Marketers: Learn How to Handle International Markets

Marketers: Learn How to Handle International Markets

When you are addressing how to take your marketing strategy worldwide, there will be the temptation to use a cookie cutter approach; this temptation must be squelched.   As a student in integrated marketing at Northwestern University, I have seen how understanding a nation’s cultural values will allow your strategy to truly flourish.

A Look At Marketing In Brazil

           

            Finding the right product for a unique marketplace means having to invest far less in your offering, as the product will match up with the wants and needs of your target market.  For instance, open a new page to look at Metro’s article on this Brazilian offering: http://bit.ly/1mYdoSi. Outsiders see a ridiculous luxury item.  Brazilians see a chance to cherish their heritage in their beautiful game.  The upcoming 2014 World Cup will sell a unique souvenir: Pele’s hair crystallized into diamond form.  The soccer superstar’s hair is taken and transformed into 1,283 diamonds (equaling his goal tally) and will be on sale for £4,500. 

Brazil's spending on Consumption Shows Great Promise

            Coca-Cola shows a second example of understanding an international market, more specifically the feelings of said market.  Coca-Cola plans on scaling back its upbeat marketing campaign leading up to the World Cup.  Coca-Cola realizes that if there is a discord between their campaign and the overall sentiment of Brazil, their company image will suffer.  Take a second to look at Fox’s article on this strategy in a new page: http://fxn.ws/1iuunpI.  As a result, Coca-Cola moves stride in stride with their target market.

            So, marketing internationally must align the values of the market with the offerings of the company.  When looking at how to move forward, a CMO and marketing department must work to fulfill these points:

1.     Market Towards Specific Markets: Like Pele's diamonds, if you find a way to focus on what your target market desires, the selling point becomes much easier

2.     Capitalize on Current Events: Partnering your company with major events in your market is a great way to permeate the market

3.     Sync marketing strategy with market emotions: Consumers want to see that the company they are buying from understands them.  Take a page out of Coca-Cola's book and partner your company's status with the state of your target market

Seamus Naughton is an Economics and Integrated Marketing Communications student at Northwestern University.  He is interested in both business internationally and more specifically in the Lusophone world.  He studies the Portuguese language and operates a twitter feed on the topic.  Follow him at @Lusophonenews on Twitter.

Why CMOs at Asset Managers Can’t Afford to Ignore Social Media

As a Chief Marketing Officer in the investment management industry, do not delay using social media. As a graduate student at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, I have been studying this topic and have found two articles that you might find interesting.

Mark Kitchen's (Twitter @HedgeweekMark) article “SEC allows broader use of social media for investment manager advertising” shows that even the SEC knows that investment managers will need to move into social media marketing. The SEC has issued guidance for marketing on social media, and it leaves room for firms to leverage these tools. Specifically, managers are prohibited from using client testimonies for marketing purposes, but now the SEC may permit testimonials on independent social media if the manager has no influence over public commentary, and viewing and updating are done in real-time. This is a large step forward for the SEC. Don’t think that because there is some regulation that there is nothing worthwhile you can do.

Photo credit: London Thomson-Thurm (2014)

In "Asset managers embrace #socialmedia marketing", Maha Khan Phillips (Twitter @MahaKhanPhillip) shows how asset managers are currently using social media. Approximately 50% of U.S. asset managers surveyed for a recent Cerulli Associates’ Social Media Survey are using social media for marketing purposes, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn. Asset managers such as PIMCO (130,000 Twitter followers @PIMCO) and Fidelity (64,000 Twitter followers @Fidelity) are using social media to communicate information about new products, educational information and tools, access to experts, recruiting, and corporate social responsibility initiatives. Asset managers who started social media initiatives 3-4 years ago have been steadily building their audience on these channels. LinkedIn is by far the most commonly used, since it is considered to be the most professionally oriented social media site. Currently many asset managers and their clients are still relying on traditional communication methods and channels, but given the goals of improving and increasing direct communication, social media is a natural next step for firms looking to deepen their interaction with customers.

As a result of studying these two articles and my work in business and marketing at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business, I recommend that you consider these 3 action items:

1) Keep Current on Government Regulations – Regulations continue to evolve and they may be less restrictive than you think.

2) Watch Your Competition - Look at how other investment managers are using social media

3) Brainstorm New Ways to Engage – Think creatively about how your firm can use social media to engage with your target audiences.

By taking these three actions, you will put yourself in a much better position to get ahead of the curve in marketing on social media. Social media is too important to ignore – start getting ahead of the curve today.

London Thomson-Thurm, CFA

I am an MBA student at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, graduating in June 2015. My deep passion for creative marketing combined with the CFA® designation will help me to transform how the finance industry approaches marketing. Building on my 8 years of experience in investment management marketing and sales, this summer I will be doing content marketing creation at a large asset manager.

Questions or Comments? Tell me on Twitter @LondonThurmCFA or through LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/londontt

Ecommerce Entrepreneur: You Can Be the Next “Amazon”

As an Entrepreneur, you know e-commerce has shifted the marketplace and changed customer expectations about the shopping experience. As a graduate student of Integrated Marketing Communications at Medill, Northwestern University I have been investigating e-commerce for startups and have found two articles you will find interesting and helpful.

           Ecommerce is a bear, written by Bonobos CEO Andy Dunn, shows current viable ecommerce strategies and lists out real successful example. Why is bear? Think about Amazon! It is like a bear in this industry – it’s fearless and it’s fierce. The authors observed four strategies in the marketplace to deal with Amazon’s incumbency: proprietary pricing, proprietary selection, proprietary experience, and proprietary merchandise.

(source: bearlegend.com)

           Nowadays everybody is talking about big data. The article “9 Data Sets Every Ecommerce Company Should Measure” written by Scott Gerber gives you the perfect answer about what specific dataset an ecommerce business should focus and analyze. Knowing the strategies of making a good ecommerce business, we need to understand what are the most efficient and effective ways to measure the success. Have a closer look at what user acquisition costs, abandoned carts and ROI are and tweet with your comments!

In reviewing these two articles, I have found three action items you should consider taking.  They are:

• Customer feedback is fundamental and crucial  - Not only does customer feedback help businesses evolve and perfect their product or platform, listening to customers can also have a "juggernaut" effect when it comes to building a business.

• Invest in mobile  - Remember this is a trend. Research shows that 80% of smartphone users use their devices to shop online. In the meanwhile, it’s easy to track customer’s behavior over mobile devices and it is also a better way to communicate with the customers.

• Take advantage of social media   - Building up good networks on social media sites can help you drive traffic and target your customers. What is more powerful is that this is the best way to create word-of-mouth buzz for ecommerce business.

         All in all, customer is always the key to start and improve your business. Try to think and act from the perspective of the customers will always give you a bigger possibility to win the advantages and eventually win the market in ecommerce.

Joshua Chen is an MS candidate in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University. He has previously worked as marketing specialist at a consulting firm in Australia and a law firm in China. Follow Joshua’s Twitter @joshuaaachennn