Marketing for International Growth

Purpose of the workshop:
To develop delegate’s understanding and appreciation of marketing principles and the necessity to take the customer’s perspective in everything they do; working towards a “whole company approach” to business development.

Workshop Overview
Feedback from our customers has told us that companies are looking for an introduction to marketing which is practical and that can be implemented realistically, not a course that tries to teach how multi-nationals with large budgets develop their global branding.

Unlike other marketing courses, this workshop is not laden with high-level theory; instead it takes a practical approach to developing a marketing oriented attitude that is congruent with the company’s strategy, and is most importantly in line with customer expectations. The workshop is about the delegate’s company and business development; it is not a series of case studies discussing how large global players run their marketing divisions.

Many SME’s entering and developing their international business face a typical “chicken and egg” scenario; they need to increase their marketing to grow their business, but do not have the budget to perform undertake a high level of marketing without increasing their business.

One of the underlying traits of this workshop is “Marketing can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be, and as cheap or expensive as you can afford; the most important thing is that your marketing is effective”.

In the competitive environment, the company that is more closely aligned to its customers, and their expectations and needs, will be more competitive, successful and ultimately more profitable. Through understanding the course content, completing checklists and using frameworks, delegates build their own structured operational marketing plan, which is based on and congruent with their own company and target markets and is customer oriented, practical and applicable.

Whilst the graphic art and design side of marketing communications is not covered, the key messages from the customer’s perspective are evaluated.

This practical workshop covers the fundamentals of marketing, the importance of a customer-centric approach and how to implement marketing principles within an SME to ensure a consistent, customer and market oriented message; to gain maximum impact, penetration and profit from delegates products or services, in both their domestic and international market.

Who should attend:
This workshop is relevant to staff who are responsible for building international business including managers, business owners, sales and marketing staff all of whom may have a direct or indirect customer interface role. It applies to those who are perhaps new to international sales and marketing and also for more experienced staff who wish to increase their understanding of the value of strategic and operational marketing in the international arena.

Workshop style and format:
Facilitator led debate and discussion, group work and with taught elements. Delegates complete a series of checklists and frameworks based on their own company and target markets, which combine to produce the basis of an operational marketing plan that is implementable within the delegate’s company.

Delegates are encouraged to raise issues they are currently facing with growing their business. The facilitator encourages class debate which helps to develop approaches to overcome the challenges. Delegates benefit from the experience of all other delegates and that of the facilitator.

Workshop duration: One day

Maximum number of delegates: 15

Workshop contents
The workshop covers the following main elements necessary to understand, apply and implement a customer and marketing oriented approach to international business development:

• The fundamentals of marketing
• Taking the customer’s perspective
• The target market(s) and external influences
• The cultural and market effects on product or service requirements and use, purchasing, trading norms, messages and route to market.
• Internal influences
• The marketing mix and communications mix
• Developing an operational marketing plan