(2) Interactive contacts with potential customers.
(3) Consumers may help shape the messages they receive, that is, messages can be
customized.
(4) It may reach some groups such as teenagers for which good media alternatives
aren’t available.
f. Type of product – Buyers of industrial goods and luxury consumer goods usually act
on same motives the world over.
g. Foreign environmental forces – Basic cultural decision is whether to position product
as local or foreign. For international market segments, advertisers can formulate
global advertising campaigns. Legal forces affect product claims. Strong tendency for
governments to control advertising.
h. Globalization versus localization – one school of thought looks for similarities across
countries in order to capitalize on them by providing promotional themes with
worldwide appeal. Another school of thought believes it is preferable to develop
separate appeals to take advantage of differences among customers in different
cultures and countries.
i. Neither purely global nor purely local – for most firms, neither purely global nor
purely local is best way to handle international advertising. One ad agency head said
that 15% had a global approach, another 15% had a local approach, and the rest are
“glocal.” They develop a strategy for large regions, but not for the world.
j. Gillette’s panregional approach – Gillette has organized its advertising in regional
and cultural clusters: pan-Latin America, pan-Middle East, pan-Africa and
pan-Atlantic. Is based on the belief that the firm can identify the same needs and
buying motives in regions or countries linked by culture, consumers’ habits, and level
of market development.
k. Programmed-management approach – a middle-ground advertising strategy between
globally standardized and entirely local programs. This approach gives the home
office a chance to standardize those parts of the campaign that may be standardized
but still permits flexibility in responding to different marketing conditions.
3. Personal Selling
The importance of personal selling in the promotional mix depends on relative costs,
funds available, media availability, and type of product sold.
a. Personal Selling and the Internet. The Internet won’t eliminate the need for personal
selling. Personal selling depends on trust. The Internet makes communication easier,
but trust-building harder. Computer-mediated communication transmits much less
nonverbal information, including emotions, expressions of cooperation and
trustworthiness. Also, feedback during message delivery is lost. However, Ebay’s
“reputation system” may offer a method that can increase trust over the Internet.
b. International standardization
(1) Sales force organization, sales presentations and training methods similar to those
in home country.
(2) Because of the high costs of sales calls, many firms in Europe are using
telemarketing and direct mail to qualify prospects. Since 1992, Dell Computers
has been employing both methods to sell computers in Japan and Europe.