketing. It is also
concluded that the skills of the foreign marketer is also paramount in the international
marketing.
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