In International marketing, the product is sold all over the world by making modifications to suit each target market. For example, Knorr soup has different flavours for Asian markets where spices are preferred.

In global marketing, a same product is sold all over the world. For example, an iPod.

Definitions –
International Marketing – International marketing refers to designing and executing marketing strategies for achieving the organisations objectives in an international market or markets.

The definition is same as that of “marketing” except that the efforts are directed towards international markets to achieve the organisations objectives.

Marketing Strategy involves decisions on which markets to target and how to position products as well as the organisation in the minds of the existing as well as potential customers in relation to the competitors.
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The organisation has broadly these options for entry – Exporting, licencing, joint venture or direct investing.

Exporting can be indirect as well as direct.

In Indirect exporting, the organisation gets into contract with another domestic organisation which takes responsibility for moving products overseas. The different kinds of such organisations are –

Commission agents locate the buyer firms in foreign countries. They negotiate the price and get commission from the foreign clients.

Export management companies (EMC) carry out business transactions in the name of the manufacturer. They receive a commission, salary, etc. for their service.

Export trading companies (ETCs) purchase products for resale in international markets.

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The major steps or decisions in International Marketing are –

1) Deciding on entering International markets –
Major factors that drive organisations to go international are –
Market – First reason in because of no growth opportunities in the domestic market. To sustain its growth, an organisation moves to lure customers in more attractive markets. Since the organisation has a vast experience in marketing in domestic market, they rely heavily on the experience and brand value to enter new markets.

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The environment in which an organisation operates in is divided into Marco and Micro environment. These environmental factors pose a major challenge for marketers in international markets. A comprehensive study and analysis is required on these variables.

Macro environment –
Macro Environment in International markets exists in the form of cultural forces, political forces, economic forces, competitive environment, demography and Geography of the region.

Social and Cultural Environment –the social and cultural values are passed on from generation to generation affects the regions social structure, habits, life-style, customs, traditions, etc. These vary from country to country.

• Extent of religion, collectivist or individualistic, attitude to authority
• Changes in lifestyles, fashions
• Components of the culture and its impact on the strategies.
• Views about the natural environment, others.
• Healthy, home based or social
• Family centered, work driven (e.g. Japanese), solo or couple

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The Micro environment variables are partially controllable. The management can adjust them to gain maximum advantage.

Micro environment is divided into two parts, the Task Environment and the Internal Environment.

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Management decisions on 4P’s for international market –

The marketers need to decide at this stage the extent to which changes should be made to the existing 4P’s – Product, Price, Promotion, and Place (distribution) to adapt to the market in the new country. The organisation can implement the same strategy as part of Global Marketing, but there should be some adaptation done to suit he local needs and make profits.

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Management gurus have coined terms like “King Consumer”, “Lead Consumer”, “Super Consumer” for the customer who is obsessed with an organisations offering. They are not only heavy users of the product of an organisation but also have a certain attitude towards the product. They are also known as “High passion fans”.

Eddie Yoon in his book “Super Consumers” states that lead consumers are only 10% of the total consumers but account for 30%-70% of the sales.

Most of the times we see die-hard fans of a certain brand, or super consumers for certain brands like Apple Products, Harley-Davidson, and Royal Enfield.

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Some organisations ignore super consumers as weird obsessives which is a big mistake they make. If an organisation forges a good relationship with its loyal consumers they propel the business by getting more new customers and also share valuable feedback which helps making improvements to the product as well as associated services like delivery, promotions, etc. associated with the product. This benefits the organisation by keeping the competitors at bay, increase in market share, and increase in profits.

The major task with an organisation is to identify these super consumers. An organisation should invest in information systems so that it can store data on the existing customers, lost customers and new customers. Channels of communication should always be kept open with the customers.

From the organisations end efforts should be made to stay in touch with its customers. This helps in identifying the super customers from the new customers. It can be as simple as asking a customer to fill a form when they visit the store or a direct mail sent to customers. Customers can even be called to ask them simple questions –

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In this information age, almost all the organisations believe that customer is always right. The ones who don’t value customers cease to exist in the long run.

Today’s customer is spoiled by the number of options available in the market from different organisations. The customers are smarter because of the information available to compare different products. It is difficult to please a customer. They have many substitute products available at competitive prices and quality. Customers have access to reviews of products on internet from the different users of the products. As a result today’s customer has become more demanding.

Studies have proved that a business fails if it doesn’t maintain good relations with their existing customers. As the customers are demanding, the organisation cannot give a good product to them. It has constantly strive to give an excellent product.The firm cannot survive by making a sale to a customer. It has to forge a relationship with the customer to ensure that there are repeated sales from him/ her. The long-lasting relationship is beneficial for both the organisation as well as the customer. The organisations work doesn’t ends ate just manufacturing a good product, it has to invest is processes to ensure the products easy availability, delivery, after sales service, replacements, etc.

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Customer value is the amount of benefits that a customer gets from buying a product. If the benefits received or experienced are high as compared to the cost of the product, we say Customer Value is high. For example, in recent years, there have been new entrants in the mobile market where companies like Xiomi, LeEco, Micromax, Vivo, etc. offer the same benefits that a premium device from a reputable brand like Samsung offers but at a lower price. Similarly Motorola entered the Indian market with its Moto G models by promising better benefits at a lower price.

Customer value is the difference between-
i) the value that a customer gains from owning and using the product, and
ii) the costs of obtaining the product.

Customer value doesn’t ends at delivering a high quality product but it is a continuous process and includes after sales services associated with the product. These are warranties, free repairing for a certain period, easy access to service centres, buy back options for an upgraded product, efficient delivery of different services, etc.

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