It is a debate that has been going on for decades. Should a company better differentiate their marketing measurements or is a standardized approach the better way to go?
Let’s have a look at a definition for the purpose of marketing first:
„Marketing is the process of getting people interested in your company's product or service. This happens through market research, analysis, and understanding your ideal customer's interests.“
Now, it seems to be pretty obvious that not all people and markets are the same around the world. There might be different regulations, environmental peculiarities and last but not least customs, values and behaviours – intercultural differences. It is crucial to adjust the different messages for the different target audiences in order to achieve the intended outcome for the companies. Otherwise, the recipient might simply not pay attention to the message, let alone understand it or even react to it with a buying intention. On top of that, so called „intercultural blunders“ are very likely to happen with often drastic outcomes for the companies.
Thus, it can be summarized:
„Interculturally active companies can only communicate information and appeals to buy
effectively if they are aware of the culturally conditioned 'mental programming' of their target groups and take this into account when designing their communication policy measures.“
(Müller/ Gelbrich 2015: 590)
The problem now though is that it is very likely that companies simply do not have the resources to follow a differentiation approach. They are aware of the truly impactful benefits but have to stick to a standardized solution. The cost savings predominate and there simply is no inhouse expert who could function as a central superpower knowing all cultures, the competitor landscape in each market, trends and last but not least the local languages.
The good news: there is a golden mean which merges the benefits of both approaches while minimizing the disadvantages. It is called glocalization. The idea is to have a central communication strategy which gets adjusted f.ex. content wise locally while considering the given expectations and needs there (which is what marketing is all about at the end of the day, right?).
In other words: keep your processes as homogenous as possible and your measurements as heterogenous as needed.
If you are struggling with making the right decision regarding this topic at the moment for your company or you are unhappy with your current setup, feel free to contact us for support.
glocled would love to help you boost your local conversions globally – the efficient way.
Resources:
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-marketing#:~:text=Marketing%20is%20the%20process%20of,methods%2C%20sales%2C%20and%20advertising.
Müller, Stefan/ Gelbrich, Katja (2015). Interkulturelles Marketing. (2). München: Franz
Vahlen GmbH.
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