Glocalisation

Glocalisation, my passion in marketing, this concept will be the focus in both my blogs. It is such a crucial concept in branding, marketing and business, yet often overlooked or misunderstood. 

Glocalisation is simply “providing a global offer (brand, idea, product, service, etc.), whilst taking local factors and issues into account” (Dumitrescu and Vinerean, 2010, p.151). For a while, globalisation was the new “kid on the block” in international business. However, from a branding perspective, there is a lack of affiliation among customers towards uniform products, produced by global corporations. Products are mass-marketed through a global, generic marketing strategy, where the organisation has assumed a “one fits all” marketing strategy (Dumitrescu and Vinerean, 2010). 

The danger here is that global companies follow the “one fits all” strategy and ignoring the local attributes which the marketing strategies must acknowledge and tailor to. These attributes must be catered to for the marketing activities to resonate with the local audience. Glocalisation encompasses the idea of thinking globally, but acting locally. For this type of strategy to be successful when marketing a brand, companies first must identify local elements then design the branding and marketing strategies to resonate with those, only then will the target audience will be able to relate enough to your product or service and make a purchase decision (Dumitrescu and Vinerean, 2010).

The overall goal with global marketing strategies is to be as standardised and homogenous as possible, this is, of course, down to maximising ROI resulting in increased revenue for the organisation (let’s face it that is the main goal). By integrating marketing activities (Kotler et al., 2009), which can be applied throughout the world the organisation will stretch that marketing budget all marketers wish is bigger. To succeed with this goal marketing strategies still must address economic, political, social and cultural differences. For this to be successful these strategies must take local conditions and the nature of the market into consideration and adapt to those in the target countries. By undertaking thorough segmentation, creating marketing personas for example organisations will learn how their brand will help the customer and fit their needs (Kotler et al., 2009). After all, the whole point with marketing a product is to show the customer how perfect your product is in solving their need. If the organisation can show that then the revenue is the result of that solution. 

What is needed to implement a successful glocalisation strategy? 

?        The seven Ps of the marketing mix must be incorporated.

?        Standardises those elements that can be standardised.

?        Localise those elements that must be localised to resonate with the target audience. 

?        To successfully enter new markets, acting locally is imperative, this is done by understanding customer needs in each market (Kotler, 2009). 

?        Do not compromise the culture of the country you are targeting, that may lead to customers avoiding your brand. 

What are the advantages of glocalisation? 

?        Customers will feel the brand is tailored to them and their needs. 

?        It makes the brand attractive, which then leads to customer satisfaction, brand loyalty and increased market share. 

?        For the corporation: Synergy between all marketing activities, from strategic to tactical, resulting in cost-effective marketing activities which generate maximum return on marketing investment. 

One can argue and say this type of strategy assumes that the country and culture does not evolve. However, it is the organisation’s responsibility to keep abreast on changes within the country and respond to those changes through their marketing strategies. As anyone in marketing knows, the marketing strategy on 1 January does not look the same on 31 December. 2020 has proven that, with the amount of pivoting of marketing strategies organisations have been forced to undertake. Especially in international marketing this is important and has always been, I have been forced to change strategies on microlevel even. No matter what, people have emotional connections to a place, may it be a country, city or region, these are the traits brands must take into consideration when penetrating a country, if not, their strategy will fail. I have had a digital and social media strategy in mind, but upon learning more about the market I have found that the customers want something tangible to bring home after I have met with them. What did I do? I designed flyers and brochures to address this.

As always, thank you for reading my article. 

References:

Dumitrescu, L. and Vinerean, S., 2010. The glocal strategy of global brands. Studies in Business and Economics, 5(3), pp.147-155.

Kotler, Ph. et al., (2009), Marketing Management – European Edition. Harlow, England: Pearson Prentice Hall Publishing, pp. 467 – 468.