Page 209 - International Marketing

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BRILLIANT'S Overseas Market 211

Promotion is an area where the chances of blunders increases. Foreign
countries have their own customs, traditions and practices regarding
promotion. If any marketer ignores them, it would be disastrous for the
company. For example, P&G blundered in the Japanese market. In the
beginning, P&G tried to work with virtually every wholesaler and used its
US style of promotions. As a result, the company failed to establish close
relationship with wholesalers. The company found itself with poor
distribution and little promotion. However, after revamping its marketing
strategy, it became successful.
Promotion Mix
Promotion mix refers to combination of promotional tools used by an
organization to achieve its communication objectives. Various tools of
communication are used by marketers to inform and persuade customers
about their products. These include: advertising, sales promotion, personal
selling and publicity.
These tools are also called elements of promotion mix and can be used
in different combinations, to achieve the goals of promotion. For example,
consumer goods firms may use more of advertizing through mass media
while the industrial goods firms may be using more of personal selling.
These four elements are discussed in detail below:
(I) Advertising
Advertising is an important tool in marketing and may be defined as
any form of communication in the paid media. The primary role of advertising
is to inform, educate, motivate and persuade people to buy a product, a
brand or a service. Advertisement must also be able to overcome people's
resistance and inertia to change and counter competitive claims to draw
consumer's attention to the advertiser's products.
Thus, advertising plays two basic roles in marketing:
(a) Attract potential customers towards the product and
(b) Help hold them as loyal customers to the product.
The basic functions of advertising in marketing are relevant may be in
different degrees whether these are applied in the domestic market or in
the foreign market. The principles of advertising are universally applicable.
However, the diversity of environmental conditions prevailing in different
countries create problems of planning and implementation of advertising
nationally or internationally.