Across the globe, the world’s 1.9 billion Muslims are celebrating the holy month of Ramadan. A time of fasting, prayer, reflection and community, the month culminates in the Eid al-Fitr feast. In the run-up to the feast, which marks the end of Ramadan’s dawn-to-sunset fasting, many Muslims stock up on goods and gifts for the celebration.
Many businesses know that and have built up loyal and established customer bases catering to that need. You might even be one of them. But are you doing everything you can to drive up sales during Ramadan? If you’re not making optimum use of digital marketing tools, chances are the answer to that question is a resounding no.
Digital marketing’s growing importance in an increasingly connected continent
That’s been true for a while now but it will become even more so as internet connectivity becomes increasingly affordable and ubiquitous in Africa. In Ghana, nearly 70% of the population is connected to the internet and in Nigeria, it’s around 55%. Those ratios have gone up dramatically in the past few years and will continue to rise in the near future. In fact, it’s estimated that an additional 35 million Nigerians will come online by 2026.
Many of those existing and new internet users are Muslim too. Islam is practised by around 20% of Ghanaians and just over 52% of Nigerians. In other words, if you’re not marketing on the most popular online platforms where people spend a growing amount of time, you’re not reaching them effectively. That also means you’re not making the most of the advantages offered by digital marketing.
Here are a few simple ways you can ensure that you are:
- Create Ramadan-themed content
Simply having a digital presence isn’t enough, especially when it comes to big occasions like Ramadan. Images, videos, blog posts, and social media updates that incorporate Ramadan themes and messages can all help to engage your audience and make your brand more relatable during the holiday.
2. Use the available targeting features
Most social media platforms give you the ability to target the kind of customers you want to look at, and engage with, your adverts. Some of them allow you to do so at an incredibly granular level. By matching demographic targeting with Ramadan-specific messaging, you can help give your marketing the best possible chance of being truly effective.
3. Be on the right platforms
That same demographic data can also show you where you should be targeting digital marketing. If your products are targeted at young people, for example, is Facebook still a viable option or would you be better off focusing your energy on platforms such as Instagram, Snap, and Spotify?
4. Show a little generosity
Given that Ramadan is a time of giving, it’s worth seeing if you can give a little back to your customers at this time. Special discounts, promotions, and bundles can all help demonstrate to your Muslim customers that you’re giving them the best possible value at this time. If you have an ecommerce offering, these kinds of promo codes can also give you additional data on which platforms are most effective.
5. Partner with the experts
If you’re unsure how to supercharge your digital marketing efforts, don’t be afraid to engage with the experts. At Aleph, we empower advertisers to take full advantage of the advertising capabilities of platforms like Twitter, Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and nearly 35 others. We’re happy to do so for businesses of all sizes and can put together packages that suit almost every budget.
Build on big events, be consistent
As useful as those tips are during Ramadan, they’ll be equally helpful through the rest of the year. It’s critical, therefore, that you not just ramp up your digital marketing efforts during special occasions such as Ramadan but use them to consistently speak to all of your customers in engaging ways throughout the rest of the year. Get that right and you’ll see the sales roll in.
The writer is the Business Development Lead, Ghana | Ad Dynamo
