Marketing yourself in your home country is hard enough as it is. When it comes to placing yourself within a global spectrum, there are a number of new considerations to take on board before you start. This article will look in brief at what those considerations are.

The Four P's.

Product

The first and most obvious aspect of your marketing campaign is the product or service provided. Is your product something which is saleable, is it something that people either need or want?

Price

Is the cost of your product set at a level which the market will bear, and which will sustain a profit margin?

Promotion

Are you promoting yourself effectively? In the modern market you must consider the wide range of tools at your disposal, which will reach your target audience, and conversely, which are redundant.

Place

This raises two questions, is the location right for your product? And if so do you have the resources to make sure it is available there?

Essentially these factors remain the same whether you are at home or abroad, but on a global scale they must be managed within a far more diverse political, economic, social and cultural context.

Selecting your market.

Deciding in which countries to market yourself will be crucial to your success. The diversity of policies, economics, social and cultural situations will necessarily require a different approach in each case. In most developed countries this information is widely available to the casual researcher. But whether this information has even been established, let alone made available to the general public in less well developed countries could well present itself as the first stumbling block to your global marketing campaign.

The following is a list of organisations which may be of use in such a research project:

* The International Monetary Fund (IMF)

* The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD)

* The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)

* The United Nations (UN)

* The Economist Intelligence Unit

* Eurostat

* Business International Corporation

* Euromonitor

* Any Trade Associations affiliated with your product of service

The first port of call will be checking the Internet for how to approach these organisations, and it is worth bearing in mind that some of them will charge for their services.

Global Appeal.

Will your product or service have appeal in the designated countries of your campaign? It is of paramount importance that you research such factors as language, health and safety regulations, even the religious beliefs of the populous to ensure you are not, at worst, causing offence to your target audience, or at best, failing to find your market through obscure restrictive regulations.

Considering Language.

It is worth emphasising at this point the importance of language to your marketing strategy. Whenever the translation of text is required, it will not be good enough to translate it word for word. And where translations are impossible, for example the brand name of a product, it will be necessary to be sure that your brand name does not already exist in the language, as a swear word for example.

Foreign languages contain subtleties and nuances of which you will be ignorant, a word for word translation, as you will undoubtedly be aware from the instruction manuals of many imported goods, may not be clear, and in the worst case scenario will cause offence. So taking advice locally, and utilising native merchandisers and distributors will in these cases be essential.

The language of advertising itself ought to be given some thought. Certain imagery in Europe and the West which is considered perfectly acceptable, for example, may be seen in Middle Eastern countries as deeply offensive. So where this problem can be anticipated, and if it is deemed necessary, it would be worth approaching advertising agencies with experience of international campaigns, and write off the cost as a worthwhile investment.

Assume a Global Mentality.

It is the Internet which has brought about a freer global economy, but the current international economic climate is not yet truly reflecting the ease with which international business transactions can take place. And this is down to one thing, not enough people have taken on board the global mentality. These days it is not always necessary to do business face to face, and the sooner you truly believe yourself to be a worldwide player, the sooner you can steal business from the traditionally established international businesses, and assume their rates in the process.

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