Definition: A multi-domestic strategy is a marketing tactic employed by multinational companies where each country’s branch establishes its own marketing strategy based on the nation’s particular needs, cultures, traditions and preferences. It is different from a centralized global marketing strategy where the marketing content is based on a wider perspective where more broad elements of the population are targeted instead of those specific to their geographical location.
What Does Multi-Domestic Strategy Mean?
The starting point of a multidomestic approach is research. In order to establish the actual elements that describe the target population on each country companies must invest a lot of money investigating the culture, preferences and habits of each location. After that, there are some other product-related decisions the company should make. For example, normally brands remain the same but some product images are tailored in a way that they fit more accurately the preferences of a given nation’s consumers.
On the other hand, the marketing channels being used and the content of the advertisements is also an important feature to be considered. Also, the packaging and the distribution have to be considered, depending on the demographics of the place. In some cases, in order to be more accurate on their approach, companies hire local marketing agencies to help them establish the right strategy.
Example
Endura Milk is a company that commercializes milk and milk-based beverages. They currently sell their products only in the U.S. but they have been exploring the option to expand to Mexico. Since the culture is widely different they decided to hire a local marketing consulting company to develop the right strategy.
They are going with a multidomestic approach that includes tailoring the brand, the product image and package, the advertisements and even the flavor of some of their products in order to be more engaging towards Mexican consumers. The company will start by introducing a brand called “Leche Mex” for its milk and another one called “Bati2” for their milk-based beverages. They are confident that these along with other tactics will yield good results with the Mexican audience.
