DEPARTMENT OF MBA

MODULE -VI
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION
OBJECTIVES
Promotion of a company’s products and services are very important not only for domestic market
but also for international markets. International promotion decisions are, however, more
complicated and critical. This lesson will provide you an opportunityto understand promotion in
international context. After studying this lesson you should be able
• To understand the utility of various promotion tools for international markets.
• To know the challenges a marketer faces while promoting its products overseas.
• To understand the process of deciding promotion mix for international markets.
• To know the methods and process of fixing promotion budget.
• To understand the standardized and adapted approaches of promotion
INTRODUCTION
Modern marketing calls for more than developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and
making it accessible to target customers. Companies must also communicate with their present
and potential customers. What is communicated, however, should not be left to chance. To
communicate effectively, companies hire advertising agencies to develop effective ads; sales-
promotion specialists to design buying-incentive programs; direct marketing specialists to build
databases and interact with customers and prospects by mail and telephone; and public relations
firms to supply product publicity and develop the corporate image. They train their sales people
to be friendly and knowledgeable. For most companies, the question is not whether to
communicate but rather what to say, to whom, and how often. Basically, promotion is an attempt
to influence. More specifically, promotion is the element in an organisation’s marketing mix that
serves to inform, persuade, and remind the market of a product and/or the organisation selling it,
in hopes of influencing the recipients’ feelings, beliefs, or behaviour. Product promotion
decisions become much more difficult an complicated when companies start operating at
international level. The global marketer must choose a proper combination of the various
promotional tools like advertising, personal selling, publicity, and sales promotion. The choice of
promotional mix will naturally depend on the target audience, company objectives, the products
or services marketed, the available resources, and the availability of the tool in a particular
market. Promotion is a term taken from Latin promovere, which means moving from one end to
another. In marketing, promotion means all those tools that help a marketer to make his product
move from the factory to the customer and hence involves advertising, sales promotion, personal
selling, and publicity etc. The marketing communications mix (also called the promotion mix)
consists of five major tools that are as follows:
(i) Advertising: Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or
services by an identified sponsor.
(ii) Direct Marketing: Use of mail, telephone, and other non-personal contact tools to
communicate with or solicit a response from specific customers and prospects.
(iii) Sales Promotion: Short-term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a product or
service.
(iv) Public Relations and Publicity: A variety of programmes designed to promote and/or protect
a company’s image or its individual products.
(v) Personal Selling: Face-to-face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for the
purpose of making sales.

Communication in Marketing
Communication can be defined as transmitting, receiving, and processing information. When a
person, group, or organization attempts to transfer an idea or message and the receiver is able to
comprehend the information, communication takes place. Brand communication is undertaken
by organizations to create popularity for their product among the end-users. Brand
communication goes a long way in promoting products and services among target consumers.
The process involves identifying target consumers and promoting the brand among them through
means of Advertising, Sales Promotion, Public Relation, Direct Marketing, Personal Selling,
Social media, etc.

Steps in Developing an Effective Communication

The important steps in developing an effective communication are the following:

1. Identifying the target Audience: The target audience may be different in different
countries for the same product.
2.
Example: Certain consumer durables which are used even by the high income as well as low
income groups in advanced countries may be used only by high income groups in developing
countries.

In several cases the need to be fulfilled and satisfied by the product varies between markets.nFor
example, a bicycle is a basic means of transportation in a country like India. Thenimportant
category of consumers for the same is small farmers, blue-collar workers and students. In some
advanced countries, bicycles are used for sporting and exercising, hence the target audience is
different. Also, the decision-making roles of different categories of people are not the same in all
markets. All this indicates that the target audience may not be the same in all markets.

2.Determining Communication Objectives: The communication objectives may be different

in different cases.
Example: When the product is in the introduction stage in a market the emphasis of
communication could be on consumer education and creation of primary demand. In a market
where the product is at other stages of the life cycle, the communication objectives would be
different.

If there is a new competition in a market, countering that competition could be a major objective
of advertising in that market at that point of time.

3. Determining the message: Formulating a message requires solving four problems: what to say
(message content), how to say it logically (message structure), how to say it symbolically
(message format), and who should say it (message source). The decisions regarding the message
content, message structure, message format and message source are influenced by certain
environmental factors such as cultural factors and legal factors. The differences in the
environmental factors among the countries may call for different messages as deemed
appropriate for each market.

4. Budget Decisions: The total promotional expenditure and apportionment of this amount
to different elements of the promotion mix are very important and difficult decisions.

Integrated Marketing Communication-

It refers to integrating all the methods of brand promotion to promote a particular product or
service among target customers. In integrated marketing communication, all the dimensions of
marketing communication work together for increased sales and maximum cost effectiveness.It
is an approach to achieving the objectives of a marketing campaign, through the coordinateduse
of different promotional methods that re-enforce each other.

As defined by the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Integrated Marketing

communications “recognizes the value of a comprehensive plan that evaluates the strategic roles
of a variety of communication disciplines advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales
promotion and combines them to provide clarity, consistency, and maximum communication
impact.”

It is a management concept that is designed to unify all the aspects of Marketing communication
such as Advertising, Sales Promotion, Public Relation, Direct Marketing, Personal Selling and
make them work together towards a common goal, rather than letting each work in isolation.
IMC is a cross functional approach concerned with developing relationships with customers and
other stakeholders

Components of IMC-

The Foundation: It involves detailed analysis of both the product and the target market. It is
essential for marketers to understand the brand, its offerings and end-users. They need to be
aware of the needs, attitudes and expectations of the target customers as well as keep a close
watch on competitor’s activities.

The Corporate Culture: The features of products and services have to be in line with the work
culture of the organization. Every organization has a vision and the marketers to keep that in
mind before designing products and services.

Brand Focus: Brand Focus represents the corporate identity of the brand.

Consumer Experience: Marketers need to focus on consumer experience, i.e. what the
customers feel about the product. A consumer is likely to choose a product which has good
packaging and looks attractive. Products need to meet and exceed customer expectations.

Communication Tools: Communication tools include various modes of promotion of a

particular brand; such as advertising, direct selling, promoting through social media such as
facebook, twitter, etc.
 Promotional Tools: Brands are promoted through various promotional tools such as trade
promotions, personal selling and so on. Organizations need to strengthen their relationship with
customers and external clients.

Integration Tools: Organizations need to keep a regular track on customer feedbacks and
reviews. They need to have specific software like customer relationship management (CRM)
which helps in measuring the effectiveness of various integrated marketing communications
tools.

Advertising
According to American Marketing Association, Advertising is “Any paid form of non-personal
presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.” It is a means by
which a firm communicates with potential customers, highlighting its product.

Global advertising is the use of the advertising appeals, messages, art, copy, photographs, stories,
and video segments in multiple country markets.

A global company that has the ability to successfully transform a domestic campaign into a
worldwide one or to create a new global campaign from scratch is at an advantage relative to
competitors who make the same discovery at a later point in time.

Global campaigns with unified themes can help to build long-term product and brand identities
and offer significant savings by reducing costs involved in producing advertisements. Global
advertising also offers companies economies of scale in advertising as well as improved access
to distribution channels. Where shelf space is at a premium, a company has to convince retailers
to carry its products rather than those of competitors.

Personal Selling-

In today’s world, one of the fastest ways to convince a person to do something is by

communicating with that person. International markets are swarming with firms and their
products and services marked by complex technologies and multiple choices, and in cut-throat
competition. The role of salesperson becomes quite important as he/she acts as representative
Notes of the firm with whom potential customers with directly interact with. The customer
always wants to be sure that he or she is getting value for his or her money. The salesperson
helps in winning the trust of customer in the firm by making a potential customer an actual one,
hence giving the firm some competitive advantage.

Personal selling is personal communication between a firm representative and a potential

customer to persuade prospective customer to buy something their product or service idea. This
is in contrast to the mass, impersonal communication of advertising, sales promotion and other
promotional tools.

Example: One of the most important factors which contributed to the sales success of Amway
Products in India was the door-to-door sales.
The efforts of sales people have a direct impact on such diverse activities as:-
 Increase awareness of new products and business ventures.
 Keeping existing products running well in market.
 Provide convenience to customers as products are sold directly at homes.
 Creating a relationship and trust through interpersonal approach.
 Generating actual sales for the firms.
 Direct Feedback from customers.
 Supplement with the product promotion.
 Provides an effective method in explaining firm’s reliability and reputation, product
features, clarifying customer doubts and resolving their issues.
One of the major limitations is its high cost, especially in advanced countries.

Decisions taken in personal Selling:-

Size of personal selling effort: This is determined by importance of the firm’s new product or
service and how much is firm is invest in money, time and in other resources
Allocation of Sales Effort: This involves Geographical Allocation, i.e. the area which a given
sales person needs to cover or the geographical position assigned to each sales person here he or
she has to generate sales for the firm
Allocation of product to sales personnel: A firm might be having a number of products and
services to sell. A salesperson can’t sell all the products or services due to his or her physical
limitations. Hence the firm needs to focus on what products are needed to be sold by the
salesperson. This is done as per demands of the products or services or when a new product is
launched.
Scheduling: Time is a valuable resource, hence, the firm needs to make crucial decisions
scheduling of the personal selling effort.
Cost Involved: Budget for personal selling determines the size of personal selling effort and is
generally on higher side as it is quite labour intensive.

Sales Promotion
Sales promotion refers to any paid consumer or trade communication program of limited period
that adds substantial value to a product or brand. Sales promotion is a vital element of marketing
communication policy which accounts for more promotional expenditures than advertising,
personal selling and publicity in some countries.
Consumer sales promotions are intended to make consumers aware of a new product, to
encourage nonusers to sample an existing product, or to boost overall consumer demand.

Example: Coupons, rebates, Loyalty programs, free sampling, etc.

Trade sales promotions are designed to raise product availability in distribution channels.
For example, point of purchase displays, trade shows, etc.

Business to business Sales promotion is targeted at the B2B market. For example, Price
reductions, trade ins, trade shows, etc

Objectives of Sales Promotion:

 Building product awareness-Sales promotion is highly effective in exposing customers to
products for the first time. The serve as key promotional components in the early stage of
product introduction.
 Creating interest-Sales promotion is integral and effective in creating interest among
customers.
 Provide information- some sales promotion techniques provide information to customers.
 Stimulating demand- Sales promotion builds demand by convincing customers to make a
purchase.
 Reinforcing a Brand-After purchase, Sales promotion can be used to encourage additional
purchase and also as a reward for purchase loyalty in the form of special promotions.
Benefits of Sales Promotion are as follows:
 Provides a real incentive to buyers
 Reduces the perceived risk associated with purchasing a product
 Provides accountability for communications activity
 Provides methods of collecting additional data for database

International Exhibition-
Introduction
Exhibitions, also known as shows, expositions, fairs or just expos are defined as a gathering of
people at a specific place and time to display goods and services for the purposes of promoting
trade. The word comes from the Latin term ‘expositio’ meaning ‘to show’ or ‘display’.

However, it is important to note that the four varieties of exhibitions may at times mean different
things depending on organization, duration and recurrence. Beier and Dumbock (5) differentiate
between a fair and an exhibition. They find that traditionally, fairs were shorter, periodic, less
organized and randomly situated.
This was in contrast with exhibitions which were one-time events running for months at a
particular location designed for the purpose. Exhibitions were also highly organized unlike fairs
and were mainly run by local governments.

Another significant difference between fairs and exhibitions was the fact that in fairs unlike
exhibitions, goods were sold and bought regularly. Exhibitions were only meant for display with
the intention of inducing future sales.

Currently, traditional exhibitions are the modern-day trade fairs and expositions in terms of
business operation. Today we have large expositions known as World Fairs or EXPOs where
countries come together to showcase their products in the international arena.

Universal Expos form the highest level of exhibitions (Anderson 3). The Bureau International
des Expositions (BIE) is the official body in charge of organizing specialized international
expositions. Normally, such expositions last between 3 to 6 months and countries showcase
themselves for trade and tourism purposes (Morrow 9). Modern expos differ with trade fairs in
terms of theme and architectural design. Various expos have been held since the Brussels expo of
1958 with the latest being the 2010 Shanghai Expo.

Trade Fairs as forms of Exhibitions

This has been the primary method through which countries have marketed themselves as
exporters. They are more specialized and industry-specific. Traditionally, trade fairs were
horizontal i.e. various products confined to a particular industry were showcased.
Today, these fairs are vertically organized and the entire industry is often represented, right from
the manufacturer to the consumer. These participants are usually pre-qualified by confirming
attendance and the nature of their business.

Trade Shows
These are usually industry specific but limited in scope compared to trade fairs. They are more
focused on the industry or companies rather than the country of origin. These shows are attended
by members of the public though the company representatives play a bigger role in ensuring that
the products are well presented for display (Kerin & Cron 87).

The basic aim of trade shows is to promote the company through display and advertisement.
However, recent trade shows have included the trade function and more and more product and
service contracts are being signed during trade shows.

In one way or another, trade shows do market the country of origin and the fact that they are
international in nature presents a good opportunity for the country to ensure that it coordinates
with the private sector to promote the country’s image.
Since exhibitors at trade shows are generally manufacturers or producers, trade shows play an
important role almost equivalent to other types of exhibitions since they represent the country of
origin as an exporter. Trade shows usually on an invite-only basis for companies and they may
be as short as a day and as long as ten days. They are usually recurrent in nature with most being
held annually (Kijewski et al 287).

Consumer shows (public shows)

These types of exhibitions are usually open to the public and they are mainly run by retail
outlets, service providers or manufacturers. Their main aim is to bring goods and services
directly to the consumer for direct selling. These shows may be industry wide or interest-wide
meaning that even unrelated companies may showcase their goods or services together.

They usually bring consumers together in one place by offering product advice, education,
discounts and entertainment. They benefit the seller by bringing in immediate purchases, product
awareness and good public relations.
They also present a good forum for product testing. On a national level, consumer shows
improve the country’s image where the intended target is a foreign market. However, their
application is limited since little mention of the country of origin is made.

Mixed shows
They usually combine both public and trade shows. This is not a category in itself since trade
shows and trade fairs qualify as mixed shows since they serve both functions. Mixed shows have
the dual effect of promoting sales while increasing product awareness. Usually, these shows are
organized in a manner that ensures that the participants meet on certain days while on other days,
they are allowed to display their goods to the public (Goldblatt 6).

Benefits of Exhibitions to a country

Exhibitions offer a country the best opportunity to market its products or itself for tourism
purposes. This is because of the large number of people who attend exhibitions. Simply put,
exhibitions present an interactive forum for supply and demand.

The fact that these exhibitions are usually industry-specific or thematic helps the country
concentrate on a particular sector of its economy that may not be doing well. Exhibitions
therefore present the country with a great opportunity to revive their industries.

Research has shown that attending exhibitions presents the consumer with better information
about a product or industry than any other form of marketing or advertisement. Additionally, no
other marketing tool presents the three functions of trade, transparency and development together
as exhibitions do.
The trade function occurs where the consumers and producers sign trade contracts during the
exhibition. The transparency function provides a market overview for the industry and it enables
competitors to meet and exchange information. Lastly, the development function occurs directly
and indirectly by promoting the image of the country that hosts the exhibition.

The UFI, which is the worldwide association of the exhibition industry, keeps records on
exhibitions around the globe. They report that exhibitions have really caught up as the main
advertisement tool for countries and companies.

Statistics from the year 2000 alone show that there were about 30,000 exhibitions held globally.
In those exhibitions, approximately 3.2 million participants exhibited their products and services
to over 350 million people who attended these events.
Normally, when an exhibition is held, the organizer pays related taxes, invests heavily in
infrastructure and brings as many exhibitors as possible to one location. This has the effect of
bringing direct benefits to local governments and residents of the area around the location of the
exhibition as they offer support services for the attendees.

This is achieved through wages and jobs being created and exhibition participants making certain
expenditures. While hosts may benefit directly, there is a spin-off effect that brings economic
gain to all parties.

An analysis of the spin-off effect reveals that the first persons to benefit are the organizers of
exhibitions through payment of registration fees for attendance. Other direct benefits accrue to
central and local governments through the remittance of taxes and also to the residents who get
jobs and wages directly related to the exhibition.

Restaurants, transport companies and retail stores also add to the list of direct beneficiaries of
exhibitions. Other non-monetary benefits include an enhanced reputation and also the
establishment of a future market for trade and tourism.

The advantages of exhibitions are so many such that in a 2004 management survey, German
managers stated that they felt that participating in exhibitions brought much more value to the
company than media advertisement (Beier & Dumbock 34).

The reasons given for the high ranking of exhibitions were threefold; first exhibitions enabled
their companies introduce new services and products, initiate more sales and finally develop
relationships with known and future buyers and suppliers.

What is Direct Mail Marketing?

Direct mail marketing is a strategy used by marketers to engage prospects and customers offline
by sending printed mailers, dimensional packages, perishable items, corporate swag, or other
physical items. It is leveraged in a variety of ways by marketers of all types, including inbound
and outbound sales teams, marketing departments, demand generation teams, growth teams,
recruiters, and more. Direct mail marketing is a valuable way to connect with prospects, leads,
and clients in a meaningful way.

With the rise of digital media over the past two decades, marketers have increasingly turned to
the power of digital communication to reach wider audiences. It makes sense: Consumers are
more connected than ever, spending over five hours a day on smartphones according to research
provided by Hubspot. Tech times reported that nearly half of Americans check their phones
before they even get out of bed. As a result, consumers have experienced a surge in digital
marketing.
This explosion in digital marketing, however, has caused a correlated increase in digital
overwhelm. Nearly three-quarters of consumers say they feel overwhelmed by email advertising
according to a study by Edison, and over one-quarter report using ad-blocking software to
augment their digital experience, according to Statista.

With an increased aversion to digital advertising, marketers find themselves in fierce competition
for attention, trying to serve an increasingly weary (and wary) audience. Rising above the noise
is becoming more difficult. In response to this, an increasing number of marketers are sending
their message where it can be clearly received—namely, to the mailbox.

Why Direct Mail Marketing Works

It works because unlike the digital clutter we’ve come to avoid, direct mail marketing taps into
the positive psychology of receiving a physical gift. Direct mail marketing is a useful component
of an overall marketing campaign because:
Direct Mail is Memorable
Direct mail is perhaps most memorable for the human touch; a handwritten note or a personally-
chosen item can create positive emotional connections, more so than a standardized corporate
gift.

Direct Mail Has a Better Response Rate

Because of this tactile engagement, direct mail marketing enjoys a response rate 30x higher than
the most powerful digital channel, email. It has the power to boost ROI by 20% as part of an
integrated campaign.

There’s Less Competition with Direct Mail

Direct mail is also notable for its rarity—with far fewer companies committing budget to tactile
marketing. For this reason, a direct mail marketing item stands out from the crowd.

Direct Mail Offers Many Ways to be Creative

Direct mail creates limitless possibilities to delight and entertain recipients. Through a Sending
Platform, marketers can deliver a variety of creatively-presented items: handwritten cards,
innovative swag items, personalized gifts, sweets & treats, eGift cards, experience tickets, and
more.

Creating a Direct Mail Campaign

Direct mail campaign is a highly valuable it terms of time and budget; however, implementing
direct mail manually entails management of quite a few moving parts—namely in cost,
packaging, and shipping. Fortunately, with some careful planning and a mindful approach, you
can reap the rewards of a well-designed direct mail marketing campaign without breaking the
bank or creating havoc in your reporting.
The results of direct mail marketing are compelling—it has the power to create direct
connections with your most valuable contacts, with high response rates for relatively low
investment. By implementing a few key tips and practices into your marketing strategy, you will
be able to take full advantage of direct mail’s merits, and delight recipients with targeted,
personalized offers that convert.