The challenges and opportunities of global marketing management
Posted on: August 12, 2024by Ben Nancholas

In pre-internet days, global marketing management and strategy was the concern of only the biggest names in the game – think huge, successful brands such as Coca-Coca, who operated worldwide and had employees in international markets.
Skip ahead to the 2000s, and the internet has made it possible for companies to adopt a global outlook from the offset. From social media platforms to e-commerce sites to simple landing pages, cultivating an online presence in the global marketplace has never been more accessible.
But, while the infrastructure and ambition may be there, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to make a success of global marketing. As well as opportunities, it comes with significant challenges, and requires skilled, creative, resourceful marketers to navigate its fast-paced, highly competitive, and nuanced nature.
What is global marketing management?
Global marketing management is the strategic approach to advertising and selling a brand’s products and services in international markets. It focuses on tailoring marketing strategies and marketing campaigns to resonate with different target markets, and involves market research, product and service adaptation, international branding, and global supply chain management and coordination.
While the two terms are often used interchangeably, global marketing is not the same as international marketing. Global marketing relates to efforts to increase the sales and promotion of products and services across the globe, whereas international marketing – which is a subset of global marketing – relates to the practice of marketing products to a specific, targeted number of international locations.
What are the key challenges of global marketing?
A keen understanding of the challenges you might face when expanding into global markets – from managing global vs local workforces to measuring ROI to understanding the diverse needs and wants of customers – can help you avoid and mitigate some of the most common mistakes and missteps.
Here are some of the most common barriers and challenges that global marketers may face:
- Cultural differences. Marketing teams must understand, respect, and adapt to diverse cultural norms, consumer behaviours, and values present in different local markets in order to remain relevant and avoid errors of judgement. The more markets you operate in, the more pressing this becomes. For instance, what works in Western markets may not necessarily resonate in markets across China and India, and vice versa.
- Economic instability and variability. Currency fluctuations, purchasing power, and rates of inflation vary dramatically across different markets and can have a profound impact on pricing decisions and revenue generation.
- Communication and language barriers. Differences in communication – including language, translation, and even body language and gestures – can present issues, resulting in marketing materials and campaigns being unengaging and disconnected at best to offensive and insensitive at worst.
- Intense competition. Compete in the global economy and you’re competing with brands and businesses the world over. Marketers must develop unique strategies that highlight areas of differentiation to remain competitive and stand out from other local, regional, national, and international brands.
- Technology and infrastructure variability. Differences in digital adoption rates and access and availability of technological infrastructure can significantly impact how effective a brand’s e-commerce processes and digital marketing plans are. Technological barriers can range from the major (local communities don’t have access to the internet) to the minor (certain platforms and channels are banned in some countries and regions, and some websites fail to offer translated content).
What are the benefits and opportunities of global marketing?
Increased revenue potential, access to fresh talent and resources, greater brand recognition, economies of scale, new ways to learn and innovate, organisational sustainability and long-term growth – engaging in global and international business can be highly profitable and a fantastic way to increase your market share and competitive advantage.
In terms of marketing, engaging with diverse consumers and markets can help brands to stay ahead of global trends, providing them with ways to adapt quickly to changing demands and technological and industry advancements. Global marketing also offers greater potential for strategic alliances, collaborations, and partnerships with local brands and businesses, which supports smoother market entry transitions, expansions, and reach. Perhaps one of the greatest advantages is found in market diversification. Brands who only operate in a single market or region are more vulnerable to adverse events and market ‘shocks’; those who reduce their reliance on a single economy spread the risk and increase their stability and resilience in the event of market-specific downturns.
Adapting marketing strategies in international markets
Ways to adapt marketing strategies to global and international audiences and markets include:
- promotional tactics – leveraging channels and platforms specific to certain regions and partnering with local influencers.
- channels of distribution – adjusting distribution strategies to match local retail environments, consumer habits, and infrastructure and selecting sales methods accordingly.
- product adaptation – ensuring products meet local preferences, regulations, needs, tastes, and standards, from packaging to sizing and features and design.
- language adaptation and localisation – ensuring communication with target communities is seamless via accurate translation of marketing materials, accounting for expressions, idioms, and context.
- cultural customisation – adapting branding, imagery, and messaging to ensure it resonates with local consumers.
HubSpot highlight plenty of examples of leading brands and their winning market entry strategies. Examples include: the World Wildlife Fund, who use highly localised environment and eco goals in each region to connect with consumers; Domino’s, who prioritise menu innovation and differentiation based on the preferences on local markets; and Airbnb, who used authentic photos and videos of guests enjoying their stays around the world to create highly engaging video content.
Upcoming trends and opportunities in the global marketing sphere
Want to capitalise on the growing and emerging opportunities that are shaping the landscape of global marketing?
Leading businesses share their predictions of the trends and developments that look set to shape global marketing throughout 2024 and beyond:
- Kantar – Generative AI, culture-led marketing that aligns with consumer values, brands who take an ‘activist stance’ and capitalising on influencer collaborations, and holistic KPIs (long-term value creation, inclusivity, positive community, environmental impact).
- Forbes – AI marketing automation, hyper-personalisation, influencer marketing, video marketing, user-generated content (UGC), sustainability, and social commerce.
- We Are Social – Influencer partnerships, ‘disruption’ across social media, value-added marketing (the delivery of benefits that resonate with customer needs and desires), generative AI, more ‘human’, authentic content marketing.
- Semrush – Partnership marketing, a focus on high-quality content.
Clearly, there is a great deal of crossover in many of the forecasted categories. Keep one step ahead of the crowd by adopting the marketing strategies and tools that align with your organisational goals and values and factoring them into decision-making when developing global marketing plans.
Embrace the cultural nuances, values, and attitudes that exist across global demographics
Do you have global aspirations for your business? Want to understand how you can succeed in new markets and emerging markets worldwide?
Learn how to increase your global business footprint as you explore what it takes to run organisations at the highest level, with Keele University’s online MSc Management with Marketing programme. Explore the essentials of management practice and theory – including the core principles of organisational leadership in local and global contexts – alongside specialist modules in marketing. Via 100%-online study that fits around your needs, you’ll cover topics such as operations and supply chain management, financial statement analysis, entrepreneurship, human resource management, strategic marketing and brand management, market research methodology, and more.