Turkey's cultural traditions and practices

Culture & Marketing in Turkey

Turkey & Culture

Author's note with contact information and more details on collegiate affiliation, etc.

Culture & Marketing in Turkey

Culture is a critical aspect of successful marketing strategies. Marketing firms must perform diligent and thorough research on their prospective consumers for several reasons. Culture is a key factor in determining tastes, aesthetic preferences, behavior, values, and perspectives on other cultures, among other things. As such, it is the responsibility of any marketing department to know the culture to which they intend to market products for consumption. This holds true in any location, though the focus of this paper will be upon the country of Turkey. Turkey is a country that is part of both Europe and Asia, and this trait alone can provide some insight as to the complexity and richness of the culture. This paper will examine the impact of culture on multinational marketing in Turkey by describing cultural groups and patterns, while also interpreting the strongest methods by which a marketing firm can approach the task of marketing in such an intriguing country and culture.

Marketing a brand or a product is directly linked to the kinds of cultures to which the product, service, or brand is marketed. Norris explains:

"Brands can be an integral part of a culture, and in many ways the relationship between culture and brands is symbiotic. Brands that successfully anticipate trends in popular culture prosper better than those that do not (see the September 2007 Point-of-View 'What Makes an Iconic Brand?'), while brands that are not aligned with local cultures can find it difficult to prosper at all. Brands contribute to cultures not only through the needs they address but also through their role as social currency. They provide new cultural reference points and topics of conversation." (Hollis, 2009)

Thus, if a marketing team is unaware, or only superficially aware of the culture, the likelihood of success is nominal. As he contends, the relationship between culture and marketing is two-way. Culture informs marketing and marketing informs culture. They work together to create services and products that satisfy consumers and demonstrate on behalf of the product the sensitivity to the culture. Consumers purchase products that cater to their cultural needs and behaviors.

There is a great array of culture within Turkey. There are ethnic European cultures, Asian cultures, as well as subcultures such as the Muslim culture, rock culture, and more westernized cultures. Turkey has seen steady economic and population growth during the latter part of the 20th century and into the 21st century. Turkey's economy and global power gain strength and appeal from the marketing perspective. Cavusgil et al. write, "The Turkish market still exhibits the characteristics of a dual economy. Large urban areas such as Istanbul or Izmir are similar to those in the West in terms of market conditions, customer habits, and commercial infrastructure, but rural areas are less developed market segments." (Cavusgil et al., 2003) There is room for a Western company to transition with moderate smoothness into the Turkish market, while there still remains a foreign element that the West needs to learn more deeply about in order to sustain long-term relationships with Turkish companies and Turkish consumers. Further in their piece, the authors agree with Norris about the importance of more than superficial understanding of how Turkish culture operates before conducting business there: