I was sent an amusing model today to explain international economics and the challenges of international business. I can only apologise to the original author for not crediting this writing to you. Please feel free to drop me a line so you can bask in the glory of such entertaining writing. For me it’s a great way of explaining why marketing is different for each and every market in the world. There is no one size fits all model that works for everyone. This is one of the great pleasures of living and working in a world with such a variety of people, cultures, religions, food and so much more.

(NB JohnTP, one of the best parts of being in another country is trying out the food, even if it is scorpion…)

AN AMERICAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.
Later, you hire a consultant to analyse why the cow has dropped dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You go on strike, organise a riot, and block the roads, because you
want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk.
You then create a clever cow cartoon image called ‘Cowkimon’ and market it worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows, but you don’t know where they are.
You decide to have lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You count them and learn you have five cows.
You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.
You count them again and learn you have 2 cows.
You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION

You have 5000 cows. None of them belong to you.
You charge the owners for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You have 300 people milking them.
You claim that you have full employment, and high bovine productivity.
You arrest the newsman who reported the real situation.

AN INDIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
You worship them.

A BRITISH CORPORATION

You have two cows.
Both are mad.

AN IRAQI CORPORATION

Everyone thinks you have lots of cows.
You tell them that you have none.
No-one believes you, so they bomb the sh1t out of you and invade your country.
You still have no cows, but at least now you are a Democracy.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION

You have two cows.
The one on the left looks very attractive.

For anyone writing a blog as a means of making money, it would be worth reading Daniel’s Daily Blog Tips blog. I especially like this article that applies the traditional 4P marketing mix concept to blogging (www.dailyblogtips.com).

Daniel makes some great comments about the 4Ps (Product, Promotion, Place, Price) and how these are outdated when applied to blogs. For example he suggests Promotion should be replaced by Persuasion, with bloggers encouraging their readers to share ideas and contribute to the discussion. This makes perfect sense as blogs become more valuable when they are interactive.

However, the 4Ps model was actually usurped firstly by the 7PS - which mostly applies to services marketing - and now the more recent 8Ps.

So what are the extra Ps and are they valuable for your business?

The first to think of is People, which in a red brick company means your employees. However in the more interactive world of blogging this also applies to your readers. You need good readers that interact and subscribe in order to grow a sustainable business. How do you get good readers = good content.

Physical Evidence. In an offline business this refers to your restaurant, or the invoice you send out, or the letterhead you use. But in an online environment it equally applies to the quality appearance of your blog and other materials - your online brand if you like. Develop this with a clear and consistent feel if you want to maintain a good readership. You will see a lot of over designed blogs but simplicity is the key here.

The third extra P is Process. This usually means the steps in which a customer goes through from first contact with your business, to receiving their good or service. For bloggers, this means the ease of which readers can sign up to an RSS feed, or newsletter, or even comment on your posts. Make this as simple as possible as it is all too easy for a reader to click away from your blog. Chances are unless your content is excellent, this will happen fairly quickly anyway.

The final and most recently added P is Planning. As with any business, you increase your chances of being successful by planning what you want to achieve ad how you will achieve it. Think short, medium and long terms (i.e.1,3 and 5 years) with a series of objectives, strategies and tactics i.e. where you want to get to, how you will get there and what will actually happen.

So there you have it. A great idea from Daniel, developed to add the further 4 Ps of the modern marketing mix concept.

An article on startup.co.uk claims small businesses are waking up to the need to become more serious about marketing their businesses. Backed up by the Chartered Institute of Marketing it claims business owners are increasingly recognising the importance of marketing.

In particular the CIM suggests developing relationships with stakeholders and clients is a key area. Along with accurate customer segmentation - i.e. identifying the characteristics of similar customer groups so that you can better target your products and communications - and e-marketing. However I doubt that e-marketing is a new topic for any business owner though, after all you don’t have a business these days without a website and that’s the first step on the ladder.

So what does this mean for you? Well, putting it simply, if others are getting more switched on to marketing, you will need to do the same to remain competitive. Think about reading some marketing literature, book onto a course, or if you have the budget, talk to a professionally qualified consultant. Is there someone in your team who would like to take the lead on this area for your business? Would they be interested in studying for CIM qualification and can you use this as a staff benefit?

You can find the literature and links to great books here, or consider looking at www.cim.co.uk for marketing courses, qualifications and a directory of consultants. Speaking from experience, the CIM’s professional qualifications are great for developing a rounded marketing and business strategy knowledge base - you’ll be surprised by how strategic marketing can be.

However, you don’t have to spend a fortune on this. There are lots of free resources available, for example the Marketing Blagger’s site has lots of ideas for you to think about, but there are many, many others.

Good luck and happy marketing.