Control · C110
International marketing plan: common core, local adaptations and comparability
How should a team decide what stays common, what is adapted locally and what remains optional when several countries run the same marketing plan?
Direct answer
An international plan prices, element by element, the production saved by a single version against the local contribution that version would miss, requires one shared definition of objectives and costs, and consolidates only the lines that are genuinely comparable.
01Make each element common, local or optional according to the gap between the saving from one shared version and the local contribution lost by not adapting it.
02The rule, the evidence and the next review date stay visible.
How to use this
Move from the question to the deliverable.
How should a team decide what stays common, what is adapted locally and what remains optional when several countries run the same marketing plan?
Make each element common, local or optional according to the gap between the saving from one shared version and the local contribution lost by not adapting it.
Common, local or optional decision grid
Decision grid · SQ-110
Decide element by element what gets standardised, without making the plan impossible to compare
An international plan is decided neither country by country nor at head office for everyone. It is decided element by element: for each one, the production saved by a single version is weighed against the contribution local adaptation would bring.
Illustrative case: a B2B software vendor operating in six European countries, with an annual plan consolidated at head office and each subsidiary holding its own execution budget.
- 01List
Name the elements of the plan that exist in more than one country: promise, offer, content, calendar, events, indicators.
- 02Price
For each element, estimate the production cost avoided by a single version, then the local contribution that version would not reach.
- 03Condition
Treat the definitions separately: as long as two countries do not name the same thing the same way, no trade-off means anything.
- 04Decide
Make the element common when the gap is positive, local when it is negative, optional when it is nil, and record what stays consolidable.
Common, local or optional decision grid
The grid compares, for each element of the plan, the production saving allowed by a single version and the local contribution given up by not adapting it.
Gap = unit production cost × (countries − 1) − local contribution × share not covered by the single version| Element | Standardisation saving | Adaptation loss | Gap | Decision | Consolidable |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Promise and key messages | €90,000 | €30,000 | +€60,000 | Common | Yes |
| Long-form content | €60,000 | €18,000 | +€42,000 | Common | Yes |
| Campaign calendar | €45,000 | €45,000 | €0 | Optional | No |
| Price list | €30,000 | €72,000 | −€42,000 | Local | No |
| Events and trade shows | €20,000 | €117,000 | −€97,000 | Local | No |
| KPI dictionary and cost convention | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Foundation | Condition |
01Events weigh the most in the budget yet score the worst gap, −€97,000: this is the line that must stay local, because a single version would miss 45% of the expected contribution.
02The campaign calendar lands exactly on nil: neither head office nor the countries hold a decisive argument. It becomes optional, offered without obligation, and leaves the consolidated scope.
03The KPI dictionary is absent from the trade-off: as long as two countries call two different things a qualified lead, adding the six plans produces a total that is exact and wrong.
04Only three of the six lines are consolidable: the group plan adds up the promise and the content, and sets the rest side by side country by country instead of summing it.
Illustrative case. The standardisation saving counts only the production costs avoided, and the share not covered is a local estimate: the grid orders the trade-offs, it does not forecast a result.
Reference sources
Coherence controls
Minimum conditions before validation.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
The status, the evidence and the owner must be available for review.
Usable deliverable
Common, local or optional decision grid
Explore the decision further with an interactive control, or start from a structured template to produce your deliverable.