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A Study on the New Model about Culture Marketing Strategy
YAN Jinsong
Ph.D. & Associate Professor, Deputy Director of Teaching Affairs Office, Xiaogan University, Hubei
Province, P.R.China, 432000
Abstract: This paper reviews the literature on the culture marketing from the perspective of product
culture, price culture, brand culture and advertisement culture, based on which a a new theoretical model
was proposed as a principle of culture marketing strategy. In the new model, value is the core of culture
marketing, around which are the traditional value, global culture management, concept innovation and
ethics, which is surrounded by relationship marketing. In this paper, the method of induction was used to
systematize the different strategic thinking suggested by different scholars in different journals and
books.
Keywords: culture marketing, induction, model, strategy
1 Introduction
Culture marketing is a new way of doing marketing, which the measures are taken by the marketers for
cultural adaptation to meet the cultural requirement of the consumers. Culture marketing focuses on
finding out the core value of the potential consumers and creating a value, which could be accepted by
target market. While traditional marketing pays much attention to the improvement of the product
function and price setting. The company’s' missions also display its culture[1]. The mission replies the
questions like: "What is our company?" "Who is our customer?" "What is our customers' core value?"
The rise of culture marketing provides a new way for constructing the core competitiveness. The new
way is: shape a new value or a series of new value to push the company toward successful marketing
and this is what we call culture marketing.
2 Culture Marketing Strategy
The value influences the judgment of consumers’ needs and thus decides that what kind of product the
company should produce. On the other hand, through the display and indoctrination of the values, the
companies make the consumers accept the enterprises and then accept the products or service provided
by the enterprises. This is why the value is in the centre of culture marketing. The value is used to
express the company's responsibility to target market, social development and mass people and in this
way, establish the external image and achieve the effective communication between the consumers and
companies. The values can also be used internally to coordinate the relationship between the staff from
different department, optimize the production elements, and motivate the creation of people. Good
image, strong communication, reasonable production management, repeatedly emerged innovations is
the strong support of the core competitiveness. The means, method could be copied by other companies,
but, the original engine, the company's value, formed in the long-time production and management
practice as the general view of the companies business practice, the staff's working behavior and
company's public image, are very comprehensive and integrate with the company's staff. The values are
stably settled with cultural deposits and are solely owned by the company. So, from this angle, an
excellent company's competitiveness lies in its value which is the core competitiveness of the company.
2.1 Value is the core of culture marketing
It is suggested that some trend of culture marketing in the 21st century, which are the basic ideas and
concepts that form marketing. Firstly, The resurrection of the tradition [2]. The competition among
products lies mainly in the cultural meaning, not in the product function and price. Attracting the
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customers, maintaining the customers with culture is the important means of competition. Absorbing
and protruding the traditional culture in the process of marketing activities will bring the new
competitive advantage for the company. For example, acupuncture is based on the Chinese tradition
medical theory with rich connotation of Chinese traditional medical treatment. To extend acupuncture
throughout the world is to push the traditional culture to international market in order to attract more
foreign customers. French champagne is the symbol of French romanticism and enthusiasm. With the
help of romantic culture, French champagne gets into international market and attracts many customers
who are fond of French culture. The success of costume brand of "red bean", lies in transplanting
Chinese ancient poet Wangwei's eternal verse with extensive popularity and its intension of traditional
culture. Malboro Company represents its brand image taking advantage of the culture of western cow
boy and gains its success in the market. It is necessary to unify the brand image and the traditional
culture.
2.2 Traditional value strongly influences culture marketing
Secondly, the concept innovation, which means creating new concepts in the market and attach the new
cultural meaning to the product. In the 21st century, new changes will be made in with the changes of the
people's lifestyle. So, if a company can understand and create fresh ideas and concepts conformed to the
changes and trend, the company's product will become a symbol of the new culture and impress the
consumers very much. Sony, developed the product called "walkman", which meets the consumers'
demand of music at any time, in any place. "Walkman" is a symbol of the cultural concept that "always
brings the music together with you". Creating ideas is not done casually, but done after penetrating the
peoples' lifestyle, the trend of concept development. Only when the concepts created meet the trend can
they become the symbol of the culture and finally touch the consumers' heart with the culture in the
concepts.
2.3 Concept innovation heavily influences culture marketing strategy
Ethics is the element to gain victory. In the 21st century, the society is faced with the problems of
information technology management, environmental protection, resources regeneration, business ethics,
staff development, etc. Caring about these issues, people will raise some requests toward the companies.
Without paying attention to these issues will damage the image of the enterprise and finally affect the
management of the enterprise. Ethics is the commanding height of the culture marketing. The detailed
content will vary with the people's concepts in different times and the advancement of the society. In the
long run, the ethics should represent the common benefits of the society, enterprise and individuals. It's a
widely accepted ethics that the final goal of the enterprise is not to make profits, but to raise the living
standard with the career by providing the consumers with well-qualified and low-priced products and
services.
2.4 Ethics heavily influences culture marketing strategy
The economic globalization makes it a trend to manage a company from the perspective of global
management. There is no identification of nationality and no headquarter of a company could be located
in any country or any region. The staffs, including senior management staff, are not confined to any
country or nationality. Those who can integrate varied cultural value into a whole organizational culture
will enjoy a leading position. The cultural integration is another trend of culture marketing. The
following points should be considered in culture marketing from the perspective of global culture
marketing management, which could also be the points due to be paid attention by cultural marketers in
planning culture marketing strategy internationally[3].
Now that culture marketing is being conducted around the globe, the marketers must take language and
cultural factors into account [4]. The cultural use of language is: The first, language, to a great extent,
determines the effect of communication; the second, language provides an access to learn the local
consumers and get the first hand information about the consumers; third, even inside the company, the
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communication between the staff from different countries need to understand a common language;
fourth, the language ability is not only used for communication verbally, but also in understanding the
culture. In addition, religion is a very sensitive element in the culture. The absence of marketers'
knowledge will easily cause the offence. How much does a religion contributes to a country's economic
development and market condition depends on the country or the region's background. In the
countries with very strong religious influence, it is also impossible to do marketing. The religion has a
very deep influence on the consumers' lifestyle, value, purchase choice, and purchase model. Different
religious environment might bring different chances or limits. Besides this, education is another
important factor to be considered by culture marketers. Generally, the more developed the economy is,
the more literate the people are. First, education level ，culturally，influences the consumers’ living
attitude, buying behavior, specific mode of consumption and the reaction toward advertisement are the
determinant of the consumers' lifestyle. Different education quality displays different aesthetic concepts,
which leads to buying behavior and preference. For international marketers, it is necessary to know the
major points of the host's country on the structure and proportion of the nation; second, education level
influences the consumers’ behavior and decides the different requirements of consumers toward the
product. Generally speaking, the higher the consumers' education is, the better their identifying ability
and also the more reasonable the decision-making process is. Finally, social organization also plays its
role here. Family is the basic unit of the society, and also, the reference in lower level, including family,
friends, colleagues, classmates, neighbors, etc. They have the close relationships with each other and
they influence each other's buying behavior and preference. The higher level includes movie star, sports
star or the celebrities in other field. They have their fans, who imitate their idol's consumption. Besides
this, group of special interest or social class are also based on profession, politics, religion and
entertainment.
2.5 Global marketing strategy is an important part in culture marketing strategy
Relationship marketing, the final destination and result of culture marketing. Culture marketing as the
distinctive thinking, ethics, value, and interpersonal relationship goes through marketing process. Here,
interpersonal relationship is actually the core of the relationship marketing [5]. The essence of
relationship marketing is the establishment of non-business relationship on the basis of business
relationships to make sure that the business relationships can develop continually. The relationship
marketing is not "zero-sum game", but a "non-zero-sum game" based on win-win thinking. Culture
marketing, helps push the ideas and concepts of relationship marketing to avoid the conflicts and risks
incurred between the companies and the target market [21]. Culture marketing focus on the cultural
distinct characteristics; push the sales of a cultural concept in order to "drag" the consumers emotionally
to purchase the product. The cultural harmony strengthens the friendly relationships between the seller
and the buyer. In this way, culture marketing strongly supports relationship marketing.
2.6 Relationship marketing is the final destination of culture marketing
3 Conclusion
According to the above, the following new model is formed for culture marketing strategy.
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Global Culture Management
Traditional Value
Concept Innovation
Ethics
Value
Relationship Marketing
In the new model, the following points could be concluded: First, value is the core of culture marketing,
around which are the traditional value, global culture management, concept innovation and ethics, which
is surrounded by relationship marketing. This paper recognizes that culture marketing really markets the
value carried by the product, which lies in the central part of the model. Second, Absorbing and
protruding the traditional culture in the process of marketing activities will bring the new competitive
advantage for the company. Third, it is useful to merge new concepts into the product and design it
conformed to the trend of the society's value. Fourth, ethics is the commanding height of the culture
marketing. The detailed content will vary with the people's concepts in different times and the
advancement of the society. In the long run, the ethics should represent the common benefits of the
society, enterprise and individuals. Fifth, Global culture marketing management should planned in terms
of language, religious belief, social organization, education, social organization. Finally, relationship
marketing is the result of culture marketing. When the consumers recognize the culture carried by the
product, they accept the product and the brand, thus a consumer loyalty is built up. A long term good
relationship between the company and target market will be maintained.
References
[1]. Bo Yuan and Xiangfeng Ye. Looking at Culture Marketing from Different Aspects [J]. Economic
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[2]. Dongwu Wang. Culture Marketing- the New Marketing Trend in the 21st Century J]. Mechanical
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