{"id":1862,"date":"2017-12-05T08:10:08","date_gmt":"2017-12-05T07:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/with-new-challenges-and-new-concerns-how-do-you-build-an-international-marketing-strategy\/"},"modified":"2017-12-05T10:37:38","modified_gmt":"2017-12-05T09:37:38","slug":"international-marketing-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/international-marketing-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"With new challenges and new concerns, how do you build an international marketing strategy?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong>Rencontres Internationales du Marketing B2B<\/strong> (&#8220;International B2B Marketing Forum&#8221;) took place on October 25 at Business France as part of the La French Tech event series. This year the forum was organized by Aressy, Companeo, C-Radar, GetQuanty, Newslead, Stein IAS and TBMS. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several speakers were on hand to share their experiences, advice and predictions about future trends in the field. Here are the key learnings from the keynote addresses and round tables:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>1. If you are the leader in your domestic market, how do you take your brand international?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Your brand leads in the domestic market and you want to bolster your international presence. There are several paths you could take:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maintain your historic brand and adapt your discourse;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create a new brand;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you take the acquisition route, use the name of the newly acquired brand which already has a history in the market.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It sounds perfectly logical, but it is important to remember the basics, such as\u00a0<strong>taking a close look at the competition<\/strong>: if there are lots of companies in the industry, it means the market has already been evangelized and the concept no longer needs proving. But if the sector is underdeveloped, you should begin by educating the market and asserting your brand as the only alternative&#8230;sometimes by acquiring new actors, as mentioned by <strong>Vilidiana Abou<\/strong>, Director of Marketing &#8211; France, for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.regus.fr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Regus<\/a>. Regus, the worlds&#8217;s biggest provider of flexible business space, bought the Spaces company and retained its name because the brand was already very well positioned in the Dutch market. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also important to focus on newer aspects of <strong>brand imaging<\/strong>: although until recently we always talked about the 4P&#8217;s, according to <strong>C\u00e9cile Delettr\u00e9<\/strong> (Evangelist &amp; Business Development Manager at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessfrance.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Business France<\/a>) today what matters are the <strong>4E&#8217;s<\/strong>: Engagement, Emotion, Experience and Event. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another crucial factor delivering the same <strong>quality<\/strong> of service in all countries. Your brand must define identical standards in order to reassure consumers. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>2. Start-ups, small businesses, major accounts: which strategies will help you land international customers?<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Glocal marketing is the key<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think global, act local: <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">that is the mantra promoted by <strong>Bruno Constans<\/strong> (Director of Marketing &amp; Innovation at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gefco.net\/fr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gefco<\/a> (the pre-emininent choice of manufacturers for worldwide supply chain management) and <strong>Cyril Kovarsky<\/strong> (former Director of International Sales at Accor Hotels). Digital tools considerably ease communication between different countries within the same company and, by extension, facilitate the <strong>coordination of global strategies<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At Accor, the entire <strong>global marketing<\/strong> team is based in Paris. But be careful! When you talk about the customer experience, you have to get local, i.e. go to the source! <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The roles of global marketing are to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Ensure the consistency of the message<\/strong>: remember that the customer can see the website for every country in a single click.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Reduce costs<\/strong> and avoid the (oh-so-French) pitfall of replicating something locally when everything was carefully designed to be global.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Implement controls with <strong>identical indicators<\/strong> to simplify benchmarking.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong>customer experience<\/strong> is at the heart of the service offered by Accor Hotels. Thus it is critical for the group to adapt to the tastes, customs and expectations of each market. The expectations of international customers tend to converge, or at least be similarly oriented. But there are still <strong>cultural exceptions<\/strong>: in some countries luxury is synonymous with Scandinavian design, while for others it has to be bling-bling. Germans like to have direct contact with service providers and, consequently, are quite keen on events, unlike our English neighbors. Therefore, <strong>local marketing<\/strong> has to adapt and be agile!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Xavier Henry<\/strong> (SME Channels Group Director at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edenred.fr\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Edenred<\/a>, which invented restaurant vouchers), believes in a decentralized organization. He stresses the need to give as much leeway as possible to local teams. A &#8220;<strong>glocal<\/strong>&#8221; organization does not mean imposing actions on each entity, but rather advising them as much as possible through a central office with skills and expertise: &#8220;<em>Local marketing is fundamentally an autonomous entity that should be given support and expertise<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The parent company is there to assist each country with its strategy and ensure that international employees use its tools (especially CRM). There are cultural difference of substance, but the style tends to be unified: local subsidiaries want to learn about best practices that have proven themselves to save time and avoid mistakes.<\/p>\n<h3><b>&#8220;Smarketing&#8221;: the secret to effective customer acquisition<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to <strong>generating international leads<\/strong>, for <strong>Xavier Henry<\/strong> and <strong>Bruno Constans<\/strong>, you have to take advantage of all the methods available: you should use CRM internally, work through external agencies and call on partners when you are expanding into a new market.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In addition,<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Xavier Henry<\/strong> emphasizes that at Edenred, 98% of lead sources are identical across countries, regardless of the culture. You have to increase your maturity and ability to optimize each source. However, digital lead generation is less obvious in certain regions, such as North Africa, where calls are sill the preferred means of solicitation, unlike in Brazil, a market that is very mature vis-\u00e0-vis digital.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>3. How do you leverage a clear, strategic message to accelerate international growth?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Tony Todd<\/strong>, Director or International Consulting at <strong>The Message Company<\/strong> (which advises and trains companies on communications) presented his tips for cultivating a clear message as your <strong>company expands internationally<\/strong>, while taking into account the specificity of each local market. The approach to take addresses three major challenges:<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Challenge #1: lack of clarity<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Too much complexity, jargon, information or conceptual data results in a significant <strong>lack of clarity<\/strong> in brand discourse. Depending on the international targets and audiences, the discourse will change, so it should be unstructured.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The solution is to <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">define an essential <strong>global message<\/strong> designed and advanced by top management. Your message is a matter of governance.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Challenge #2: lack of consistency<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the international level, there are different countries, segments and people&#8230;all of which convey different messages. This means the <strong>consistency of the global message<\/strong> at the brand level is under threat each day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The solution<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is to tell a story. You should start with customers&#8217; needs and expectations to create &#8220;tension&#8221; and then propose a product or service that precisely meets their needs. <\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Challenge #3: lack of dissemination<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is not enough to have a clear, well-defined and consistent message: you also have to disseminate it across various channels. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>The solution<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is to centralize the message and disseminate it everywhere through different channels (articles, blog posts, client case studies, advertising, etc.).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To summarize the 2017 edition of the <strong>Rencontres Internationales du Marketing B2B<\/strong>, all the speakers agree on one point: the <strong>importance of defining a clear, global strategy<\/strong>, in terms of message, brand image and sales or marketing strategy while, at the same time, giving local entities the freedom to <strong>localize and adapt that strategy to each international market<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-8fdeb488-3cd4-4554-abcb-c7b8f9eca8bb\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-8fdeb488-3cd4-4554-abcb-c7b8f9eca8bb\" id=\"hs-cta-8fdeb488-3cd4-4554-abcb-c7b8f9eca8bb\"><!--[if lte IE 8]>\n\n<div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div>\n\n<![endif]--><a href=\"https:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/2680086\/8fdeb488-3cd4-4554-abcb-c7b8f9eca8bb\"  target=\"_blank\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-8fdeb488-3cd4-4554-abcb-c7b8f9eca8bb\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" height=\"300\" width=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/2680086\/8fdeb488-3cd4-4554-abcb-c7b8f9eca8bb.png\"  alt=\"20 tools for clever marketers\"\/><\/a><\/span><script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> hbspt.cta.load(2680086, '8fdeb488-3cd4-4554-abcb-c7b8f9eca8bb', {}); <\/script><\/span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <strong>Rencontres Internationales du Marketing B2B<\/strong> (&#8220;International B2B Marketing Forum&#8221;) took place on October 25 at Business France as part of the La French Tech event series. This year the forum was organized by Aressy, Companeo, C-Radar, GetQuanty, Newslead, Stein IAS and TBMS. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several speakers were on hand to share their experiences, advice and predictions about future trends in the field. Here are the key learnings from the keynote addresses and round tables:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>1. If you are [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1862"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1904,"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1862\/revisions\/1904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.textmaster.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}