Term Paper: International IMC Strategy

Please select an existing, real local company from the area where you live, for your convenience. It should be a company that you believe either has chances of expanding in a foreign market (export, franchising, direct investment...) or can market its services to foreign travelers coming to the U.S. For example, an American manufacturer of watches might want to expand to a country in Latin America and has different possibilities for this: find retailers there (export), e-commerce and ship the products from the U.S.... A company that offers luxury spa and cosmetic services might want to also market its services to potential Latin American looking for touristic opportunities and deals to the U.S.

Please select a company where you think you can have access to information, either because they have a very good website or especially because you think you can contact directly business owners or managers. Once you established the business you will use for your project, you need to follow a few steps in order to create an International Integrated Marketing Communications (Promotional) Strategy for them.

Keep in mind that your strategy needs to be of great quality, realistic and professional enough to be presented to the company in discussion at the end of the class. Budget restrictions also need to be considered.

Main steps for the international IMC:

1. Select a country where you think the business should market/sell its products/services. Analyze the key characteristics of the country based on what you learned in the first chapters (economic, social, cultural, political and legal indicators).

2. Analyze the current situation of the company: products, customers, competitors.

3. Develop communication objectives that refer to what the firm seeks to accomplish with its promotional program.

4. Determine the foreign target market (consumer segments) and how the company can effectively communicate with customers in the target market.

5. Develop the Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy for the foreign market: the most involved and detailed part of the work. Decisions have to be made regarding the role and importance of each IMC tool and their coordination with one another. You do not need to use all these tools. However, you need to be as concrete as possible regarding how you plan to communicate with your foreign target market through each of these tools and what adaptation and changes will have to be made to the domestic communication strategy in place.

a) Advertising message and media strategy and tactics

b) Direct marketing message and media strategy and tactics

c) Interactive/Internet Marketing message and media strategy and tactics

d) Sales promotion message and media strategy and tactics

e) Public relations/publicity strategy and tactics

f) Personal selling - sales strategy and tactics