By Ainsley Lawrence
Branding your business across global markets can be challenging. Cultural differences will change the way your message is received, and local nuances are easy to overlook when creating promotional content.
Failing to account for regional differences and cultural customs can be extremely detrimental to your brand. This is highlighted by a report from McKinsey, which found that more ethnically diverse companies are 36% more likely to outperform the competition.
Rather than overlooking key cultural differences when creating promotional materials, invest more time and effort into researching your audience. This will help you avoid common pitfalls and will aid your efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion at your business.
Understanding Cross-Cultural Communication
Entering new markets is a sure sign that your business is doing well. However, you’ll need to refresh your approach to marketing if you want your brand to land with international audiences. The business world is rife with examples of big corporations that failed in international markets due to a lack of cultural awareness, including:
- Starbucks in Australia: Starbucks may be synonymous with good coffee in most of the world. However, Aussies prefer authentic, high-end coffee that features great roasts over sugary syrups. Failing to adjust their marketing means that today, Starbucks primarily sells to tourists, rather than Australians.
- Walmart in Japan: Walmart’s ability to deliver low-cost everyday items served the brand well in the U.S., but was part of its downfall in Japan. Walmart was therefore unable to differentiate itself from other Japanese retailers, where the “Everday Low Prices” mantra has failed to land.
- Tesco in the U.S.: British grocery giant Tesco found that breaking into the U.S. market is tougher than it looks. Without a strong enough understanding of U.S. consumer culture, Tesco, under the alias of “Fresh & Easy” failed where other international brands like Aldi (who own Trader Joe’s) found success.
These case studies point toward the importance of conducting detailed market research before your brand enters a new country. You can’t expect the same selling points to work and shouldn’t rely on “common sense” sales tactics like offering low prices for high-quality products. Instead, work with other departments to determine what customers in global markets look for when making purchasing decisions.
Research
It’s easy to overlook the importance of market research if you’re used to operating in a region that you know well. However, when expanding into global markets, you need to exercise caution and embrace diversity when conducting research and drawing up new campaigns. This can help you avoid harmful stereotypes and help you build a pitch that resonates with customers.
For example, if you run a U.S.-based business and are looking to break into a market like Sweden, you’ll need to learn more about how the Swedes go about making a purchase. Start by conducting competitor analysis of rivals who are already performing well in the Nordic region. This will streamline your research, as you’ll be able to identify key trends amongst successful brands. You can then use specific market insights, like the fact that 83% of Swedes would change their day-to-day habits to protect the environment, to start crafting a relevant, culturally appropriate campaign.
When you start to generate ideas with your team, be sure to make the most of your marketing experience and business intelligence. In particular, try to make use of traits like:
- Interpersonal Intelligence: Have you successfully developed relationships with key stakeholders in your new target market? Are you able to predict any potential conflicts with consumers when you start to post promotional content?
- Emotional Intelligence: What emotional state is your new market in? Are they experiencing widespread economic setbacks currently? What key events have occurred in the country in the last 12 months?
- Creative Intelligence: When problems arise, who will respond to them? Have you hired culturally literate customer care teams? Does your marketing team have the necessary tools to respond effectively to culturally sticky issues when they arise?
These traits can help you avoid common pitfalls and sidestep culturally insensitive content. Using traits like interpersonal intelligence can help you connect with other businesses that operate overseas, too. This is crucial, as you’ll need to leverage partnerships in your favor when first expanding into a new market.
Education & Intuition
When entering a new market, it’s vital that you take the time to learn more about how your customers think, act, and feel. This helps you reconsider your assumptions about a particular region and will ensure that you aren’t acting based on stereotypes. Avoiding stereotypes and biases can be tricky if you don’t know about customs and cultural taboos in your new market.
However, you can always trust your intuition to point out potential pain points before any offensive copy goes public. That’s because your intuition is a powerful tool that, when harnessed correctly, can be used to improve decision-making. Pay attention to how you feel when your marketing team pitches a new strategy for a foreign market, and reject any content that gives you a sinking feeling or butterflies. These physical reactions are a sure sign that something is off and that your copy needs to be revised.
Conclusion
Marketing to a global audience isn’t easy. However, you can streamline the process by embracing diversity while forging key partnerships in your target market. This will alert you to cultural differences sooner and may help you avoid common pitfalls like stereotypes or poorly timed messaging.
