The world is a small place thanks to the Internet, but there are still plenty of differences between people by nations. Those differences often translate into global and domestic marketing problems.

As a result, marketing techniques require the use of national and cultural characteristics.

Using market segmentation to determine values, concerns, and attitudes of target market members requires market research specific to each nation and groups of people within each nation.

Global and Domestic Marketing: Targets Different Types of People

Different cultures within the USA, and across the world, are going to have different buying habits. This presents a problem when you are trying to sell a product across nations.

Even with USA residents, culture differs by national origin. Yet, most USA residents have been somewhat assimilated into the USA culture. So differences intensify across borders.

Global and Domestic Marketing: Demographic Segments Differ

Once you have left the United States, market segmentation criteria vary from nation to nation. Each country is defined by a different history and culture. Marketing using a hockey player works in Canada, but it won’t work in Morocco.

Most of the Western world experienced a baby boom after World War II, but Baby Boomers in the USA experienced birth control, civil rights, and women’s rights differently than the rest of the world. Their ability to influence USA policy also gave them a believe that they could change society. This believe is not equally shared by people of that same generation in other nations.

If a business plans one campaign for the world around characteristics for USA markets, the campaign will fail in the rest of the world.

Global and Domestic Marketing: People From Different Nations Think Differently

Psychographic characteristics also differ by nations. For one reason, culture, morals, values and attitudes are learned within a society. Different nations develop different social pressures and expectations. They teach different values and attitudes within families and schools.

Every nation’s culture differs so what is valued, expected, desired, and feared vary by nation.

Consider a change within USA attitudes. Not that long ago a man’s wife and children were considered his property, and he had the right to abuse them in anyway that he saw fit. The USA and state governments didn’t interfere. But that is not the case today. A man can be convicted for raping his wife, and children are frequently taken away from parents who abuse or even neglect them. But in some nations, a man still has the right to abuse his wife and children. Even murdering them is socially acceptable and legal in some nations.

This illustrates that many nationally specific events, beliefs and culture form the personalities of people. So personality characteristics must differ nation to nation.

Global and Domestic Marketing: People’s Buying Preferences Vary

What people can afford to buy, how they buy, and what they buy changes from nation to nation.

Obviously, the people in some nations have more spending power and more discretionary income than those in other nations. But even among comparatively wealthy nations, people spend differently.

Take grocery shopping as an example. In many prosperous European nations, people still buy fresh groceries from local markets and purchase every day for that day’s meals.

Here in the USA, we don’t want to spend that much time buying groceries. We buy fast food on the way to and from work, or we buy food that has to be processed to last weekly or monthly.

Surely, people in lots of other nations consider our food buying habits foolish.

So if we differ so much on something as basic as food, just think how our other buying habits differ.

Global and Domestic Marketing: Synopsis

Developing a marketing campaign for the people in one nation and trying to transfer that campaign to another nation doesn’t work.

International marketing demands that a unique marketing program be created for each nation and that marketers know characteristics of the people in each nation.

But the sad truth is that little nation-specific information about people’s characteristics is being developed. And much of what is developed remains proprietary. If we are to improve every nation’s ability to advance economically, we must accumulate and share this information. Only then will global and domestic marketing provide equal chances of success.