Why Cross-Cultural Marketing Is Not An Option

Cindy King — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Earlier this year, there was much talk about the rising populations of minority groups in North America. This was after the release of research data pointing to the increase in ethnic demographics. This means there is also more ethnic marketing research data available.

Have a look at this YouTube video on rising Muslim population in Europe and North America

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Interesting But Not 100% Accurate

I would have liked a more accurate comparison between European Muslim projections and North American projections.
Although I am sure the Muslim population has increased in North America in recent years, I do believe Canada takes in more Asian immigrants than Muslim immigrants.

The way the data is portrayed it is easy to think that the immigration statistics only represent Muslim immigrants, and I doubt this is the case.

Don’t let this stop you from watching the video. It shows us that our world is constantly changing. More than we think.

There Is No Magic Looking Glass

Different ethnic populations mean different marketing and probably different business opportunities. Marketers and business owners would love to look into the future.

Unfortunately it is not easy to predict exactly what our business needs will be in the future. There is more than one influencing factor. The one thing we can be sure of :

Our marketing will change with the changes in different ethnic groups

If you would like to open your mind to the different influencing factors I recommend the book Megatrends Europe by Adjiedj Bakas

Now It’s Your Turn

How do you think these changes will impact your marketing?
Do you think all businesses will need cross-cultural marketers in the future?
What other trends do you see impacting our future marketing tactics?

Target Your Global Market With A Good Understanding Of Their Demographics

Cindy King — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 09:09:51 +0000

International Market Research

Small businesses have a great challenge if they are based in one country and selling to another country. Understanding the demographics of your foreign markets will make you more sales.

But it is often hard to really get into the demographics of your international markets. It can be hard to stretch yourself to fully understand cultural differences and the consequences in your sales and marketing strategies.

This is also complicated by single language markets made up of many, many different cultures. You not only have one set of specific demographic characteristics. You can literally have dozens.

The best place to start is to determine specific demographic information for each of your target markets, and to move on from there. The process actually gets easier the more cultures you adapt to. Your company will get faster at understanding how to adapt to each different culture.

An interesting example was how MTV adapted its music to each country. There are two main factors that came in to play.

Music is culturally different in each culture.
MTV targets a younger audience and youth do not have the same lives in different cultures.

MTV realized early on that they needed to adapt their music to the culture in each country. This is fairly easy to understand.

But what was interesting was that they realized that in some countries the vast majority of households only had one television set. Therefore their television shows would also have to be culturally acceptable to other generations. If the older generations were offended in any way, MTV would not be turned on.

Demographics do need to studied and defined for each culture. It is a very enriching experience. Fully understanding your international markets will show you the opportunities for your international business growth.

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Target Your Global Market With A Good Understanding Of Their Demographics

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