Developing Global Marketing Strategies for Digital-First Consumer Markets

Abstract

The rapid development of new information technologies is dramatically changing the process of how organizations develop and evaluate their marketing strategies. The current study examines the process of forming marketing strategies for online customers in the global environment and aims to cover the gap in academic literature related to the application of digital marketing not as another marketing tool, but rather as a strategy that serves as a base for all other marketing activities. The study is based on the mixed method design and includes a survey consisting of 1,750 respondents from five major regions of the world – North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. In addition, the research consists of an analysis of interviews conducted with forty industry experts. Using cultural adaptation theory, technology acceptance model (TAM), and resource-based view (RBV) theories, the research proposes a five-step marketing strategy framework. According to the empirical results, there is considerable regional disparity regarding the extent of digital marketing utilization, which is higher in the Asia Pacific region. Social media marketing strategies will produce high ROI scores no matter where one may be working, while cultural localization becomes an important moderating factor. According to regression analysis results, consumer trust and platform relevance are identified as the two factors that exert the greatest impact on the outcomes in the digital marketing area. The findings provide a useful contribution towards developing an empirical basis for professionals facing problems in global digital marketing environments.