B2B Marketer
Issue No. 60 - August/ /
How to make international ads work
by Kimon Lycos and Kimon Lycos
PART 2 – The solutions
Last issue I shared my painful experience of dealing with a person who had nutmeg for brains and wanted to decentralize their international B2B advertising, because “all business is local.”
If you didn’t read it, I can assure you that what I wrote was full of amazing insights, wit, and a dash of sarcasm. It bordered on being a religious experience for the reader (yes, that was actual feedback).
To sum up my last article: if you decentralize your international B2B advertising to pander to vocal locals you are more stupid than the stupidest duck in the world, and please don’t take it personally. I say that with a very respectful voice.
Now, we are going to look at three challenges which typically confront the smarter sapiens who want to centralize their international advertising and, more importantly, how to deal with them.
The strategic challenge
How do you develop a message that’s equally relevant to audiences in a dozen countries or more? How do you locate and characterize those audiences in the first place?
The solution: A very powerful tool for ensuring your international advertising is strategically and tactically relevant everywhere is to conduct input sessions with your subsidiaries in multiple geographical markets, in addition to similar sessions held at headquarters.
There is no better way to develop an in-depth understanding of the geographical similarities and differences between markets.
The national market input should cover topics such as:
• The national business objectives
• The characteristics of major market segments - size, potential, growth, trends
• The buyer characteristics and typical buying patterns
• The main competitors and their behavior locally
• Your own market share, position and image in the main market segments
