Different Cultures, Different Strategies: The factors that influence a brand’s marketing strategy when appealing to individual cultures

Without understanding the importance of changing marketing and advertising strategies based on the culture of a brand’s target audience, a brand cannot be universally received and accepted.

Culture and Marketing

No matter what the product or service a company or individual is trying to sell, it is crucial to understand how to effectively market and advertise to different cultures. Different cultures have different interests and norms that can be detrimental to a brand’s success if not considered. 

When a brand is experiencing growth and new opportunities, a change in their strategies occurs, specifically when a new cultural audience approaches. Cultural influences have an impact on consumers and can control their method of thinking about and interacting with a brand. A brand can create a successful marketing strategy that is individually tailored to appeal to a given culture. Individual marketing strategies can be based upon the culture’s values, symbols, language and sensitivity. 

What is Culture?

Understanding the dimensions of a culture can assist in creating a solid marketing and advertising technique and strategy. Before this can be done, the term culture has to be understood. Culture is defined as, “the collective mental programming of the human mind which distinguishes one group of people from another,” as stated by Professor Geert Hofstede from Hofstede Insights. He identifies the nine dimensions that influence a culture: power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation and indulgence. These influence the patterns of thinking which ultimately impacts a person’s decision making processes. This is why the culture a person identifies with is so important when marketing a brand, because of the influence a culture’s values, symbols, language and thought processes has on an individual.

Cultural Values 

The values of a culture greatly influence the way consumers make their purchasing decisions. In some cases, these values can be applied to an entire region. As an example, we can compare countries who are individually focused to those that are collectively focused. Individually focused countries such as the United States relate more to advertisements that are aimed to appeal to individual persons and their buying habits. However, family-centered countries such as Japan will respond better to strategies that are targeted towards a group. This is similar to how those who live in a city have different priorities and interests than those who live in rural parts of a country or state. Keeping these cultural differences in mind is important in order to create specific marketing strategies and campaigns depending on which audience is going to view it.

Cultural Symbols and Language

Symbols in a culture can include folklore, drama, dance and music. These factors are important to consider, because one country may be heavily involved in their traditional dance and music, while another is heavily focused on their culture’s stories and folklore. Knowledge of the specific interests and desires of an individual from a given culture can greatly improve the marketing technique of a given brand who is growing internationally. 

Language can be a huge barrier for marketing a brand, because of the problems it can create if not considered. There have been a number of marketing fails, due to the incorrect translation of a language, this also includes understanding the slangs and idioms a given culture uses. Some examples include; in Italy when Schweppes Tonic Water was translated as “Schweppes Toilet Water” and in Spain where Coors beer’s phrase “turn it loose,” translated to “get diarrhea.” Clearly, this is a mistake that no brand wants to make. This disaster can be avoided simply by doing research on the target audience’s language and culture.

Cultural Sensitivity

Cultural sensitivity is extremely important to create a relationship with consumers in a given cultural region and ultimately to be internationally inclusive. A “copy and paste” method for a marketing campaign will save a brand time, but will not appeal to a larger audience and will definitely not allow a brand to grow globally. Being culturally sensitive is important in order to create a relationship that fosters brand loyalty because the customers feel respected. 

In conclusion, the only way a brand can be successful in creating a marketing strategy that appeals to various cultures, is to understand those cultures. Knowledge of the culture’s values, symbols, language and being sensitive towards the culture, can give a brand leverage to create relationships and loyalty among different cultures. The attention to detail or lack thereof, can make or break a brand, which proves the severity and importance of understanding the differences of marketing to cultures and their individual needs.