Digital marketing has been around for some time in different shapes, sizes and forms. However, for some regions of Africa, digital marketing is seen as a new and emerging concept. So for a new online marketer or consumer the concepts, methods of communication and platforms used can be extremely daunting and frustrating.

Why choose digital marketing in Africa?

Just in case you have been living under a rock for the past couple of decades, I must inform you that we are now living in a digital world.

Digital marketing in Africa is the now and the future if you want to find efficient, effective and economical ways to promote your products and communicate with consumers.

According to latest statistics from the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), over 55% of the world was connected to the Internet by the end of 2016. ITU attributes these high numbers of Internet proliferation to cheaper smart phones and tablets as well as drop in the price of Internet and Communications Technology equipment worldwide, but primarily in emerging markets, most notably countries in Africa.

Consequently, one of the characteristics of digital marketing in Africa is that digital marketing has becomes available to a new market, and has presented a range of fresh opportunities that were previously never available, and suddenly it has become important for brands to communicate with their customers via these new digital mediums.

The great news is that if you’re in to Internet marketing in Africa or a business owner, whatever you wish to sell, advertise or publicise, can be effectively distributed digitally through the Internet.

There are various options available for digital marketing in Africa that you may have never considered before. Don’t worry you’re not alone.

Worryingly, a lot of companies naively believe that digital marketing has a limited role to play in their overall business strategy. Therefore, let us assure you that digital marketing is indeed important for your company, regardless of which part of the world you’re company operates from.

Best digital marketing trends in Africa

With the rise in digital, organisations face more and more challenges when it comes to deciding how to execute their digital marketing strategy. With growth and revenue a priority for most businesses, there is pressure to convert leads to customers, or to increase traffic to their website.

Whilst organisations come to grips with how to accelerate their marketing activities, technologies also continue to evolve, and social platforms seem to have a life of their own when it comes to growth.

This is the reality of modern digital marketing Trends in Africa. It doesn’t just move, it skyrockets, and as technologies continue to change so do customer habits. Consequently, the marketing activities of your organisation also need to move at the same speed just to keep up with both the application of digital technologies and developing the knowledge and skills to use them effectively.

There are several digital solutions available in the African market. These are available free or upon subscription. Based on your budget and requirements, you can choose any of these trends to make your business prosper.

5 Digital Marketing Trends in Africa Your Business Must Try

1. Content Marketing

Content Marketing Institute, who are a leading global content marketing education and training organisation describe the term ‘content marketing’ in an apt manner.

“Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”

You can utilise content marketing to the hilt. However, it is vital to get the best resources. Content marketing will have the biggest impact when you use the following mediums.

• Blogs or press releases: Meaning, you write content that attracts your target market to read your article. You can publish your content by opening a free blog to post your write-ups. Alternatively, you can create a website where you post your blog posts, by paying the required fee. Press releases can also be posted for free and mailed to print and digital media.
• Videos: By simply using your smartphone and a few apps you can make low cost but professional videos of your product or service and post them on the Internet. The most popular platforms such as YouTube and Facebook are renowned for increasing the exposure of small and large businesses.  All you need to do is create and promote your own channel, free of cost.
• Pictures/Images: Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook and other web portals offer you excellent opportunities to post pictures free of cost. You can create eye-catching images accompanied by relevant and catchy phrases to raise awareness and attract clients.

2. Email marketing

As a business having an effective email marketing strategy is an important tool for your personal brand as it allows your business to connect with your customers.

Building authentic relationships is key for increasing sales, attracting return customers and referrals.

There are several ways a personalised message can work for your brand. This begins by knowing the needs of your subscribers and sparking their interest by showcasing what you have to offer.

But there’s a problem; most people don’t know how to do it right. So in the interest of furthering best practices and helping you succeed as a business owner, let’s get back to basics and talk about the 5 key elements of successful email marketing strategies:

• Personalise your messages. When we say personalized email marketing, we don’t mean that you send an individual email to every single subscriber.
• Segment your subscribers in to relevant groups so that your messages are specific to their needs and interests.
• Send mobile friendly emails.
• Timing and Frequency
• Automate email campaigns when possible.

In addition to this to add weight to your email marketing campaign it is advisable to have an email ID that correctly represents your company. Meaning, the suffix should not be from Gmail, Hotmail or any of the other free email providers. Instead, it should be from your own company. For example: [email protected]

If you have a website, your email address and website domain should match as it will make your emails appear official and trusted, and increase engagement from potential customers.

1. But before you can send those awesome emails, the challenge is collecting email addresses and building your mailing list. You can easily do so by offering a few freebies such as samples of your product or service, free eBooks or online courses, the list is endless but you must pick something that will interest your customer group.

3. Social Media Marketing

The Internet offers so many great free marketing opportunities and platforms for companies.

Social media marketing is arguably the most popular and powerful of them all.

The biggest of them all are Facebook andTwitter. According to recent data, Facebook has some 2.4 billion users worldwide. Twitter, on the other hand, has some 350 million users around the world.

Therefore, opening a Facebook Business page makes great sense for your business, and it can be done free of charge. Same for Twitter, which is commonly known as the real-time, public microblogging network where news breaks first. This characteristic allows you to relay messages instantly and generally unfiltered.

Facebook serves as an excellent digital marketing tool.

You can post a variety of content on your Facebook business page. This can be write-ups, pictures, videos, and company news, just about anything.

Once the content has been posted it updates and automatically becomes visible to all of your Facebook followers. In turn, if your content is of a high quality and connects with the right people it will be shared, liked and commented on, which in turn will increase the coverage of your content.

On the other hand, Twitter is quite sharp, short and sweet. It allows you to quickly inform your customers or followers about any special offers, product launches, marketing initiatives and lots more. The catch is that you only have 140 characters to communicate your message, and it will quickly disappear in users timelines, so it has to be short, timely, but to the point.

Indeed, Twitter and Facebook are essential digital marketing tools for any company, but depending on the demographics of your target market it is also worth exploring the suitability of other popular platforms like Snapchat, Intagram and LinkedIn.

4. Short Messaging System (SMS)/ Multimedia Messaging System (MMS)

Commonly called SMS and MMS, these are two vital tools for anyone wanting to do business in or with African communities. Especially, SMS text messages are easy to send and can be bought cheap from any bulk messaging provider. In African countries, where mobile Internet proliferation remains relatively low, SMS is ideal as it is quick and does not require an Internet connection.

The only requirement for your potential customers is that they have access to a basic mobile phone handset, as it does not require an Internet connection to receive and view your message.

MMS, on the other hand is a bit more complex. However, it is also very cost effective. With MMS, you can include videos, music clippings and pictures as well as text messages. So the recipient can receive a message that is similar to your digital marketing initiatives on Facebook or blog or website. Bulk MMS messaging is also available from vendors and is fairly inexpensive. However, you need to have the right content to keep clients engaged.

Both SMS and MMS are part of digital marketing. Although simple, they are very effective in reaching remote parts of any country where Internet proliferation is dismally low.

5. Mobile applications or Apps

Apps are something that everyone who owns a smart phone uses.

Businesses are using apps to improve their processes and increase the level of accessibility their customers have to them. The point of a mobile app is to seamlessly connect and interact with customers, making it a valuable tool for the modern business. Apps reduce costs of SMS messages and paper newsletters.

Additionally, you can use them to send the latest updates on products and services. Indeed, most major businesses have apps, and now it is not uncommon to see small companies launching their own apps to increase customer connectivity with their brand and products, and to simplify the process of doing business with them.

The only draw back is that having your own app created can be a costly and sometimes technically complex activity.

Final words…

There is some infrastructure you will need to invest in if you want to be effective with your digital marketing efforts in Africa.

For example, if you want to make your website and blog the focal point of your efforts, you need to have a highly skilled Search Engine Optimization (SEO) expert, or learn the skills yourself. You will also have to enlist a person or company to develop and maintain your app. A lot of these resources can be availed at very low costs by outsourcing them to other countries such as Pakistan, India and Philippines, but there is still a cost.

These are not the only digital marketing trends in Africa, but they are the fundamental building blocks of any digital marketing strategy that you should familiarise yourself with before moving on to explore more niche platforms.

Please let me know what you think, or share any experience you might have had with these online marketing suggestions. Also, let me know if you feel that I have missed out any essential trends.