CHAPTER FIVE

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING FOR UG

STUDENTS

Promotion Strategy In International

Market Context
A/c year 2023
 Chapter Contents
5.1 Personal selling
5.2 Exhibitions trade fairs
5.3 Public relations/ publicity
5.4 Sales promotion
5.5 Advertising in the global situations
5.6. Advertising standardization versus local
adaptation
 Introduction about promotional
strategies in international marketing
 What is a promotion strategy in marketing?

• A promotion strategy in marketing refers to the

methods and techniques used to create an
awareness about a product or service. There are
many different methods in sales promotion,
advertising, public relations, and personal selling
used by businesses to accomplish this goal.
• An international promotion strategy is when
promotional messages vary from one country to the
next or where campaigns are tailored/customize to
different regions. This strategy is used with either
the standardized or customized product.
 Promotion Strategies in Marketing

• Promotion strategies can be used by marketers or

businesses for various reasons; however, most
organizations generally have as their main goal to create a
brand awareness.

• Businesses aiming to sell products work towards the goal

of influencing consumers so that they become customers
of their brand.

• To do this, the marketing team should conduct research

and identify the objectives to using a promotional strategy,
as well as a reasonable budget to cover promotional
efforts.
 Cont’d

• When considering how to promote a product,

marketers should determine their target market.
• A target market refers to the group of people
who may be potentially interested in purchasing
the products based on research.

• Determining the target market will help to

construct the message specific to that market.
 Cont’d
• A message refers to the key concept or idea that
the business sends out to potential consumers
about a product.
• It describes the benefits or uses of the product,
with the aim to inform the customer and
ultimately influence them to make the purchase.
• Marketers can then use several different types of
methods from each of the elements of the
promotion mix.
Personal selling
 What is 'Personal Selling'

• Definition: Personal selling is also known as

face-to-face selling in which one person who is
the salesman tries to convince the customer in
buying a product.
• It is a promotional method by which the
salesperson uses his or her skills and abilities
in an attempt to make a sale.
 Cont’d
• Description: Personal selling is a face-to-face selling
technique by which a salesperson uses his or her
interpersonal skills to persuade a customer in buying a
particular product.
• The salesperson tries to highlight various features of
the product to convince the customer that it will only
add value.
• However, getting a customer to buy a product is not
the motive/reason behind personal selling every time.
• Often companies try to follow this approach with
customers to make them aware of a new product.
 Cont’d
• The company wants to spread awareness about
the product for which it adopts/use a person-to-
person approach. This is because personal selling
involves personal touch; a salesperson knows
better how to pitch/deliver a product to the
potential customer. Personal selling can take place
through two different channels – through retail
and through direct-to-consumer channel. Under
the retail channel, a sales person interacts with
potential customers who come on their own to
enquire about a product.
 Cont’d
• The job of the salesperson is to make sure that he
understands the need of the customers and
accordingly shows various products that he keeps
under that category.
• Under the direct channel, a salesperson visits
potential customers in an attempt to make them
aware about a new product that the company is
launching or it may have a new offer which the
customers may not get from the open market.
Exhibitions trade fairs
 Trade Fairs and Exhibitions
• Fairs and exhibitions constitute the means of
presenting goods and services in an attractive
manner with the aid of color, light and motion in
order to catch the imagination of the visitor,
attract his attention and get him interested in the
goods or products displayed.
• They help in reaching the public who may not be
reached in any other way or who by nature would
disregard from other media of publicity.
 Cont’d
• In other words, exhibition is a
congregation/collection of showrooms of
different manufacturers under one roof.
Exhibition is a huge gathering of businessmen and
manufacturers from different parts for the
purpose of display, demonstration and booking
orders.
• Trade fairs are also huge fairs where the display
and demonstrations are combined generally with
entertainment.
 Cont’d
• Trade fairs and exhibitions play an important role
not only in domestic markets but in international
marketing too by bringing potential buyers and
suppliers/manufacturers in contact and imparting
information about the relevant developments
around the world.
• In certain cases they have a special significance. For
example, in Libya where media advertisement for
products is not permitted, the annual Tripoli
International Trade Fair is very important and
popular means to promote products and business.
 Cont’d
• Organizing international trade fairs and
exhibitions is not new to humanity but they are
now becoming increasingly popular.
• Basically, these are the publicity tools where
goods are displayed by the manufacturers in an
attractive manner in order to catch the
imagination of the visiting public and attract them
with a view to get them interested in the objects
or goods displayed.
 Cont’d
• In trade fairs and exhibitions, generally, the goods
are displayed and their working is demonstrated,
if the goods are having technical nature with a
view to create the demand in the market.
• Generally, goods are not offered for sale, they are
only displayed but very often consumer goods of
small value are sold there on cash terms.
 Cont’d
• Though fairs traditionally have been the medium
of trade since time immemorial, the use and
popularity of trade fairs and exhibitions has
increased tremendously now-a-days. So, has
increased the number of trade fairs and
exhibitions.
• International trade fair is a popular marketing
tool in the recent years.
• Over 2000 trade fairs are conducted every year in
over seventy countries. Some are so popular that
exhibitors book space for them years in advance.
 Cont’d
• There is no clear demarcation between an
exhibition and trade fair and these terms are
commonly interchanged.
• A trade fair, however, as its name implies, is target
directed. It is staged for the purpose of selling
goods or demonstrating new ideas or techniques.
An exhibition, on the other hand, is not
specifically for trade but for the public. However,
in the new concept of exhibition sale is witnessed.
Public relations/ publicity
 Definition of Publicity

• Publicity is defined as the way of disseminating

information to the public at large, through
media.
• It can be in the form of news, stories, event
information or write-ups, that creates
awareness and credibility in the people
regarding a brand, product or the company
offering them.
 Cont’d
• Publicity aims at spreading the information or news, to the
maximum number of people, in minimum time. It is a non-
paid form of communication, which is not under the
control of the company. It can be a positive review
regarding a product, i.e. mobile, television, refrigerator,
etc. given by a satisfied customer, or information published
in the newspaper regarding the quality-rich services
provided by a company, or it can be a simple word of
mouth, etc.
• In a nutshell, publicity has nothing to do with the
company’s sales; it is all about creating awareness in
general public through editorial/written or unbiased
comments concerning a product.
 Definition of Public Relations

• Public Relations can be understood as the strategic

management tool, which helps an organization to
communicate with the public.
• Here, ‘public’ means the group of people that have an
interest in or impact on a company’s ability to achieve
business objectives.
• It is not only concerned with getting public attention, but
it also aims at reaching the goals of the organization, by
communicating the message to the target audience.
• It includes press releases, crisis management, social
media engagement, etc
• Crisis management: is the application of strategies designed to help an organization
deal with a sudden and significant negative event.
 Key Differences between Publicity and Public Relations

The difference between publicity and public relations can

be drawn clearly on the following grounds:
• Publicity can be described as public visibility, wherein
news or information is communicated to the general
public so as to build credibility or awareness in them,
with the help of a channel, i.e. mass media.
• On the other extreme, the term public relations, as the
name suggest, is a strategic management tool, that aims
to create a company’s positive image in the eyes of the
public.
• While publicity is not under the control of the company,
public relations is fully under the company’s control.
 Cont’d
• Publicity can be positive or negative, in the sense
that it can be positive or negative feedback
regarding the product or service concerning a
product given by the customer or controversial
news about the company.
• Conversely, public relations is always positive,
because it is strategized and managed by the
public relations department of the company.
 Cont’d
• Publicity is free of cost; as it is made by the third
party. As against, in case of public relations, the
company incurs money to organize events, sponsor
programs, third-party endorsement, etc.
• Publicity involves, gaining the attention of the
media, that communicates any information or
news, regarding a product, service, person,
organization, etc. so as to create awareness in
people. In contrast, public relations seek to attract
the target audience, for the purpose of boosting
the company’s sales.
Sales promotion
 Meaning and Definitions of Sales Promotion

• Sales promotion is said to be a key ingredient in

the international marketing campaign.
• It consists of mostly collection of those short-term
incentive tools, which are designed to stimulate
purchase of a particular product or service.
• In other words, we can say that in national and
international marketing, market or sales
promotion plays an important role.
• If efforts for it are not proper, timely and enough,
even good products fail to get satisfactory
response.
 Cont’d
• The present information technology and other
technical changes and inventions have
converted the whole world into a market.
• The customers for the product are innumerable
and spread over various countries.
• In these circumstances market promotion
efforts have assumed importance for informing
the customers about the product, to make
them enthusiastic, to inspire them to purchase
more and to preserve them.
 Cont’d
• “Sales promotion means, the steps that are
taken for the purpose of obtaining or increasing
sales.
• Often this term refers specially to selling efforts
that are designed to supplement personal
selling and advertising and by coordination,
help them to become more effective.”
• The term ‘sales promotion’ comprises wide
variety of promotional activities.
 Cont’d
• According to American Marketing Association,
Chicago, “Those marketing activities, other
than personal selling, advertising and
publicity, that stimulate consumer purchasing
and dealer effectiveness, such as displays,
shows and demonstrations, expositions/shows
and various non-current selling efforts, not in
the ordinary routine.”
 Cont’d
• Therefore the activities which link personal selling and
advertisement and make them effective are called sales
promotion.
• The word sales promotion is made of two words i.e., Sales
+ Promotion. Sales means to charge the price and hand-
over the product and service. Promotion means to
increase the sales.
• Therefore, sales promotion is a continuous process to
increase the sale.
• Therefore it can be said that any process whose purpose is
to increase sale is sales promotion. When a retailer is
giving a calendar or any other gift to his customer he is
following sales promotion.
 Definitions given by different scholars
10/09/2015

• According to G.W. Hopkins, “Sales promotion

is an organized effort applied to the selling job
to secure the greatest effectiveness for
advertising and for dealer’s help.”
• According to John F. Luick & William Lee
Ziegler, “Sales promotion as a tool of
marketing promotion gives rise to increase in
product usage as well as expansion of markets
for a product or introduction of a new
product.”
 Cont’d
• According to Harold Whitehead, “Sales promotion
includes the dissemination of information to
wholesalers, retailers, customers- actual and
potential and not least to the firm’s own salesman.”
• According to L.K. Johnson, “Sales promotion
consists of all those activities whose purpose is to
supplement, to coordinate and to make sure more
effective the efforts of the sales force, of the
advertising department, and of the distributors and
to increase sales and otherwise stimulate
consumers to take greater initiative in buying.”
 Conclusion
• On the basis of analytical study of above definitions,
it can be concluded that the major function of sales
promotion is to serve as a connecting link or a
bridge between advertising and personal selling
which are the two wings of promotion.
• Sales promotion includes all these activities (except
advertising, publicity and personal selling) which
attract both the distributors and consumers towards
goods and services of the enterprise so that the
sales of the enterprise may increase.
 Cont’d
• Through effective advertisement work, sales
promotion helps salesmen to boost up selling.
Producers can introduce new products by sales
promotion. It reminds the consumers about the
product through advertisement.
• Nowadays sales promotion has been recognized
as the most accepted tool of marketing. The sales
managers are under much pressure to increase
the sales. To cope such a pressure, they
emphasize more on promotional tools to increase
the sales of the organization.
Advertising in the global situations
 Cont’d
• In general advertising is the process of creating
awareness about goods, ideas, products, and
services. However, when the focus is on markets
across the shore of a single country or nation, it is
referred as international or global advertising.
• Global advertising can be done by utilizing
multiple communication strategies such as social
media, a website, and television commercials.
Major factors for advertising globally include
demographics, culture, economy, and politics.
 Cont’d
• Global /International/ Advertising is the type of advertising
undertaken by those companies, which operate in more
than one country, known as ‘multinational’.
• Global advertising therefore, entails/involves dissemination
of a commercial message to target audiences in more tan
one country.
• Exporters, generally advertise their products and services in
foreign countries, where ready markets are available.
Ethiopian air lines , and other multinational companies
advertize their products and services all over the world.
Coca-cola and Pepsi are advertised their soft drink
products, globally, as their sales are almost all over the
world.
 Cont’d
• Global advertizing is extremely expensive,
involving the services of professional
advertising agencies in different countries.
• Global advertising is expensive because it is a
form of communication that takes place in
multiple cultures that differ in terms of values,
communication styles, and consumption
patterns.
 Cont’d
• In a nutshell/Summed up briefly, global
advertising is structured and composed non
personal communication of information, usually
paid for and by and large persuasive in nature,
about international products /goods, services, and
ideas/ by an identified multinational sponsors
through various foreign media.
• These means, global advertising covers business
activity involving advertisers and the advertising
agencies that create adverts and buy media in
different countries.
Advertising standardization versus local
adaptation
 Cont’d
• Product adaptation means that the firm adapts
the product to the local markets.
• It is the process of modifying products for
different countries and regions or designing new
products for foreign markets. 
• Product standardization means that the firm sells
and advertises a standardized product in the
international context.
 Cont’d
• “The primary international advertising topic over the
past five decades is the question of whether, and to
what degree, advertising can and should be
standardized” or adapted to be effective.
• The extent of adaptation of advertisement to the local
environment of a society is a critical decision, as it can
largely impact the effectiveness of advertising
campaigns.
• Advertising standardization uses a uniform advertising
strategy for different countries. This approach can
reinforce a brand’s global identity/distinctiveness and
lead to cost reduction through economies of scale.
 Cont’d
• On the other hand, the differences between nations and
consumers' tastes around the world encourage
marketers to tailor (adapt) their advertising to local
cultures and tastes.
• A number of studies reveal that (at least some degree
of) adaptation of advertising can benefit consumers’
attitudes and purchase intentions.
• It is argued that besides these individual-level
characteristics, the environmental variable of national
openness to foreign markets has a strong predictive
capability for consumer responses to advertising
adaptation, which marketers can use for macro level
segmentation and positioning.
 Thank you
That is the end of the fifth chapter