Over the past several years, Brazil has seen an increase in corporate investment, both local and foreign. As Alonso (2015) notes, the increase can be attributed to abundant natural resources, increasing customer wealth, and favorable pro-growth economic policies. Being a multinational expansion destination, Brazil has attracted several foreign companies willing to spread their business activities to the Latin American regions. Penetrating a new market requires understanding various aspects of the market and directing an effective personal selling approach to generate the desired outcomes. In essence, a personal selling approach is always used by companies to create customer engagement through salespeople to understand their needs and demands. As a seven-step approach, a significant modification to be made on the personal selling approach would be on presentation ("Personal selling," n.d.). The presentation step is critical in that the salespeople meet with the local customers to understand their needs and preferences. The presentation should specifically identify whether Brazilians spend money purchasing household items, how often they do it, and what constitutes their purchasing preferences. Knowing such information will enable the marketing team to create effective marketing campaigns that will push its vision and penetration into Brazil's market.
Conducting business activities in Brazil remains complex despite its efforts to streamline ethical and regulatory issues surrounding local and foreign investment. Before entering the market, the firm should consider several ethical and regulatory issues that could impact the business once it penetrates the market. One such issue is tax regulation and the business permit process. Without prior knowledge of these tax regulations, the firm would face legal issues and possible denial of a business permit to conduct business activities within the region. With more than 90 tax contributions being charged in Brazil, the U.S firm should be wary of all these tax regulations before marketing in the country (TMF, 2018). Moreover, the firm should consider aligning its business practices with Brazil's guidelines on corruption, pollution, and environmental degradation. These guidelines will incur hefty fines and denial of service from the government and related agencies if not followed.
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Social and cultural considerations are also other business elements that play significant roles in marketing. Brazil and the U.S have different social and cultural factors when conducting business activities. Unlike the U.S consumers, Brazilians are savvy spenders, opting to spend their money on discounted stores (World Bank, 2019). Despite preferring lower-priced items, Brazilians also love quality products. A compromise on price does not necessarily mean low-quality purchasing. Creating customer satisfaction and loyalty would mean taking a high-touch approach in marketing and selling of products. Further, ethics and values also play a huge role in business. Different regions express different ethics and values guided by ethnicity, religion, and socio-economic status (World Bank, 2019). The firm's marketing team should consider all these factors before developing a marketing campaign for Brazil. Social organization and lifestyle changes also contribute to the cultural and social differences between the U.S and Brazil. Consideration of all these social and cultural components will inform the marketing team how best to approach the new market.
In conclusion, the U.S firm must conduct research and understand the Brazilian market before launching any targeted marketing campaign. Indeed, market penetration mandates considering ethical, regulatory, social, cultural, and personalized selling approaches that, if well addressed, can efficiently guarantee a successful market penetration. Presenting a personal selling approach must identify key customer needs that will ultimately inform the marketing campaign. Moreover, the firm should consider tax regulations imposed by the Brazilian government and other business guidelines that could significantly impact its business operations. Cultural and social differences between the U.S and Brazil should also be considered when preparing the marketing campaign. Ethnicity, religion, are shopping lifestyles, among other social factors, is critical to the marketing campaign's success.
References
Alonso, P. G. (2015). Strategies for succeeding in today’s Brazil . Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/11/strategies-for-succeeding-in-todays-brazil
Personal selling | Boundless marketing . (n.d.). Lumen Learning – Simple Book Production. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-marketing/chapter/personal-selling/
TMF. (2018). Top challenges of doing business in Brazil . TMF Group | International expansion experts. https://www.tmf-group.com/en/news-insights/articles/top-challenges/doing-business-in-brazil/
World Bank. (2019). Brazilian consumer behavior: 4 profiles you need to know | Wordbank . Wordbank LLC. https://www.wordbank.com/us/blog/market-insights/brazilian-consumer-behaviour/
