lunes, 28 de enero de 2013

DOES THE USE OF SINGLE MINDED MARKETING STRATEGIES STILL WORKS ?




THE NEED OF CULTURE-SENSITIVE MARKETING







As mentioned in my personal introduction, during my life, I have been living and traveling in many countries and have learned about different cultures.  Today, in my daily business, as Belgian, working already more than 10 years in Spain, I see so many differences, between the local people and my own Flemish culture. 
When I setup my second furniture store in Madrid, I had been operating for more than 5 years in Barcelona and thought, that by using the same products and collection for the store of Madrid, it would be as successful as Barcelona.  Wrong....the consumers in Madrid were looking for a different product.
The culture and what happens in the hart an minds of people in Madrid is different of those in Barcelona, Santander, Sevilla....Brussels or what ever place in the world.
Where we are used, to follow the classical marketing and have a very single minded ( the Kotler theory) idea of product and or advertising management, I do believe, that we need to take a different view on the above and re-analyse above theories. 
Do, consumers around the world, behave the same ?  Certainly.. yes... Consumer 'needs', are most of the time the same and universal and the drive, to obtain them, is very similar.  The marketing and media gurus know, how to use this common 'all together feeling' very well.  However,..what about the cultures?  Are the people from New York, having the same family values as the habitants of a village in Texas? Does Flemish people think the same as the habitants of the Walloon region (French speaking region)? Are the Parisians dressed up the same as the Berliners? Are people in Holland, more house birds than the Spanish people, who like to enjoy, being outside?......
Maybe brands have the intention to globalize too fast the world as equal, as one big consumer market, but what about each culture?  What happens in the hart and mind of each consumer? Can we globalize cultures?
Can we eliminate or forget the 'unconscious' of those groups of people, their collective behavior, their religions... that has been there for so long, from generation to generation,...
Are the values of life and the way each one of this cultures understand and feel them, not important?
It must be clear that the value and perception of a product or service is different between regions  and  countries.  The last years, with the failure of many international food retail chains, trying to implement their single consumer minded world strategies, in all regions and or countries, we have learned that you can think globally, but it is needed to act mainly locally. If you want to act successfully locally, adapt yourself to their culture, feel it, taste it,..and adapt your product to the needs of that culture. Use local marketeers. Do not just implement your own 'My product is the only one and the best' strategy.  Re-evaluate your marketing strategies and become and think as a local.  
So, just become cultural sensitive.....



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