Why international marketing strategies often fail?
(And what you can do about it)

Let’s talk about the elephant in the boardroom:

Even with good intentions, many brands fall into the same traps when going abroad.

The article “What is international marketing?” already explains that succeeding abroad requires more than just goodwill. If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest you start there and come back here in a few minutes ;).

Here are the 5 most common mistakes, and why they happen more often than you’d think.

This is what we call marketing ethnocentrism.
As its name suggests, ethnocentrism comes from a tendency to remain centred on oneself. For a brand, we call this marketing ethnocentrism. An ethnocentric organisation is focused on itself, its national context and its national culture. It thinks and acts in relation to its domestic market, and uses the same strategies, communications, products, services, etc. in other markets.

You’ve crafted a brilliant campaign that got people talking in London. So you roll it out in Berlin.
Result? Silence. Why?

Because German audiences don’t react the same way.
Humour, irony, cultural references… they don’t always travel well. In fact, they can completely backfire.

A Swedish customer, a Spanish buyer, and a French decision-maker all walk into a shop…
Sounds like a joke. But it’s just the European market.

Who says that your target is exactly the same as the basic consumer in your local country? Whether you’re in B2B or B2C, an international development project requires you to start from 2 and focus on a new type of prospect. Not from 0, since you will probably have similarities with your consumer 1 (let’s call your basic consumer “consumer 1” for greater clarity in this article). Consumer 1 (local) will therefore certainly have similarities with consumer 2 (foreign), but he will certainly not be 100% the same.

Why would this be? I refer you once again to my article “What is international marketing?” where it is stipulated that, as each country has its own culture, the behavior of each individual also changes from one country to another. In business too. You won’t find the same buying trends or the same approaches.

Across Europe, you’ll find huge differences in how people research, compare, and decide.
👉 Where one country values speed, another might prefer depth and reassurance.

“Let’s launch on Instagram.”
Great…. Unless your target audience in Austria is all on LinkedIn. Or in Italy, where WhatsApp has quietly taken over direct-to-consumer messaging.

I’m not telling you to be present on every platform. If you’re not a large company or multinational, you’ll be exhausting yourself in an empty space with little interest.
However, if you are considering a country, try to check their main communication channels, which may differ from the one you are used to.

You need to adapt your channel strategy. Not just your copy.

Colors, names, gestures… they’re not universal.
A slogan that’s powerful in English might sound absurd when translated (or worse, offensive).

True story: A French brand once tried launching a perfume in Germany called Mist.
Unfortunately, Mist in German means “manure”. 🌾 Not quite the luxury vibe they were going for.

Do I also need to go back to the brown UPS truck in Spain where the color was associated with a funeral hearse? I explain those details here 👉 The 5 essential criteria for assessing your company’s ability to set up in a new country

Your marketing team knows the brand inside out. But do they understand your target country’s mindset?

👉 Launching internationally without cultural training is like travelling without a map. You might get somewhere, but it won’t be where you intended.

Would you say it’s easier to start from a good base or try to make up for a mistake you’ve made because of a lack of knowledge? It’s best to be fully equipped before setting off on your adventure 😉

That’s why, at The International Path, we always start with an audit and team preparation. It’s the first step of our Bridge to Global Success offer.

Because strategy without context is just guessing! Isn’t it?