Why is international marketing important?

By Bihongoye Erica

We live in a global market place and as the world continues to shrink, marketing opportunities expand.  After World War II there was an incomparable growth into global or international markets by companies that used to only serve patrons living in their native land. Drastic advances in communication and transportation continue to bring markets closer. Business people have started to make use of global marketing as they become aware to their companies' full business potential. This is the reason you may find multi-language labels on many products from clothing to electric appliances. However there is another main reason why companies must take international marketing seriously and that is for survival. Any company these days that does not have, or does not become global in their business outlook risks losing its domestic business to competitors from outside its borders such as Taiwan for example that bring lower costs, more experience and better products. The skill lies in identifying the areas of greatest potential profit, and developing global or international strategies that still function effectively in meeting local needs. Understanding the complexities involved in developing powerful international marketing campaigns is a key element in building successful sales advantages. I use the words international and global interchangeably throughout this document.

DISCUSSION

Marketing is one of the functional areas of a business separate from finance and operations and along with product design, manufacturing, and transportation, make up a company's value chain. Decisions need to be made at every stage from the outset of an idea to the support given to customers after the sale for example a 0800 help line to answer any questions consumers might have in using their new computer software or help with trouble shooting. These decisions should be assessed in terms of their ability to create value for customers. It used to be that marketing was just another link in the chain, but due to competitive pressures many organisations now highlight the effectiveness of linking marketing with other functional areas as above, like design, manufacturing or other value related decisions from the start. This technique is called boundaryless marketing and hopes to rid communication barriers that can exist between marketing and other functional areas.

The importance of international marketing is titanic! With America representing about 25 percent of the total world market for all products and services they still miss 75 percent of the worlds market so to achieve maximum growth they must go outside their own market and go international. For example Coke realises the potential of outside markets as they earn 90 percent of their operating income and two thirds of their revenues made by its soft drink business outside of the U.S.A. (Page 12, part 1 introduction, the importance of Global Marketing). Numerous companies have already recognised that the companies that will survive and flourish in the twentieth century are the ones that become international, while some may fail to respond to the challenges and opportunities other companies maybe immersed or brought out by more successful powerful organisations, some will merely vanish.

CONCLUSION

International marketing is very important for organisations, they must use the right tools such as the four P's, Place, Product, Price and Promotion to create global marketing programmes. Marketing, research and development, manufacturing and other activities make up a company's value chain which firms use to create superior customer value. International companies must persist in pursuing a competitive advantage over their competitors. Although all companies must use the marketing mix, value chain and competitive advantage whether they operate domestically or internationally, the global companies must not fail to pursue global opportunities or they face being pushed aside by bigger, stronger global competitors.

International marketing does not necessarily mean offering products all over the world but maybe in a few select countries. International marketing strategies can be based on different elements such as brands, product design, product positioning, distribution or advertising.

Therefore I have to agree that international marketing should be such an important aspect of any business if they wish to compete against global giants that seek to operate within other domestic markets and threaten to devour existing local firms.