What are some of the major challenges confronting an international advertiser?
1. Legal and tax considerations
Laws and taxes control the access to media (radio, tv, newspapers etc), which complicates things, and can become costly if not taken into consideration.
2. Language limitations
The problem involves different languages of different countries, different languages or dialects within one country, and the subtler problems of linguistic nuance and vernacular. Low literacy in many countries seriously impedes communications and calls for greater creativity and use of verbal media.
3. Cultural diversity
Communication is difficult because cultural factors largely determine the way various phenomena are perceived. If the perceptual framework is different, perception of the message itself differs. Colors, gestures, noises, music - all things must be considered.
4. Production and cost limitations
Budget constraints or production limitations call for creative measures
Hand-painted billboards can be used for low-cost reproduction.
Of all the elements of the marketing mix, decisions involving advertising are the ones most often affected by cultural differences among country markets. Consumers reflect their culture, its style, feelings, value systems, attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions. Since advertising's function is to "interpret or translate the need/want satisfying qualities of product and services in terms of consumer needs, wants, desires, and aspirations," the emotional appeals, symbols, persuasive approaches and other characteristics of an advertisement must coincide with cultural norms to be effective.
Reconciling international advertising and sales promotion effort with cultural uniqueness of markets is the challenge confronting the international or global marketer. The global advertiser is confronted with legal and tax considerations, language limitations, media limitation and production and cost limitations. These limitations must all be dealt if a company is to have an effective advertisement.