International and Strategic Marketing (BSM330)

Christian Berger

First Assignment

Outline the elements in the marketing communications mix and

examine the main reasons why marketing communications techniques

are such important tools in global marketing today.

Seminar Leader :

Jane Croad

Nowadays it is necessary to consider the steps of marketing communication because it is

becoming a very complex process. In the beginning a company must define its target group;

then set the objectives and calculate the budget; think about legal, regulatory, social and

ethical values; decide tools, messages and media; analyse the strategy and evaluate the

campaign. According to Wood (2007) an integrated marketing communication (IMC) is

essential to interact, to inform and to have an effect on the way that the customer behaves

or thinks. The main IMC tools are advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, direct

marketing and public relations. Kotler et al (2005) state that in respect of international

markets every tool needs to be adopted differently to each country it operates in, in order to

gain a wider range of potential customers.

The marketing communication tool advertising is the main and most important one due to

its ability to reach mass audiences. Advertising implies television, radio, magazines,

newspaper, cinema, internet etc. According to Datamonitor (2007) the global advertising

market grew by 4.7% in 2006 to reach a value of $70.7 billion. The American advertising

market dominates, with 57.6% share of the total global revenues, Europe generates a

further 23.4% of the global market value and AsiaPacific accounts for a 19%

(Datamonitor, 2007). It is obvious that the AsiaPacific market is the one with fewer shares.

This is due to the fact that Asian countries such as Cambodia or Vietnam do not dispose of

sufficient technological facilities. It is expected by the authors of this essay that Asian

markets e.g. China and India will help to close this gap due to their mass population.

Today markets are affected by the implications of globalization which in turn results in tough

competition as a large number of companies are able to go abroad and to reach consumers

all over the world. In order to become present and competitive in the global market it is of

paramount importance to use the appropriate kind of communication accordingly to every

single country and its respective culture to avoid any misunderstandings. According to

Kaynak and Mitchell (1981) companies are facing difficulties in communicating to people of

diverse cultures. International companies have to create standardized products, packaging

and communication methods to be successful in order to different countries and across

cultural diversities (Holt et al, 2004). Today cultural perspectives play an important role in

marketing communications decisions. The concentration moved from a national culture

towards a global culture because products and services nowadays can be reachable for

everyone (in industrialized countries). We have to consider the fact that according to the

World Bank, 90 % of the world′s population live in developing countries in 2030.

However globalization implies also a negative effect as it widens the gap between

industrialized and lessdeveloped countries in order to their availabilities of media.

Companies have to be aware of the local situations and act accordingly. For instance in India

the rate of analphabetic has increased considerably over the past few years (Keegan and

Green, 1997). That is why global marketers have to concern whether advertising in

newspapers or leaflets are less effective than for example commercials in the cinema as

according to Keegan and Green (1997) India has a highly rate of cinema visitors.