Global Marketing vs International Marketing (IM 18 Aug 2020)

Global Marketing vs International Marketing

International marketing involves the marketing tactics adopted by knowledgeable marketers in different countries specific to the markets of those countries. Global marketing, on the other hand is a marketing concept which involves the marketing efforts put in for the unique worldwide market.

In the words of Oxford University Press, global marketing is when an organization utilizes an exact promotional tactic all over the world – like Nike or Wal-Mart. The entire world is deemed one market and does not adjust the products or services, distribution channels or the communication to regional requirements.

International marketing refers to a situation wherein a company opens a subsidiary in a new country and permits that subsidiary to look after the market in that region and pay consideration to local customs like religion, dietary and lifestyle habits.

International Marketing vs Global Marketing

Service or Product offering

In global marketing, a company provides the exact product or service offerings to the customers in all countries that it operates. For example, banks, insurance companies and big retail chains such as Wal-Mart. In international marketing however, each of the individual market is served with specific tailored products especially suited to the customers in that market only. Let’s talk about the Sharia finance products that are only offered to Muslim customers in Muslim countries or non-Muslim countries for that matter.

Marketing personnel

The marketing staffs of companies employing the global marketing strategy work at the company’s head office and are generally quite different from each other in terms of ethnicity, age, gender and also nature of work. They have distinct skills from each other which when combined produce effective results for the company and its global view. On the other hand, in international marketing, there is much less dissimilarity amongst the team members and hail generally from the country of origin of the company itself.

Marketing Budget

The marketing budget of a company adopting the global marketing policy is finalized and approved from the corporate headquarters. For example, Nike finalizes a said amount of budget at its headquarters which then drops down to local branch offices subsequently. However, in international marketing, the budget gets segregated into each of the subsidiary offices which can also formulate its own budget as well. For example, McDonald’s runs ads in local languages and according to local traditions that can be found in those regions only.

Promotion tactics

In global marketing, the company tries to make and air (on TV and radio) ads that are in sync with the worldwide audience and similarly does other marketing efforts. An appropriate example for this would be the ads that were aired on television during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It was a mix of all: global event, passionate viewers and the game of football.

In international marketing, all the marketing efforts including television commercials are tailored for the local market.

Marketing Autonomy

In global marketing, every marketing strategy is devised and implemented from the corporate headquarters whereas in international marketing the marketing efforts are generated from within the domestic markets.

Use of Social Media

Just by reviewing their social media pages, one can contemplate as to what type of marketing policy the company has adopted. For example, brands like McDonald’s have separate Facebook pages for numerous countries such as Malaysia, Brazil, Italy and Spain. Whereas, companies like Nike and Caterpillar have just a solitary Facebook page for their customers irrespective of any region or country.

Customers’ engagement

Customers’ engagement is more visible in International Marketing. A company can better connect with its customers by installing in place better communication channels. Global marketing is also as effective when it comes to customers’ engagement only the international marketing strategies are little different. However, it is proved that international marketing seems to create greater amount of engagement than global marketing does.

Advertising

In the global marketing concept the advertisements are typically aired on worldwide mediums; however in international marketing companies tend to air the advertisements in local markets or markets with similar characteristics. There are some global marketing products which respond well to global advertising, however there are others that which cannot exist in certain countries due to legal restrictions.

R&D and marketing research

In real terms, marketing research and R&D are as thorough and widespread in global marketing as they are in international marketing. There are some instances when companies don’t do their international marketing research properly and thus their products fail miserably in the global market. For example, the Ben-Gay Aspirin, McDonald’s Arch Deluxe, and Redux Beverages’ Cocaine Energy drink.