Global Marketing: Building Iconic Brands

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/global-marketing-building-iconic-brands

Introduction

**Course Review: Global Marketing: Building Iconic Brands on Coursera** In today's interconnected world, the importance of understanding the cultural nuances that influence consumer behavior cannot be overstated. Coursera's course, "Global Marketing: Building Iconic Brands," offers a comprehensive approach to crafting marketing plans that resonate across borders by leveraging cultural insights. Developed as a continuation of the cultural frameworks introduced in "Global Marketing: Cultural Frameworks," this course is designed for marketers and business professionals who are keen on expanding their brand presence on a global scale. ### Course Overview "Global Marketing: Building Iconic Brands" is structured to guide learners through the critical steps of establishing a culturally-informed marketing strategy. The curriculum covers essential topics such as environmental analysis, brand audit, culturally focused planning, and integrating global marketing tactics. This course promises to equip you with the tools necessary to understand new markets and develop marketing initiatives that align with cultural preferences. ### Syllabus Breakdown **Course Orientation** The journey begins with an orientation, allowing you to familiarize yourself with the course structure, your peers, and essential technical skills needed for successful navigation through the platform. This initial phase sets the stage for a collaborative and interactive course experience. **Module 1: Key Global Marketing Functions** The first major module dives into what global marketing entails. It provides a robust framework to analyze the complexities of new markets and the various global challenges companies face. Learners will engage with concepts such as environmental analysis and market size estimation while gaining insights into how cultural characteristics influence consumer behavior. This foundational knowledge is vital for any marketer looking to enter international markets effectively. **Module 2: The Brand Audit** After understanding the market landscape, the next step involves conducting a brand audit. This critical process assesses the current position of a brand in relation to its potential new market. The module emphasizes understanding brand equity, particularly cultural equity, which is instrumental in guiding marketing decisions. This segment encourages learners to explore how cultural associations impact consumer perceptions and brand loyalty. **Module 3: Developing a Culturally Focused Marketing Plan** Armed with insights from the brand audit, participants will learn how to develop a marketing plan that embraces cultural elements. This module teaches the importance of cultural positioning and how to incorporate cultural meanings into brand identity. With a focus on the 4 P’s—product, promotion, place, and price—learners will leave with actionable strategies for a successful launch in their chosen market. **Module 4: Integrating the Global Marketing Plan** The final module tackles the integration of ongoing marketing strategies with culturally tailored tactics. It discusses how to strike a balance between standardization and adaptation in marketing efforts across different regions. This approach ensures that brands not only resonate with local consumers but also maintain coherence with their overall global marketing strategy. ### Why You Should Take This Course 1. **Practical Insights**: The course is rich in practical examples and frameworks that can be directly applied to real-world marketing scenarios, making it highly relevant for marketers aiming to expand globally. 2. **Cultural Emphasis**: In an age where cultural sensitivity is paramount, this course equips you with the necessary tools to navigate and respect different cultures, enhancing your brand’s global appeal. 3. **Flexible Learning**: Available on Coursera, this course offers the flexibility to learn at your own pace, making it suitable for busy professionals or students. 4. **Expert Instruction**: The faculty behind this course comprises industry experts who share their experiences and insights, providing students with valuable perspectives that textbooks alone cannot offer. 5. **Networking Opportunities**: Engaging with peers from diverse backgrounds can provide additional insights and foster professional connections that last beyond the course. ### Conclusion "Global Marketing: Building Iconic Brands" is a well-structured course that addresses the complexities of marketing in a globalized environment. Whether you're a marketing professional seeking to enhance your skillset or a business owner aiming to expand internationally, this course offers a treasure trove of insights and strategies. I highly recommend enrolling in this course to not only enrich your knowledge but also to prepare yourself for the exciting and challenging world of global marketing.

Syllabus

Course Orientation

You will become familiar with the course, your classmates, and our learning environment. The orientation will also help you obtain the technical skills required for the course.

This module defines global marketing and identifies the key activities when attempting a global expansion. With globalization, it is increasingly difficult for companies to cope with the complex challenges discussed in Global Challenges: Cultural Frameworks. This module introduces a framework to analyze the issues involved in a global expansion. The module reviews in detail how to conduct an environmental analysis, the steps to estimate the size of a new market, and the changes in consumer behavior induced by cultural characteristics in a new market.

Once the marketer has fully analyzed the new market, assessed the size of the market, and learned the cultural insights about consumers in the new market, the next step in a global expansion is to assess the extent to which the brand is well suited to appeal to the new target market. This requires a thorough understanding of the brand, its portfolio of products and services, and the distinctive associations that contribute to its equity, and in particular to its cultural equity. This knowledge is gained by conducting a brand audit. This module focuses on brands are knowledge structures represented in consumers’ memory and introduces a framework to describe the different types of brand knowledge, as well as to identify the types of knowledge that are distinctive and relevant, and hence contribute to the equity of the brand. Special attention is paid to the brand’s cultural meanings that elicit distinctive and favorable consumer responses—or to the brand’s cultural equity.

Once a marketer has gained a deep understanding of the focal brand and the cultural nuances of consumers in the new market, the next step is to leverage these insights for developing a culturally focused marketing plan. This module highlights the importance of incorporating culture into marketing decisions by reviewing consumers’ responses to the cultural meanings in brands. The premise that consumers respond more favorably to brands imbued with cultural meanings guides the first step in preparing a culturally focused marketing plan, which is developing a cultural positioning for the brand. Once a cultural positioning has been clearly articulated, the marketer can identify cultural elements to be incorporated into the brand identity. This is typically the first step in developing the marketing tactics of product, promotion, place, and price (or the 4 P’s) to be deployed in the new market.

Companies devise marketing tactics to penetrate a new market in the context of what their current marketing strategy is. Although the processes described in past modules partially incorporate the company’s current marketing strategy (i.e., by taking into account the equity of the target brand, an outcome of the overall marketing strategy, or by considering how the brand associations fit into the new market), a company that is already operating in its home market, as well as possibly in other markets, has a portfolio of ongoing marketing tactics. This module discusses the most common approaches to integrate these ongoing tactics with those needed to culturally resonate with consumers in a new market. Specifically, this module reviews the steps that a company should take to integrate actions in different markets under a unified global marketing plan. It focuses on the two competing approaches of standardization of the marketing mix versus cultural adaptation of parts or the entire marketing mix.