Factors to Consider For International Marketing

Factors to Consider For International Marketing © Shutterstock.com | My Life GraphicIn this article, we cover the topic of international marketing and explore 1) an introduction to international marketing, 2) factors to consider for international marketing and 3) a conclusion.INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL MARKETINGJet travel opened up the world to many people, and the expansion of the World Wide Web took that one step further. Borders seem to be more symbolic now than they are barriers to trade like they were years ago. As this whole new frontier opened up, businesses realized there was a brand new opportunity out there for them to generate even more income. All this has led to the birth and growth of international marketing.What Is International Marketing?In simple terms, international marketing means making decisions for your marketing mix based on potential markets outside of your company’s home market. Some would call it the coordination of marketing strategies by a company that are necessary to sell goods or services in a foreign marketplace.Why Do Businesses Need International Marketing?A very good reason why companies need to consider international marketing is to get a piece of the over 10 trillion dollars of goods and services that are traded across borders each year. For the company that markets itself properly on an international level, this can lead to a huge boost in revenue.Not only do businesses have a great opportunity to grow their revenue if they market themselves internationally, but they will also run into a lot of obstacles that are not typically encountered in domestic marketing.[cp_modal id=cp_id_75506] [/cp_modal]FACTORS TO CONSIDER FOR INTERNATIONAL MARKETINGInternational marketing is very different from domestic marketing. There are a whole host of issues when marketing internationally that a business does not normally have to deal with when marketing in their own country. The following are some key things to consider when making any international marketing decision.Cultural FactorsA. LanguageLanguage, more specifically translation, needs to be paid very close attention to when doing international marketing. There have been some embarrassing mistakes in international advertising that most likely did not help companies sell their product. A great example is when Coca-Cola was first translated into Chinese it meant “bite the wax tadpole or female horse stuffed with wax depending on which Chinese dialect it was translated into. No one at General Motors realized the translation for the name of their car, the “Nova”, meant “it won’t go” in South America. Gerber used the sa me packaging with the cute little baby on it they had used in America for packaging its baby food in Africa; they did not realize that with the high illiteracy rate in Africa that it was common for food packaging to display a picture of the contents inside.These types of language problems are funny to an outsider but can spell financial disaster for your international business if you are not careful.B. TasteEntering international markets can be very difficult for some companies because of some countries’ eating habits. McDonald’s had to totally make over its image when it came to marketing itself in a country like India that sees beef consumption as being ‘off limits’; they ended up being successful there by introducing vegetarian and regional choices to the menu selection. Many international fast food chains such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Wendy’s and McDonalds had to start offering menu selections with rice dishes in order to break into the Asian market.C. Regional Value sMany times a country to which you would like to sell a product has extreme regional differences that must be accounted for when marketing. A perfect example of this is Canada; they have large French speaking populations around Montreal and Quebec that are culturally much different than the English speaking communities found throughout the rest of the country.D. Consumer HabitsCulture and personality combine to shape consumer behavior in every particular region of the world or country. When you want to market a product to a foreign country you need to first determine whether it is an individualistic society (free-thinking culture) or a collective society (the peer group has the most influence on buying decisions). You also have to consider other societal and psychological factors that influence buying decisions in the country you are targeting to sell your goods or services to.E. Age/DemographicsAge and other demographics play a key role in international marketing just as they do in domestic marketing; companies have to pay very close attention to them. Your company is probably not going to want to market laptops to senior citizens in a third world country where there is very little internet and where a large percentage of the citizens over 60 are computer illiterate. This illustrates the importance of understanding age and other demographics on a potential country that you might sell your goods or services to since they are both reliable and used in making marketing decisions.Economic FactorsA. Per Capita IncomeOf course a country’s wealth is a huge factor when determining potential target market countries and how to market your product to those countries. For instance, Eritreans have a per capita income of less than $800 a year; it is probably not going to be a good market to sell your $1000 side-by-side washers and dryers.Then again you don’t always need an overwhelming number of people in a certain income bracket in a foreign market if your product is considered high end. Say your company sells luxury automobiles that are in the $60,000 â€" $80,000 range, maybe less than 1% of the people in a country such as Estonia can afford a car in that price range, but if that group numbers 10,000 people and you think you can get 5000 to buy your product, that country is still relevant as far as potential sales go.B. Relevant Class StructureWhen you are marketing your product or service internationally you must also take into consideration class structure because it varies widely from country to country. Most countries have an upper, middle and lower class, but the numbers of people in these classes can be significantly different from country to country. An example of this are countries like the USA that have a very large proportion of their citizens located in what is termed ‘middle class’, as opposed to the Philippines where there is a very small middle class because the country consists mainly of a small percentage of upper-class indi viduals and many poor people.C. Supply and DemandOf course supply and demand will play a major role in trying to market your products anywhere in the world. These days a company has to take a deeper look at potential markets than ever before because just about anything will sell if you market it the right way and in the right place. Imagine how surprised the makers of Bali’s Civet Cat Coffee (Kopi Luwak â€" made from the animal’s poop) were when they took their product internationally and it soon grew so popular it became the world’s most expensive cup of coffee.D. Financial Transactions and BankingConsidering how you will get paid for the products and services you market and sell internationally is important too. In the more prosperous countries it is taken for granted that you can buy goods internationally and pay for them with such things as credit cards, debit cards, online payment processors and cash transfer businesses, but that is clearly not the case everywhere in the world. These types of financial realities will greatly impact your marketing strategy.Political and Legal FactorsA. LawsThere are laws in some countries that will greatly affect your ability to do business in them or prohibit it altogether. One such example is Thailand which has specific laws stating no foreign person or company can own  more than 49% of a business in Thailand, so you must be willing to take on a Thai partner in order to do business there. You must be aware of laws like this if part of your product marketing strategy includes manufacturing or distributing your wares in a foreign target market country.B. Licensing and PermitsThere is a chance that the only way you can do business in a foreign country is to give out an expensive permit or license of another business in that country to manufacture and sell your product for you. Governments do these things as a way of making sure a larger percentage of income from sales stays in the home country. An example of this is P epsi’s license to Heineken to bottle and sell Pepsi products in the Netherlands.C. TaxesTaxes are another way that governments can cash in on foreign businesses operating and selling products in their country, so their citizens’ spending does not allow much money to leave the country. Taxes can and do impact your ability to make a profit selling goods and services in a foreign country and will shape your international marketing strategy because of that. High tax rates on goods sold, like those in the USA, can make it hard for a business to stay on the right side of that fine line between profit and loss.D. FeesWhen you market your products for sale in a foreign country, you may be subject to pay certain fees for the right to do that. These fees can be a one-time deal or recurring, and they can also be quite high in some circumstances if they involve what might be considered luxury items.E. TariffsTariffs have long been used to balance trade between countries and to protect natio nal companies from losing business to foreign competitors. This can be a big factor when it comes to international trade and marketing your company’s products or services for sale. An example of this is China’s 105.4% tariff on chicken that is shipped from the USA; it is easy to see how a high tariff like this can push a country’s citizens toward buying domestically raised chicken.F. Currency risksThere are always risks when doing business in the currency of a foreign country that you are marketing your product or services to. If you have your money tied up in a foreign currency and economic events fall just right, your company could stand to lose millions. From September 24, 2012 â€" October 2, 2012 Iran’s Rial dropped almost 60% from 24,600 for one US$ to 39,000 for one US$; these types of currency events can and do happen.G. Other Political Risks and Restrictions:Investment restrictions: Many countries have strict requirements on who can own businesses and do other busine ss-related investments in their country. Your marketing department needs to be aware of these things. For instance in Malaysia, if you are an agricultural business and you want to buy land to produce fruits and vegetables to sell there, any land purchase over $163,000 is subject to approval by the government and may come with other restrictions too.Operational restrictions: Just how much operational control you will have over your overseas business remains to be seen, and that is a concern for some. Because of some of the restrictions that have been discussed and other requirements for doing business in a foreign country, chances are your business will need an international management team. This will affect the operational control of your business and has to be factored into any marketing decisions that your company makes.Discriminatory restrictions: Discriminatory practices in a foreign country may inhibit or prohibit marketing your goods and services to that country too. In many M iddle Eastern countries women are not allowed to wear makeup, so if your business is cosmetic sales, then that would be a big marketing factor. There are other types of discrimination that impact marketing decisions too, such as price discrimination. If a country makes the goods in their own country cheaper to buy than similar imported goods (such as through tariffs and quotas), chances are you may have a hard time selling your goods in that country.Quotas: Quotas work a lot like tariffs when it comes to restricting foreign business profits in another country. Quotas are also designed to encourage domestic business within a country or state. An example of this is Indonesia, which only allows 60,000 tons of red onions to be imported into the country every 6 months. This quota ensures Indonesian farmers they will have a place to sell their onions and encourages them to continue growing them. Your business and your international marketing team must be aware of any quotas a particular c ountry may have in place when you are deciding where to market your goods and services internationally.H. StabilityThese days the stability of a country has to be considered very strongly before you market your product in a foreign country.Wars: Wars can have a very large impact on your business in a foreign country. There were many businesses and business customer bases that became extinct almost overnight when war broke out in Libya.Political Unrest: Political instability in a foreign country can affect your ability to market a product or service to a foreign country too. If you were to invest in marketing products or services in a country such as Egypt now, you would run the risk of losing your customer base if a war breaks out because of the current political instability in the country.IntangiblesA. EnvironmentalEnvironmental factors will play a role in international marketing and they can have both a positive and negative effect on your international marketing strategy. If you manufacture a product that does not hold up well when constantly subjected to periods of high heat, you might want to consider that carefully before marketing your heat sensitive product internationally to such places as Saudi Arabia.You must also be aware of places that are regularly affected by such natural disasters as typhoons and earthquakes. When these types of events happen, they can wipe out your entire customer base in a country or halt their purchasing power for extended periods of time, drastically impacting your business.B. Regional PartnershipsSometimes companies know it will be difficult to break into a foreign market without the help of other companies that know the nuances of marketing a product to the people there well. This is why so many companies choose to partner with other companies that are based out of the country whose market they are trying to get into. An example of this is when McDonalds went into the Indian market, they did it with partners that knew the local business practices and customs; these companies were Hardcastle Restaurants Private Ltd which had a strong influence in western India, and Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Ltd which were popular in the northern India.C. Product AdaptationWhile a “one size fits all” marketing strategy may work in a fairly homogenous country like the US, this same type of strategy would most likely be a huge failure in countries like those in the Middle East that are separated by cultural, historical and religious divides. Any prudent international marketing strategy needs to take things like this into account.CONCLUSIONAs technology gets more and more advanced and the world continues to become smaller and smaller because of it; those companies that market their product or service effectively internationally will take advantage of the huge growth potential that international markets now offer them. As you have seen from this article, in order to market your product or service internation ally, there are many factors that your business and marketing team must consider before deciding which country or region you want to sell your goods or services to.For further reading this ebook is recommended.

The Reality Of A Utopian Society Essay - 2290 Words

A place where everyone comes together in peace and harmony, where people work, live and cooperate like heaven on earth. Some people may believe that these aspects of a perfect society are possible through the perfection of religion, politics, and examples through history. This society would exceed perfection and be called a Utopia. However, because of the imperfections and diversity within humanity, historical failed attempts of creating a perfect society, and different opinions on a Utopian society, creates the reality of a Utopian community unobtainable. In the 16th century, Sir Thomas More created an island that had a perfect law, politics, economy, and government. He implanted this perfect society idea in his book Utopia. During the 19th century, many philosophers, and novelists began to plunder into the idea of having their own Utopian society. They began to swim in the thoughts of having a perfect community. More’s book discusses how a man named Raphael Hythloday who has discovered what He states, â€Å"The institutions [the Utopians] have adopted have made their community most happy and, as far as anyone can tell, capable of lasting forever...† Here he explains that if a country has great power, then the people within will be happy. If his idea of a perfect place is possible then it will last forever. Throughout the book he explains different standards to what a perfect society would recollect. However, looking closer to the actual meaning of the word utopia, More chooseShow MoreRelatedOrigins Of The Mormon Pionee rs901 Words   |  4 Pagesbranded those early pioneers. After arriving in Utah, they wanted to further their Utopian movement. Mormons consecrated their talents and meager funds all together, to begin construction of the Salt Lake City temple (Scott). 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Hypocrisy Within Religious Groups Religion - 1424 Words

Hypocrisy Within Religious Groups Did you know that since 2012 more than 7.5 million people are no longer active in any type of religion or religious group (Grant, 2013)? Looking back on the past as well as the rich history of faith in God that can be found throughout American History it is almost surprising the amount of people who no longer take a claim to religion. Over the course of the last 30 to 40 years religious communities have had cycles of high or low attendance. Now as times are changing religious centers have multiple empty seats and mainly elderly individuals that make up the roster. This is because many people are now seeing hypocrisy laced into the religious groups’ doctrine or actions of the people in the group. By viewing first the Mormons and their treatment of women and the actual value of marriage vows it can be seeing that no worth is held on either of these. Secondly by digging into Christianity one can clearly see that most followers of Christ do not ex hibit the attitude and beliefs Christ had. Finally by gazing into the teachings of Muslims it will be seen that though good deeds are the foundation needed to please the god Allah hardly anything good is being done. From these three groups it is clear that hypocrisy within religious groups is the leading cause of moral decay, especially in the United States. The Mormon Church is actually a nickname for The Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS). Over the course of 117 years this religious group reached theShow MoreRelatedSocial Psychologists And Its Effect On People s Self Esteem1518 Words   |  7 Pagesprotective against disease and unwanted pregnancies, but yet many people do not use condoms. One possible explanation for hypocrisy could be the common misconception that bad things happen to bad people, the belief in a just world. 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Oedipus Free Essays

Realism and Naturalism (Literary Genres) Realism Is an attempt to reproduce faithfully the surface appearance of life, especially that of ordinary people In everyday situations. As a literary term, realism has two meanings: in general, realism refers to the representation of characters, events, and settings in ways that the spectator will consider plausible. The setting is common and the characters are consistent, recognizable types. We will write a custom essay sample on Oedipus or any similar topic only for you Order Now What happens in the narrative should be the kind of thing that happens In real life. Historically, Realism (usually capitalized) refers to a movement In 19th century European and American literature and theatre that rejected the Idealism, elitism, and romanticism of earlier verse dramas and prose fiction in an attempt to represent life truthfully. Realist literature customarily focused on the middle class (and occasionally the working class) rather than the aristocracy, and it invoked social customs and economic detail to create an accurate description of ordinary human behavior. Naturalism Is a school of fiction and drama In which the characters are presented as rodents or victims of environment and heredity. Influenced by evolutionary theory, naturalism portrays human beings as natural creatures set apart from other animals only by virtue of their intelligence. Society is a veneer of civility under which simmer ruling urges of fear, lust, and acquisitiveness. No supernatural entities appear, and the world runs on an unforgiving natural law of cause and effect, the strong preying upon the weak. Plots move forward through the conflict of inner motive and outward circumstance, with characters thrown Into social and economic milieus that more or sees fall to meet their preemptively needs. Naturalism was formally developed by French novelist Mile Cola in the sass. In naturalism, events should be reproduced with sufficient exactness to demonstrate the strict laws of material causality. Important America Naturalists writing fiction include: Jack London, Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Theodore Dresser. Theodore Dresser Sister Carrie An American Tragedy Charles Dickens Great Expectations Oliver Twist Gustavo Flutter George Kissing Stephen Crane Frank Norris Mile Cola A Sentimental Education New Grub Street Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Other stories (All of it) Macerate Nana As you read, concentrate on the manners in which your chosen authors employ the traits of Realism and Naturalism in their works. Annotation and marking of significant passages as they pertain to character/motivation/setting/symbolism/metaphor, etc, would be advised. Upon your return to school following summer break, you will be met with an Nicolas essay assignment based upon your reading/comprehension/facility with Realism and Naturalism as they pertain to the novels chosen for summer reading. How to cite Oedipus, Papers Oedipus Free Essays Every human being makes choices, but what leads us to make our choices? Some may believe that everything In life Is predetermined by God. Predestination is the belief that whatever will happen in your future is already fixed. However others may believe that everything is a matter of free will. We will write a custom essay sample on Oedipus or any similar topic only for you Order Now Belief in Free will is the belief that your own choices lead you to your destiny. In Oedipus Rexes the idea of predestination is the most important theme of the play. The main Characters Oedipus,Coast and Alias all try to escape their destiny and take taters Into their own hands but do not escape from their fate. Oedipus speaks to the people of Thebes from his palace and tells them that there Is nothing he can’t do to save his city. He asks for the person who committed the crime to come forward. â€Å"Only banishment will be his punishment† (Page 31). When no one comes forward, Oedipus calls the prophet Eateries in hope that he will disclose what he knows of the murder. The prophet is reluctant to tell the King what he knows. Oedipus responds, â€Å"What? Something you know, and will not tell? You mean to fall us and to see your city perish? † (Page 35). Eateries Informs the King that It is better not to know. Oedipus will not take that as an answer so. He continues to threats the prophet until finally, Eateries says, â€Å"Then hear this: upon your head is the ban your lips have uttered – from this day forth never speak to me or any here. You are the cursed polluter of this land† (Page 35). Oedipus believes that he is playing a trick and rejects Eateries’ testimony and begins to place the blame on Croon. Eateries replies, â€Å"Not Croon either. Your enemy Is yourself’ (Page 36). Nevertheless, Oedipus has been doomed with fate and nothing he could have done would change his destiny. An example in the story that supports the idea of predestination is when Eateries identifies the murderer of Alias as Oedipus. Also Eateries foreshadows when saying, â€Å"A revelation that will fail to please. A blind man who has eyes now; a penniless man, who is rich now. â€Å". This prophecy is saying that in the future there will be a man that is blind and poor, opposite of what he is now. He Is talking about Oedipus. The plot of the story leads up to show also that when Oedipus tries to run away from his prophecy, he actually runs Into It. No matter what Oedipus does, he can’t escape his fate. His actions don’t alter the outcome of his fate; they just alter the way in which the predestination occurs. Oedipus, after discovering his dead mother and could no longer bear what he had done, he blinded himself. â€Å"Her dress was pinned with golden broaches, which the king snatched out and thrust, from full arm’s length, into his eyes – eyes that should e no longer his shame, his guilt. (Page 61) The blind Oedipus demands Croon, now king of Thebes, to banish him from his city, as he had earlier demanded be Oedipus had no idea this would be directed to him. It therefore proves that no matter what you do, there is no way to change your destiny once the gods have decided it. Oedipus’ fate was determined, not by him, but by an unknown force. He and his family understood this by the end of the play, with these words being said, â€Å"Chance rules our lives, and the future is unknown† (Page 52). It has been discussed how fate plays an important role in the lives and actions of King Oedipus. Evidence of predestined events can be found, beginning with the oracle’s promise of the demise of Oedipus’ father and the marrying of his mother, to Eateries’ prediction of a blind and exiled man. All his life, try as he may to run away from his fate, Oedipus ended up running right into it. Oedipus realizes that, in the end, he could do nothing to change the course of the fateful events that made up his life. How to cite Oedipus, Papers

To Grade Or Not To Grade, That Is The Problem Essays -

To Grade or Not to Grade, That is the Problem - What's your GPA (Grade Point Average)? - Have you taken this course before? What did you get? In his essay The Farce Called "Grading", Arthur E. Lean questions the use of asking these kinds of questions. Grades have become part of our lives as students. People need a grading system and "seem to assume it to be necessary and intrinsic to the process of formal education"(Lean 131). He refers to the grade as "a symbol purporting to express a measurement of academic achievement-an evaluation of the quality and quantity of learning"(Lean 132). There are two main arguments Lean has suggested. First, there is an inconsistency from the graders. Second, he sees the grading system as being unfair and even harmful for students' attitudes toward education. He points out that grading system should be eliminated. To backup the fact that many people are challenging the necessity of the grading system, Lean provides two examples: "A sustained effort should be made to throw out false inducements to learning. In one way or another most of these refer to our obsession with grades?. As a system for evaluating attainment of broad educational aims, it remains a failure. Few teachers have any systematic idea of how to grade fairly. Grading is also the chief villain behind the scandal of college cheating," said Louis T. Benezet (Lean 130). "I have long ago reached the conclusion that the marking system itself is damaging in its impact on the education of our children and youth, and that it should go the way of the hickory stick and dunce caps. It should be abandoned at all levels of education," said Ernest O. Melby (Lean 130). I agree with Lean to some extent that there are some inconsistencies from the graders and perhaps some unfairness occurred to many students. On the other hand, I am not sure that the system is totally harmful for students' attitudes toward education. Also, given the fact that the grading system is a very useful instrument for both motivating and measuring students' academic abilities, the system is still essential to be kept. There is an inconsistency between markers for grading term papers or open questions that I agree with Lean. On his example of several teachers marking the same paper, "invariably the assigned grades on the same theme ranged all the way from A (excellent) to E (failure)" (Lean 132). Although many professors might say that point of view would not be graded while they try not to be biasing, there is no guarantee that a professor would not give a lower mark to a paper because s/he may disagree with some parts of the essay. As a former English class student in grade 12, I notice that my teacher tended to be prejudicing on non-native English writers' papers. The reason I said that was because there is a big grade difference if our papers were marked by another who had not met the writers before. A professional marker who was hired by the English department graded one of our term papers every term. Generally, the non-native English writers received significantly higher marks than th! ey do when our class teacher is marking. The average differential marks for non-native English are about ten percent. As for native English writer, the differential marks are not very much. It is true that the grading system can hardly be absolutely fair. Actually, "most teachers try to be fair and accurate in their estimate" (Lean 133). One teacher who grades a work accurately doesn't suggest that the other teachers would do the same. However Lean claims that "all the time they know--at least, those who are honest with themselves know-that they are attempting the impossible. No self-respecting teacher ever rests peacefully the night after turning in a set of grades, for he knows that the "system" has made a charlatan of him and he goes to bed and hating himself for it" (Lean 133). I don't agree with the way Lean is questioning the teachers since their role is to act as a "judge" on student's work. There is a difference between being unfair and conforming with the system. A teacher who gives the best suitable grade to an assignment is being fair. What Lean suggests is that teachers do not attempt to change the grading system. Lean is being unfair to the teachers! in this way because a teacher's

Pop Music - Not Progressive as Once Thought(TM) essays

Pop Music - Not Progressive as Once Thought(TM) essays The 1980s brought a new generation of fads and trends that changed the whole world, and most trends were set by the music industry. People emulated the style their favorite stars put off and were basically following everything a music star would do. This kind of praise for a music star has been going on for many decades, even back in the 1960s with The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and the new mod style. Also, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and The Doors are credited with the hippie lifestyle back in the 1960s and early 1970s. Yet, as time passed from the 1970s to the 1980s, music seemed to become more about which advertisers could capitalize the most on popular stars instead of the true meaning behind the words and what the music stood for to the artist. Music grew less progressive and more commercial from the 1970s to the 1980s due to the onset of the MTV generation, media propaganda, and the money hungry music industry. Since the launch of MTV in August of 1981, music changed from the freedom of artistic expression to advertisement filled commercialism. An example of this would be that when in the 1980s, some felt that the average music video would lose the music and be more focused on the story, image and style that improved the look of the music star or stars (Torr 192). This shows that not only was music beginning to lose the true meaning behind the words, visual effects were more important then the sound itself. This also shows that videos had become more important than the song itself and was the more important element in making the song process. Another example of MTV commercialism is shown through some of the actions of Michael Jackson, such as his Motown 25 performance where he performed the moonwalk, his Pepsi TV commercial, and his selling of the song Revolution to Nike for another TV commercial (Entertainment Weekly 93, 96, 101). All of these events took place from 19...

Instructions on How to Make a Gentle Soap

Instructions on How to Make a Gentle Soap These are the instructions for making your own gentle hand or face soap. Its work, but worth the effort! This takes about 1 day to complete. Materials 4 kg (9 lb) suet (tallow)350 g (12 oz) lye750 ml (3 C) water500 ml (2 C) lemon juice7.5 ml (.25 oz) fragranceGlovesWooden spoonVentilated work areaMolds/glass baking dishes Instructions on How to Make Soap If you are using a pure fat, such as coconut oil or olive oil, you can skip stepping 5. Coconut oil yields a soft, quick-lathering soap. Olive oil and other vegetable cooking oils yield a soft soap that never completely hardens.Render the tallow by cutting it into chunks, placing it into the large pot, covering it, and heating on medium heat until it is melted. Stir occasionally.Cool the fat to below the boiling point of water. Add a volume of water equal to that of the fat. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and remove from heat. Let sit overnight.Remove the fat from the pot. Discard non-fat gunk (scrape it off of the bottom of the fat) and any liquid.Measure 2.75 kg rendered fat. Cut the fat into tennis-ball size chunks and place the pieces into a large bowl.Set up all of your materials. Ventilate the area (or work outside), put on safety gear, and open all containers.Make soap :-) Pour the water into a large glass or ceramic bowl (not metal). Carefully pour the lye into the bowl a nd mix the water and lye with the wooden spoon. The reaction between water and lye gives off heat (is exothermic) and vapors that you should avoid breathing. The spoon will be somewhat degraded by the lye.Once the lye is dissolved by the water, start adding the chunks of fat, a bit at a time. Keep stirring until the fat is melted. If necessary, add heat (put on a low burner with ventilation).Stir in the lemon juice and fragrance oil (optional). Once the soap is well mixed, pour it into molds. If you use glass baking dishes for molds, you can cut the soap into bars after it has become firmer (not hard).The soap will harden in approximately an hour.You may wrap the finished soap in clean cotton rags. It can be stored for 3-6 months in a cool, well-ventilated location.Wear gloves when washing your equipment, as there may be some unreacted lye remaining. Wash in very hot water to help melt away the residue. Useful Tips Adult supervision required! Wear gloves and protective eyewear and cover exposed skin to avoid accidental exposure to the lye. Keep out of reach of children!If you get lye on your skin, immediately wash it with lots of cold water. Read the cautions on the container before opening the lye.Dont measure the lye. Instead, adjust the soap recipe to accomodate the container size of the lye.Cooking oils are sensitive to air and light, and soap made from cooking oils will spoil in a few weeks unless it is refrigerated.Volatile fragrance oils or even dried herbs or spices may be added to the soap to scent it. The fragrance is optional.