International Strategic Marketing Plan
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International Strategic Marketing Plan
Andy Munson
University
12 April 2010
Developing a successful strategic marketing plan requires more than just a product and good advertising, and developing a successful international strategic marketing plan requires even more work upfront. Both require a great deal of research, goal-setting and analysis of the market long before a product is ever developed. This paper will examine the development of the strategic marketing plan and then will discuss how that plan must change to accommodate international marketing efforts. Beginning with Figure 1 below, the author will attempt to outline the procedures for the creation of a strategic marketing plan and explain each step in the order in which it occurs. The author will then address how this process changes when the marketing plan crosses international boundaries.
Creating a Strategic Marketing Plan
Figure 1: (Source: tutor2u.net/business/images/strategic_marketing_process.gif)
Whether a company has existed for decades or is a new creation, the first step in developing any type of strategic plan is to develop an understanding of the firm’s mission and therefore to create a mission statement. As shown in Figure 1, the process of creating a mission statement is part of the goal setting process needed for strategic management. In essence, a company must know its mission before it can figure out how to get there. “A clear, thoughtful mission statement provides employees with a shared sense of purpose, direction, and opportunity and guides geographically dispersed employees to work independently and collectively toward realizing the organization’s goals,” (Kotler & Keller, 2007, p. 27).
“The mission statement should be a clear and succinct representation of the enterprise's purpose for existence. It should incorporate socially meaningful and measurable criteria addressing concepts such as the moral/ethical position of the enterprise, public image, the target market, products/services, the geographic domain and expectations of growth and profitability.” (Businessplans.org 2009) The mission statement has a variety of roles in the development of a new business from focusing employees on the goals and values of the company to creating an image for marketing. As such, the mission statement is an integral part of the business plan and the basic business concept. It is also the first step in creating a strategic marketing plan.
The second step as defined by Figure 1 is defining corporate objectives. According to My Own Business, a company dedicated to helping entrepreneurs get started, a vision statement is “a concise outlines of your business purpose and goals.” (2009) As discussed in class, the vision statement is sort of like a beacon in the darkness, guiding the business to its future. The importance of the vision statement then is to keep the business on track and headed towards its goals. Sometimes, companies can be distracted by the day to day operations of the business and forget the importance of strategic planning. The vision statement helps keeps them focused on that planning. “Strategic decisions are based on what managers forecast, rather than on what they know. In such decisions, emphasis is placed on the development of projections that will enable the firm to select the most promising strategic options.” (Pearce & Robinson, 2004, p. 6).
The vision statement is, in many ways, a codification of the corporate values and objectives. Values are the things that an organization holds dear and that form the foundation of the way the company acts and treats its customers, employees and its world (NPS.gov 2009). In this case, the definition of core values are the things which the company believes fervently enough that it puts in place as a means of determining for itself where it will go and how it will act.
The next step in preparing a strategic marketing plan is to conduct a marketing audit as illustrated in Figure 2. “The marketing audit is a fundamental part of the marketing planning process. It is conducted not only at the beginning of the process, but also at a series of points during the implementation of the plan. The marketing audit considers both internal and external influences on marketing planning, as well as a review of the plan itself,” (marketingteacher.com, 2010). The goal of the marketing audit is to identify things that company is currently doing right and areas where it can improve. When combined with the SWOT analysis (see Figure 3), the marketing audit helps the company to identify where it may be able to capitalise on market changes. Both Figure 2 and Figure 3 show what things are considered in this process. Marketing assumptions, the fifth step from Figure 1 can also be challenged or defined in this process as it helps the company to identify who buys its products and perhaps why.
Figure 2: (Source: bandagroup.com/gifs/chart-marketing.gif)
Figure 3: (Source: www.freshthinkingbusiness.com/images/swot.jpg)
The sixth step in developing a strategic marketing plan is developing marketing objectives and strategies. If the company has successfully completed its tasks up to now, this is the point where the company will be conducting research to identify its marketing approach and target market. This begins with an understanding of consumer buying behaviour. Whether operating a business to business sales force or business to consumer plan, the company must begin by understanding who buys its products and why. Consumer behaviour is the study os how individuals, groups and organizations select, buy, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and desires,” (Kotler & Keller, 2007, p. 84). How well a company understands these variables will also impact how well it accomplishes step seven, forecasting sales. The ability of a company to forecast its successfulness, and create alternative options (step eight), directly impacts how well the company is able to compete.
The final steps in creating a strategic marketing plan are to develop the marketing budget and detailed action plan. The marketing budget covers all the expenses related to the development, distribution and sale of the product and the detailed action plan illustrates how the company intends to accomplish those things. Listing these as only two steps may seem to minimize their importance, but in reality each of these is a strategic plan within itself. The budget must be developed in such a way as to continue adding value to the product, or creating new products, so that the company can create and then maintain a market share. The detailed action plan will address the marketing strategy and marketing mix, as well as pricing and distribution.
Switching to An international Marketing Plan
In the most basic sense, the development of an international marketing plan follows the same steps as the development of a strategic marketing plan, but the depth of the research required is significantly greater. Planning for a global market requires extensive market research, both to identify the cultural issues which may vary from the home country to the host country, but also an entirely new approach to the product. In an international market, dozens of factors may be different than the home market. First, the cultural of the host company, even presuming it is a similar country linguistically, is going to be different. Second, the development of the host country may be at a different stage. Whereas the United Kingdom is quite advanced technologically, that may not necessarily be true of the host country. Likewise, what might be considered a necessity in the United Kingdom might not be in lesser developed parts of the world. For example, laundry detergent may be considered a necessity in the UK, but the market is advanced and saturated, so sales are based on perceived added value, such as a pleasing scent or lower environmental impact. In a lesser developed country, the only selling consideration might be pricing.
When dealing with the international market, the process changes drastically. The first phase of planning a strategic international marketing plan is the preliminary analysis and screening; that is, matching a company and its products to a country and its needs. “The first critical step in the international planning process is deciding in which existing country market to make a market investment,” (Cateora & Graham, 2003, p. 326). An entirely new set of constraints may face the marketing team, including language and cultural barriers, political and economic barriers and even legal barriers. Some environmental factors, such as the political climate of the host country, may also change very rapidly and companies not native to the region may be unaware of events that precipitate change, (Cateora & Graham, 2003, p. 327). Seemingly innocuous little differences in culture may also be major stumbling points. In their text International Marketing, Philip R. Cateroa and John L. Graham recount the American company Radio Shack’s mishap in moving to Holland. The company planned a Christmas celebration and sale for December 25, not realizing the Dutch often celebrate St. Nicholas’ day on December 6 instead (p. 328).
The second phase of the international strategic marketing plan is adapting the marketing mix to the host country. Determining readership of newspapers and magazines, how many people listen to radio and watch television or even the legality of billboards may have a significant impact on the marketing mix. The third phase is creating the marketing plan and the fourth is implementing the plan. Unlike domestic marketing plans, international plans are rarely changed mid-stream because of the huge expense they represent. In essence, switching for a strategic marketing plan to a strategic international marketing plan changes the focus from the company’s mission and the product’s value to the culture and economy of the host country.
REFERENCE LIST
Cateora, Philip R. And John L. Graham, (2003) International Marketing, 11th International Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Kotler, Philip and Kevin Lane Keller (2207) A Framework for Marketing Management, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA.
“Marketing Audits” (2010) http://marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_marketing_audit.htm [Accessed 12 April 2010]
“Marketing Chart” (2010) http://www.bandagroup.com/gifs/chart-marketing.gif [Accessed 11 April 2010]
Pearce, J.A. III and Robinson, R. B. (2004) Streategic Mangement Formulation, Implementation and Control (9th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill
“Strategic Marketing Process” (2010) http://tutor2u.net/business/images/strategic_marketing_process.gif [Accessed 10 April 2010]
“SWOT chart” (2010) http://www.freshthinkingbusiness.com/images/swot.jpg [Accessed 11 April 2010]
“Vision Statement” (2009) Retrieved July 13, 2009 from http://www.myownbusiness.org/s2/#3
“What are Core Values” (2009) Retrieved July 12, 2009 from http://www.nps.gov/training/uc/whcv.htm
“What is a Mission Statement?” (2009) Retrieved July 8, 2009 from http://www.businessplans.org/mission.html
Andy Munson
University
12 April 2010
Developing a successful strategic marketing plan requires more than just a product and good advertising, and developing a successful international strategic marketing plan requires even more work upfront. Both require a great deal of research, goal-setting and analysis of the market long before a product is ever developed. This paper will examine the development of the strategic marketing plan and then will discuss how that plan must change to accommodate international marketing efforts. Beginning with Figure 1 below, the author will attempt to outline the procedures for the creation of a strategic marketing plan and explain each step in the order in which it occurs. The author will then address how this process changes when the marketing plan crosses international boundaries.
Creating a Strategic Marketing Plan
Figure 1: (Source: tutor2u.net/business/images/strategic_marketing_process.gif)
Whether a company has existed for decades or is a new creation, the first step in developing any type of strategic plan is to develop an understanding of the firm’s mission and therefore to create a mission statement. As shown in Figure 1, the process of creating a mission statement is part of the goal setting process needed for strategic management. In essence, a company must know its mission before it can figure out how to get there. “A clear, thoughtful mission statement provides employees with a shared sense of purpose, direction, and opportunity and guides geographically dispersed employees to work independently and collectively toward realizing the organization’s goals,” (Kotler & Keller, 2007, p. 27).
“The mission statement should be a clear and succinct representation of the enterprise's purpose for existence. It should incorporate socially meaningful and measurable criteria addressing concepts such as the moral/ethical position of the enterprise, public image, the target market, products/services, the geographic domain and expectations of growth and profitability.” (Businessplans.org 2009) The mission statement has a variety of roles in the development of a new business from focusing employees on the goals and values of the company to creating an image for marketing. As such, the mission statement is an integral part of the business plan and the basic business concept. It is also the first step in creating a strategic marketing plan.
The second step as defined by Figure 1 is defining corporate objectives. According to My Own Business, a company dedicated to helping entrepreneurs get started, a vision statement is “a concise outlines of your business purpose and goals.” (2009) As discussed in class, the vision statement is sort of like a beacon in the darkness, guiding the business to its future. The importance of the vision statement then is to keep the business on track and headed towards its goals. Sometimes, companies can be distracted by the day to day operations of the business and forget the importance of strategic planning. The vision statement helps keeps them focused on that planning. “Strategic decisions are based on what managers forecast, rather than on what they know. In such decisions, emphasis is placed on the development of projections that will enable the firm to select the most promising strategic options.” (Pearce & Robinson, 2004, p. 6).
The vision statement is, in many ways, a codification of the corporate values and objectives. Values are the things that an organization holds dear and that form the foundation of the way the company acts and treats its customers, employees and its world (NPS.gov 2009). In this case, the definition of core values are the things which the company believes fervently enough that it puts in place as a means of determining for itself where it will go and how it will act.
The next step in preparing a strategic marketing plan is to conduct a marketing audit as illustrated in Figure 2. “The marketing audit is a fundamental part of the marketing planning process. It is conducted not only at the beginning of the process, but also at a series of points during the implementation of the plan. The marketing audit considers both internal and external influences on marketing planning, as well as a review of the plan itself,” (marketingteacher.com, 2010). The goal of the marketing audit is to identify things that company is currently doing right and areas where it can improve. When combined with the SWOT analysis (see Figure 3), the marketing audit helps the company to identify where it may be able to capitalise on market changes. Both Figure 2 and Figure 3 show what things are considered in this process. Marketing assumptions, the fifth step from Figure 1 can also be challenged or defined in this process as it helps the company to identify who buys its products and perhaps why.
Figure 2: (Source: bandagroup.com/gifs/chart-marketing.gif)
Figure 3: (Source: www.freshthinkingbusiness.com/images/swot.jpg)
The sixth step in developing a strategic marketing plan is developing marketing objectives and strategies. If the company has successfully completed its tasks up to now, this is the point where the company will be conducting research to identify its marketing approach and target market. This begins with an understanding of consumer buying behaviour. Whether operating a business to business sales force or business to consumer plan, the company must begin by understanding who buys its products and why. Consumer behaviour is the study os how individuals, groups and organizations select, buy, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and desires,” (Kotler & Keller, 2007, p. 84). How well a company understands these variables will also impact how well it accomplishes step seven, forecasting sales. The ability of a company to forecast its successfulness, and create alternative options (step eight), directly impacts how well the company is able to compete.
The final steps in creating a strategic marketing plan are to develop the marketing budget and detailed action plan. The marketing budget covers all the expenses related to the development, distribution and sale of the product and the detailed action plan illustrates how the company intends to accomplish those things. Listing these as only two steps may seem to minimize their importance, but in reality each of these is a strategic plan within itself. The budget must be developed in such a way as to continue adding value to the product, or creating new products, so that the company can create and then maintain a market share. The detailed action plan will address the marketing strategy and marketing mix, as well as pricing and distribution.
Switching to An international Marketing Plan
In the most basic sense, the development of an international marketing plan follows the same steps as the development of a strategic marketing plan, but the depth of the research required is significantly greater. Planning for a global market requires extensive market research, both to identify the cultural issues which may vary from the home country to the host country, but also an entirely new approach to the product. In an international market, dozens of factors may be different than the home market. First, the cultural of the host company, even presuming it is a similar country linguistically, is going to be different. Second, the development of the host country may be at a different stage. Whereas the United Kingdom is quite advanced technologically, that may not necessarily be true of the host country. Likewise, what might be considered a necessity in the United Kingdom might not be in lesser developed parts of the world. For example, laundry detergent may be considered a necessity in the UK, but the market is advanced and saturated, so sales are based on perceived added value, such as a pleasing scent or lower environmental impact. In a lesser developed country, the only selling consideration might be pricing.
When dealing with the international market, the process changes drastically. The first phase of planning a strategic international marketing plan is the preliminary analysis and screening; that is, matching a company and its products to a country and its needs. “The first critical step in the international planning process is deciding in which existing country market to make a market investment,” (Cateora & Graham, 2003, p. 326). An entirely new set of constraints may face the marketing team, including language and cultural barriers, political and economic barriers and even legal barriers. Some environmental factors, such as the political climate of the host country, may also change very rapidly and companies not native to the region may be unaware of events that precipitate change, (Cateora & Graham, 2003, p. 327). Seemingly innocuous little differences in culture may also be major stumbling points. In their text International Marketing, Philip R. Cateroa and John L. Graham recount the American company Radio Shack’s mishap in moving to Holland. The company planned a Christmas celebration and sale for December 25, not realizing the Dutch often celebrate St. Nicholas’ day on December 6 instead (p. 328).
The second phase of the international strategic marketing plan is adapting the marketing mix to the host country. Determining readership of newspapers and magazines, how many people listen to radio and watch television or even the legality of billboards may have a significant impact on the marketing mix. The third phase is creating the marketing plan and the fourth is implementing the plan. Unlike domestic marketing plans, international plans are rarely changed mid-stream because of the huge expense they represent. In essence, switching for a strategic marketing plan to a strategic international marketing plan changes the focus from the company’s mission and the product’s value to the culture and economy of the host country.
REFERENCE LIST
Cateora, Philip R. And John L. Graham, (2003) International Marketing, 11th International Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Kotler, Philip and Kevin Lane Keller (2207) A Framework for Marketing Management, Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA.
“Marketing Audits” (2010) http://marketingteacher.com/Lessons/lesson_marketing_audit.htm [Accessed 12 April 2010]
“Marketing Chart” (2010) http://www.bandagroup.com/gifs/chart-marketing.gif [Accessed 11 April 2010]
Pearce, J.A. III and Robinson, R. B. (2004) Streategic Mangement Formulation, Implementation and Control (9th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill
“Strategic Marketing Process” (2010) http://tutor2u.net/business/images/strategic_marketing_process.gif [Accessed 10 April 2010]
“SWOT chart” (2010) http://www.freshthinkingbusiness.com/images/swot.jpg [Accessed 11 April 2010]
“Vision Statement” (2009) Retrieved July 13, 2009 from http://www.myownbusiness.org/s2/#3
“What are Core Values” (2009) Retrieved July 12, 2009 from http://www.nps.gov/training/uc/whcv.htm
“What is a Mission Statement?” (2009) Retrieved July 8, 2009 from http://www.businessplans.org/mission.html