The globalization and booming of Social media has brought new ways of promoting at a much wider scale. Today, marketing is more multicultural than ever, and it's common to interact with people from a variety of locations, cultures and backgrounds. This allows brands new opportunities but it also creates some drastic challenges.
So, how can you be sure to target your audience in the right way? Are you sure your audience understands what you intend to mean?
Communication is the transmission of a message and between the sender and the receiver there can be an intermediary. Let's say the message is a code that goes through a black box and the new code that appears on the other side has to be understood by the receiver. In that box the code can be enriched with cultural peculiarities. They transcend nationality, ethnicity, or religious affiliation and therefore, your message can be perceived differently to anyone who is receiving it.
This is exactly where cultural intelligence is crucial: to understand and adapt to the receiver of this message. It helps you to avoid misunderstandings, loss of interest or even clashes which can result in a lack of connection with your community locally and globally.
In their 2003 book , Professors Christopher Earley and Soon Ang introduced the concept of Cultural Intelligence. The IQ-derived measure of cultural intelligence is also known as the cultural quotient (CQ). According to Earley and Ang, Cultural Intelligence is the capacity to adapt to diverse cultural contexts.
If you are willing to do global marketing, knowing how to adapt and being flexible is more essential than ever.
According to an influential Harvard Business Review article, here are the 3 key components of CQ:
Head, Body, and Heart
Head
Head is the knowledge and comprehension required for good CQ. Research and observation play a role in this. However, you must also have the ability to recognize the shared understandings of a culture and strategies for acquiring new information. This will enable you to modify your communication and decision-making processes.
Body
Translating cultural information into visible actions is part of the body. Typically, these are the most obvious ways that other people perceive your CQ through. You demonstrate it through your body language, gestures and performance of culturally significant tasks.
Heart
You need to be self-assured, not afraid to admit mistakes and confident enough to keep getting better by tackling new cultural situations. This will increase your CQ.
All three of these factors are used by high-CQ individuals to regulate and monitor their behavior. They are able to interpret what's going on in any cultural setting and adjust their behavior accordingly, - avoiding quick judgments or relying on stereotypes.
High CQ individuals are not experts in all cultures. Instead, they are able to confidently enter new environments and make educated decisions based on observations and evidence.
You might have heard of this CQ when working with people from various cultures. However, it is at least as important to apply when trying to connect with people globally.
If you would like to learn more about its power and possible leverage come talk to me.
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