Introduction
In the simulation, the international marketing strategy for the Allsmile toothpaste product was to enter countries in Latin America with the first year in Chile.
The second year strategy was to enter the Mexico and Brazil markets after successful establishment of a production plant in Chile.
The third year strategy was market expansion within the three countries an increasing product visibility by 70%. In the fourth year, the strategy was to enter Argentina market.
The product was targeting four specific customer segments consisting of the family, kids, young customers, and the aged.
From the market research, it was apparent that the family segment was the largest followed by the young customers with the aged being the smallest consumer segment.
Although there were several competitors such as Eversmile and Clean+White, the entry strategy and market penetration in the five targeted countries were very successful.
Despite the successful international marketing strategy, the implementation was characterized by a challenge in allocation and customisation of marketing resources, especially in marketing communication in the five targeted regions.
This treatise attempts to explicitly review this challenge with the intention of proposing appropriate strategies for turning this impediment into a positive international marketing tool.
Challenge of Allocation and Customisation of Marketing Resources
In marketing the Allsmile product in the four targeted markets, the regional manager faced the challenge of allocation and customisation of marketing resources due to variances in culture, demand, demographics, and penetration strategies in the four targeted markets.
The cultural, demographic, and economic factors made it difficult for a smooth flow in product entry in each country and subsequent market penetration.
For instance, the demographic factor made it very challenging to penetrate the market in Argentina due to imbalances between the family and young customer segments. Besides, the market is Chile was highly stratified due to the unique culture among the targeted client.
Literature Review
Allocation and customisation of marketing resources involves proper distribution of the marketing budget to ensure that the targeted market is served in the most optimal means possible.
Customisation of marketing resources is vital in international marketing since it should be in line with different factors that directly determine the outcome of each marketing strategy (Hellenes 2014).
In order to successfully allocate and customize resources in international marketing, it is important to carry out in-depth research about the geographical location of the market, the role of the strategy in line with the needs, concerns, and interests of the targeted market.
In addition, it is necessary to study the business needs. According to Belch & Belch (2009), “high level of customer intimacy that comes with international marketing sometimes reveals business need that can’t be filled by the marketplace” (Belch & Belch 2009, p. 34).
This means that a company interested in international marketing must review its needs to ensure that the short and long terms plans are implemented without interfering with the primary goal of business sustenance and feasibility.
Allocation and customisation of marketing resources should consider the element of people since the entire marketing plan is based on the need to convince customers to accept a product or service (Hammond 2006).
In allocation and customisation of marketing resources, Hakala, Svensson, and Vincze (2012) note that a marketing agent should “endeavour to monitor the response rate and the duration or period of advertisement to ensure that the point of contact is sustainable” (Hakala, Svensson, & Vincze 2012, p. 446).
Therefore, realistic market assessment and creation of a unique market niche are the main prerequisites for successful resource allocation and customisation.
In the case of the Allsmile product, the regional manager found it difficult to balance the aspects of people, culture, and marketing communication in the four targeted countries of entry for the proposed Allsmile product.
According to Rossiter and Bellman (2005), “activities, interests, and opinion marketing directly dictates purchasing behaviour and preference among customers” (Rossiter & Bellman 2005, p. 34). The population in the five targeted regions consists of relatively conservative middle income families as the majority.
This group is very consciously of culture and tends to be influenced by their cultural perception on a product before making a decision to purchase (Jones 2010).
Since selling of the Allsmile product was done through indirect distribution, it was difficult for the regional manager to balance the power of the supplier since the proposed advertisement messages could not be designed for each targeted market (Stokes 2011).
In the international marketing operations, sustainability is vital in placement of an effective promotion plan to ensure that the targeted market is reached (Belch & Belch 2009).
According to West, Ford, and Ibrahim (2010), “it is critical to adopt brand amalgamation and consolidation through a long term communication strategy that directly appeals to the target market” (West, Ford, & Ibrahim 2010, p. 37).
Though the international marketing communication was effective in promoting the visibility of the Allsmile product, advertisement model was inflexible to the cultural and social dynamics in each of the four states (West, Ford, & Ibrahim 2010).
Besides, the negotiating media contract stage was very difficult to implement since the entry in each market was done at different time with different resources.
Shortcomings of Academic Materials on the Challenge
Despite the fact that the challenge of allocation and customisation of marketing resources is common in most of international marketing, the current literature on the topic has not focused on the South American continent.
This means that there are no past research studies that are directed towards the dynamic region in Latin America. Therefore, the research paper will attempt to fill this gap by investigating how the challenge of allocation and customisation of marketing resources affect international marketing strategies.
How Challenge of Allocation and Customisation of Marketing Resources Manifested Itself
Despite the fact that the targeted countries are located in one region, the level of market attractiveness differed with Chile being the most attractive and Brazil being the least attractive market. Since the entry plan for each country was systematic, the resources available should be spread across the five years.
Customisation of resources also became challenging in applying a standardized marketing communication plan since some of the targeted countries used different languages.
Therefore, it was very difficult to use a single advertisement message to market the Allsmile product across the Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.
Since the production point for the targeted markets was located in Chile, the challenge of logistical support in order to keep constant supply in other countries such as Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina was apparent.
Besides, transporting the Allsmile products manufactured in the US to Mexico was a challenge since the long distance translated into more resources being channelled in the distribution costs.
The entire international marketing strategy had different primary channels for each targeted market. For instance, in Chile, the channels comprised of hypermarket, and self service while the channels in Mexico comprised of traditional and wholesale.
The differences in primary channels translated to need for more logistical support in customisation of the marketing resources for each geographical location.
Since the geographical regions that were targeted by the Allsmile toothpaste product have different cultural, social orientation within their demographic dynamics, it was very difficult to create a standardized international marketing communication strategy as part of advertisement to improve product acceptance and visibility.
In trying to ensure that the marketing communication strategy for the Allsmile product is effective, there was the challenge of sustainability, especially in the dynamic Argentina market since the research findings revealed that majority of the targeted customers in this country can easily change their preference.
It was not easy to create a sustainable marketing communication plan for the Allsmile brand since the advertisement message was similar in all the five countries.
Among the key preconditions that emerged in implementing the simulation was the possibility of creating a long-term commitment in marketing communication beyond the five year period dedicated for entry in the four markets.
Specifically, the marketing communication plan was not created in a way that it can remain responsive to societal changes since the research conducted did not accommodate possibility of brand amalgamation in the long run.
In developing the international marketing communication implementation stage, the regional manager was successful in creation of a high level strategy to ensure that the entry plan and marketing penetration in each target country was done within the time frame allocated.
Actually, the regional manager was able to create benchmarks for increasing product awareness and sustaining publicity in the four countries. However, the advertisement tactics were mismatched since each targeted market did not operate in the same conditions.
For instance, the regional manager did not have a comprehensive “understanding of the dynamics of the local market, technological competition, quality assurance, cultural compliance, and effective marketing skills when reaching its target market through the advertisement plan” (Shimp 2007, p. 45).
This situation occurred due to initial assumption that the targeted clients in the four countries will find it very easy to associate with the Allsmile product.
How the Team Handled the Challenge Allocation and Customisation of Marketing Resources
It is important to note that different countries exhibit different cultural and social practices and beliefs, which may have significant influence on business.
One important aspect to consider is the fact that the targeted region has cultural practices, consumption patterns, and beliefs that are different from those in the US (Shimp 2007). A
lthough it may be a daunting task to convince some clients in the targeted region to accept products affiliated to US, the team depended on the good diplomatic relations between the US and this region to create positive change in social environment and eventual product acceptance (Shimp 2007).
Indeed, the team’s strategy of production in Chile was successful in convincing the clients that the Allsmile product was local.
In terms of language, the team used English as the primary marketing language since majority of the targeted population speaks English as a second language. This made it easy for the team to create a standardised international marketing communication strategy.
Since the targeted region is largely dominated by Christians, the team successfully created procedures on how to satisfy the needs of the communities without interfering with the Christian culture in Chile, Brazil, Peru, Argentina, and Mexico.
This allowed the Allsmile product to maintain its leadership position in the dental hygiene market (Hollensen 2014).
During expansion, it is normal for any business to face different challenges. For the expansion to succeed, it is very important for one to take note of all challenges that might appear, and strategise on how to tackle them.
The team marketing the Allsmile product adopted strategies to ensure that they are culturally sensitive through a thorough stakeholder analysis when launching the campaign, in order to eliminate any chances of alienating company stakeholders, especially on social perspective (Yan, Myers, & Wang 2012).
The team conducted a survey of the South American region, including socio-cultural norms of each targeted country, in order to understand their consumption patterns and needs.
Besides, the production plant in Chile was established to produce dental products that are more inclined to interests and preferences of this community.
In order to address the challenge of demographic imbalances in the targeted region, the team marketing the Allsmile toothpaste product carried out clear customer segmentation and identified the needs of each segment in each country.
From the demographic segmentation strategy, the team was able to identify the young and family segments as representing the majority of targeted clients while aged segment was the least in the targeted region.
Through this strategy, more resources and marketing customisation was directed to the young and family segments to maximize the brand intake (Yan, Myers, & Wang 2012).
Reference List
Belch, E, & Belch, A 2009, Advertising and promotion: An integrated marketing communications perspective, Mass: McGraw-Hill, Boston.
Hakala, U, Svensson, J, & Vincze, Z 2012, “Consumer-based brand equity and top-of-mind awareness: a cross-country analysis,” Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. 21 no. 6, pp.439-451
Hammond, K 2006, “Market Segmentation for Competitive Brands,” European Journal of Marketing, vol. 30 no. 12, pp. 39-49.
Hollensen, S 2014, Global marketing: A decision oriented approach, FT Prentice Hall, London.
Jones, P 2010, “Advertising: strong force or weak force? Two views an ocean apart,” International Journal of Advertising, vol. 9 no. 3, pp. 45-61.
Rossiter, J, & Bellman, S 2005, Marketing communications: Theory and applications, Prentice Hall, Frenchs Forest
Shimp, T 2007, Advertising, promotion, and other aspects of integrated marketing communications, Thomson South-Western: Mason, Ohio
Stokes, R 2011, eMarketing: The essential guide to digital marketing, Quirk eMarketing (Pty) Ltd, London.
West, D, Ford, J, & Ibrahim, E 2010, Strategic marketing, Oxford University Press, London.
Yan, R, Myers, A, & Wang, J 2012, “Price strategy, information sharing, and firm performance in a market channel with a dominant retailer,” Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. 21 no. 6, pp.475-485.