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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.

Values, concerns and attitudes need to be considered for target markets using the concept of market segmentation.

Global and Domestic Marketing: Consider Differences In People By Nations

The market segment of the United States is dependent on many different factors, ranging from the demographics of the public to what the public needs, want and will buy. But information about USA publics doesn’t apply in different 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

Demographic segments vary across the world. For example, some characteristics for Generation Y in the USA may be similar worldwide, but most will be quite different.

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: USA Psychographic Characteristics Don’t Cross Borders

People’s attitudes, morals, values, concerns, and expectations vary by nations. They result from each nation’s culture, history, experiences, and social expectations. Different nations vary by what they teach in their schools, what they expect within families, the role of established religion, and the type of government.

What is valued in one nation may be considered abhorrent by another, and these attitudes can change over time.

For example, religious freedom is a basic right in the USA. We consider forcing a certain religion on a person to be abhorrent. Yet, in other nations, governments and powerful people force their religious perspective on others even to the point of murdering those who don’t accept their religion.

Thus, how people think, what they consider to be right and wrong, what they fear and value differ from nation to nation.

Global and Domestic Marketing: Buying Behaviors Differ

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.

In the USA, we don’t buy groceries like that. Instead, we buy many processed foods weekly or monthly. We also eat lots of fast food although we know that most of it isn’t as healthy as what we could cook at home. We just think we are too busy to spend lots of time shopping and cooking.

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

This example illustrates that buying habits for even the most fundamental products differ across nations.

Global and Domestic Marketing: Summary

No business can design one marketing campaign and successfully use it across nations.

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.