What Is Pan-Regional Marketing?
Pan-regional marketing occurs when a small business decides to go after neighboring international markets. While some companies take their marketing overseas to discover new clients, pan-regional marketers merely cross a border. Pan-regional marketing can be a good fit for small businesses since the costs are lower and there is less potential for complications than with some farther-reaching methods.
Pan-regional marketing involves the treatment of separate nations and peoples as one large market. It brings together different nationalities under one central marketing plan and attempts to sell product to everyone alike. Pan-regional marketing works differently than true international marketing since it is assumed that the peoples of nations that share borders also share cultural similarities to enough of an extent that they will, in some cases, desire and require the same types of products and services. Pan-regional marketing is more common in areas where there are no active disputes between nations and trade is ongoing.
The similarities that exist between the people of two nations existing side-by-side are often the result of a shared history, disseminated pop culture and modern-day economic interaction. Television and radio signals reach across borders and carry with them news of the other country, the products they use and the lifestyle they enjoy. Glimpses into one another's culture are introduced through personal reports made by citizens who travel back and forth between the two countries. This familiarity is exploited by pan-regional marketing, which attempts to bring the cultures even closer together in their likes and purchasing habits.
Two approaches can be used when a small business undertakes a pan-regional marketing campaign. The marketing initiatives can remain the same in all markets with slight changes for language translation, or they can be designed specially for each nation and even region of the target areas. Once completed, your pan-regional marketing materials must be distributed. This often requires knowledge of local media outlets and the best ways to reach the segments you're after. Pan-regional marketing distribution is best handled by personnel with on-the-ground experience in each region and the market research to support any strategies that are put in place.
The very fact that pan-regional marketing ignores many cultural differences and attempts to homogenize the population of various countries is what makes it distasteful to many. Marketing that respects local traditions and embraces differences in people tends to be better received and effective overall. Pan-regional marketing can be something of a white-wash that reduces the marketing message and the consumer to the bare fundamentals. The same problems that plague other more targeted international marketing methods also apply to pan-regional efforts. These include issues with translation and meaning, local laws and tariffs, political implications and the task of fitting into an already developed market.