Things to Remember When Marketing Across Different Cultures

Last Updated Jun 4, 2024

Today we live in an era where geographical boundaries are no longer rigid. We can travel anywhere in the world, interact with people of all nationalities and cultures, above all, purchase and mingle with brands that surface across various national boundaries.

The main credit goes to the technologies through which we can see the world. Whether in transportation or visual media, we understand the “other” that seemed distant centuries back.

This national and cultural accessibility expanded many brands with the possibility of engaging with a broad international audience, opening the doors for expansion.

Marketing Across Different Cultures

Choosing a Significant Color: A culture may celebrate a particular color, and another culture might associate that with omens and bad luck.
Translating the Actual Message: Hiring a translator who can correctly help you reconstruct your brand messages and slogans helps you in meaningful translation.
Being Culturally Appropriate: Research and understand acceptable and unacceptable contexts in a particular culture.

But many famous brands have often caused marketing blunders because of ignorance and cultural stereotyping.

So, today we will talk about key factors you should consider when trying to market your brand worldwide among different cultures.

3 Marketing Elements to Keep in Mind
Templates that are Culturally Friendly at DocHipo

3 Marketing Elements to Keep in Mind

Our world is filled with diverse cultures embracing different beliefs, traditions, symbolic significance, and elements. Hence, any strategy that misrepresents or uses an inappropriate tone in their international marketing campaigns can invite criticism. This can further damage your reputation in that culture and country.

So, let me share three essential elements you should be cautious about when marketing your brand internationally.

1. Choosing a Significant Color

The first and most important factor is choosing the right color.

Different cultures have different ways of interpreting color. If a culture celebrates a particular color, another culture might associate that color with omen and bad luck.

Infographic of Cultural Significance of Color (Cross-cultural marketing)

A typical example would be the color Red. Although Red can signify several things in western societies, ranging from love to violence, in China, Red is an auspicious color signifying celebration. So, marketers have to be extremely careful about the context of the visual campaigns when using this color.

Hence, choosing universally safer colors with a common association is always best.

You will notice that most global brands use the colors green, blue, and black in their logos and for marketing.

Statistics suggest that blue is the most popular color among brands, making up 23% of the global companies. It is evident, as this color is a safer choice.

Let me further elaborate…

In South and North America, Blue signifies spirituality and religion. Arab countries perceive Blue as a sense of protection. In China, they often see Blue as a feminine color connected with immortality. In India, people associate Blue with the notions of protection, strength, and spirituality.

Hence, we associate this color with trust and reliability when we further link it with marketing. So, choose your brand colors wisely and carefully to create a global impact.

2. Translating the Actual Message

Translating your brand message into other languages is serious and needs proper care. So, relying on Google translate might not be the best choice for marketing your brand in other countries.

I am sure you remember the translation blunders by famous brands such as Coca-cola and KFC. The mistakes might seem hilarious now, but they made them land in an awkward situation at that time.

Let’s start with Coca-Cola. When Coca-Cola landed in China, they wanted to translate the words with similar Chinese alphabets. But their Chinese words meant, “Bite the Wax Tadpole.” Hence, they had to let go of their idea and adopted words that meant “Happiness in the mouth.”

If we talk about KFC, their translation is even more hideous. When KFC launched in the Chinese market, they wanted to translate their slogan, “finger lickin’ good.” But their translation was a complete faux pas, as it ended, meaning, “Eat your fingers off.” This resulted in them being ousted from the Chinese lands for ten years.

So, when you’re building your brand in a foreign market, hiring a translator who can correctly help you reconstruct your brand messages and slogans is ideal. Embarrassing mistakes get ingrained with your brand’s identity, leaving an unforgettable impression.

You can customize your brand messages based on different nationalities and cultures for a safer option. This will always keep you in a better position globally.

3. Being Culturally Appropriate

Cultural appropriateness is a complex yet important aspect of branding your business globally.

Visual messages that present the content in the wrong context can make your brand appear insensitive and culturally ignorant.

To properly explain the importance of being extra mindful of the campaign narratives, let me remind you of the crucial mistakes of Tesco, Starbucks, and Kurl-On-Mattresses.

Tesco, a retail store in the UK, dedicated an aisle to the famous snacks brand Pringles Chips. This brand launched a special flavor to celebrate the Ramadan festival of 2015. Funnily, the flavor was smoked bacon, which offended the Muslims. This is because Muslims forbid pork consumption (Haram).

Cultural inappropriate marketing (Pringles Chips, Ramadan 2015) — **Pringles Chips, Tesco**

Coming to Starbucks, we all remember the controversial campaign, “Race Together, ” bringing in a wave of criticism. They focused this campaign on the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, which led to civil unrest and discussion on intolerance based on racist attitudes. Although Starbucks had a nobler intention when launching this campaign via their coffee cups and TV commercials, it backfired, appearing offensive and inappropriate.

Cultural inappropriate marketing (Race Together campaign) — **#RaceTogether Campaign, Starbucks**

When discussing inappropriateness, the marketing world can never forget the advertisement of Kurl-On Mattresses, conceptualized by Ogilvy. The concept was about “Bounce Back,” which sounds good and motivating, but the theme selection was misleading. So, the advertisement posters showed a cartoon form of the social activist and Nobel Prize Laureate Mala Yousafzai, being shot (presumably by the Taliban), falling on the mattress, and again bouncing back to protest against it.

Well, let me show you the poster:

See what I mean!

Ogilvy faced heavy criticism and had to post an official apology for this ad.

Templates that are Culturally Friendly at DocHipo

Once you properly understand these three vital global marketing points, you can strategize your visuals easily.

At DocHipo, you will get tons of multifarious templates for creating almost all types of documents. These templates are superbly creative and can be used in any cultural setting.

Let me take you through different documents that consist of culturally friendly templates.

Posters

We at DocHipo could not curb the constant urge to be a part of all the national and cultural events of the world. Hence to celebrate different traditions, cultures, and national festivities, we created Poster templates for all living in any part of the world. Check these out.

New Year:

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Christmas:

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Check out How to Create a Beautiful Christmas Poster in Minutes.

Musical events:

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Read through How to Make a Music Poster with Ease.

Mother’s Day:

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Loved them? Check out Mother’s Day Poster Templates for more.

Thanksgiving Day:

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Explore our complete range of Thanksgiving Poster Templates.

The 4th of July:

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Check out How To Make A 4th of July Poster with flair and style for guidance.

Here’s how you can create more stunning designs for celebrating the 4th of July.

Logos

The logo templates at DocHipo are based on soft neutral colors that do not clash with any cultural beliefs and stigmas. You can customize these logos to fit your branding vision, enriching your marketing initiatives.

Check these out:

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Social Graphic

When marketing online on social media platforms, you have to post graphics and images that are universally appealing. As in this platform, our audiences come from every part of the world.

Facebook:

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You may go through How to Design Stunning Christmas Facebook Post Online.

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Want to see more such designs? Check out the 4th of July Facebook Post Templates.

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Check out 5 Easter Social Media Posts That Will Never Let You be Gloomy.

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Get This Template and More

Get This Template and More

Instagram:

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You’d love to explore our range of Christmas Facebook Post Templates.

Watch our quick tutorial on creating Christmas graphics.

Advertisement Graphics

You must create compelling visuals to stop viewers’ scrolls to advertise your product or service. In DocHipo, you can create irresistible graphics for Facebook, Instagram, and Leaderboard Ads.

Facebook Ads:

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Instagram Ads:

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Leaderboard Ads:

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Conclusion

It is every brand’s dream to have its reach all over the world.

You can fulfill this dream too. But to achieve this aspiration, you only need proper research and intercultural understanding. Along with this, you must also inculcate a feeling of sensitivity towards different cultural and nationalistic associations.

This understanding will help you strategize powerful marketing campaigns that depict a strong universal message.

So let’s build brands that embrace all and bind people from different walks of life and cultures.

As for designs, you have DocHipo to the rescue, where you can download any template you choose for any document. You also have the option to customize an existing template or recreate it right from scratch to match your vision.

So Hurry and download stunning templates to market your brand cross-culturally!