International Promotion: The Global Market Place

Promotion policy is a key factor in the global market. Besides deciding global or local promotions, the type of promotion that we should carry out will be related to the distribution systems available in of foreign markets. Even if a product is very good ,it may not achieve full success unless the promotion is appropriate and adequate. By promotion we understand all those activities developed by the international marketing department to consolidate the product in the market, with the objective of increasing its sales, understanding and image. Promotion policy in foreign trade works within the structure of the marketing mix. Promotion policy applies to each of the countries to which the company wishes to export. The influence of country image in global marketing is a very significant piece of information, which should be taken into account by the exporter. The image of a country in the foreign markets depends on many factors, among them on the foreign promotional policy carried out by governments in order to improve this image. The exporter should find out what is the country image of his country in the target market. If this image is positive, the most logical thing will be to use it in our favour in our marketing plans. If the image is negative, the recommendable thing is to use the marketing mix to draw the importer's attention towards other variables of marketing. Promotional objectives involve the question of what the firm hopes to achieve with a campaign—“increasing profits” is too vague an objective, since this has to be achieved through some intermediate outcome (such as increasing market share, which in turn is achieved by some change in consumers which cause them to buy more). Some common objectives that firms may hold.