I am not very sure when I decided to write this, But! when I started my professional career back in 2003 when I joined IT company as Account Manager, as science student with zero knowledge about sales techniques or, negotiation skills I start searching for books and case studies to learn and soon I come into a conclusion that all the knowledge developed belongs to American or, European authors with techniques cannot suite our culture.
Again when I took a creativity work shop in 2012 with a Dutch instructor, he gave us examples and exercises if I decided to implement people will call me names. Just like bring flowers to your customers in meetings or, electrify your team members who break deadlines !
I always dreamed of developing our own knowledge that suites our culture, ethics, community and customers that’s why I am writing my humble opinion for how Egyptian Marketers should communicate with customers…
Socialize //
Social Media is no-more an option. So, you decide either you go social or go home. The point here is to start thinking different when developing your brand’s digital presence and care less about the fans and followers number focusing more on engagement. Have conversations with fans, followers, and commentators.
Social media is not a media. The key is to listen, engage, and build relationships. – David Alston.
I admire how MINI Egypt created a special advert for Valentine’s day 2013 just to be published online with zero investment in TV ! I find it a brilliant idea not just for the cost efficiency compared to airing but also for leading a new trend in creating digital content. Most of brands used to give the digital channels 2nd priority by sharing the TVC while MINI Egypt decided to invert the normal flow.
Humanize //
How would most audience truly visualize your brand name? Make your brand more humane, gain trust and stay competitive. People appreciate common interests and if you succeeded to touch your customer’s heart, they will believe in your brand more and they will buy more into it. Humanizing your marketing will make your brand look kind and gentle. Egyptians love to laugh and they appreciate sense of humor.
Think outside the box and create something different, inject a sense of humor into your communication and leave a good memory on the top of your customers’ minds. Try to do this, Introduce your Social Media team and community manager and allow your fans and followers know who is running your social channels [Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn] people already know they communicate with another human on the other side of the screen and they are not interacting with a machine. So, let people know who that person is !
We are humans and even experts do mistakes. So, it’s how you respond to your mistakes that matters! If something went wrong and you’ve done a mistake, admit it and apologize. Be genuine, and be really sorry for it. People will appreciate and respect you more and will move on quicker than you expect. So, who do you want to be? A faceless corporation? Or do you want to tell people about what you do, who you are, and why you think it might be interesting to them?
Nationalize //
Egyptians are emotional and I’d say we are one of the very unique cases in the world that we are always super proud of our history and always think of our history as the corner stone for re-developing our future. Its even easily notices the three main colors for Think Marketing identity inspired by the Egyptian flag colors !
I think its no more appreciated to copy and paste a foreign Advert with Arabic voice over. Not just because its not very targeted and sometimes irrelevant but also we need to create our own finger print. A simple observation for Coca Cola #Etganen campaign and Pepsi #YallaNow would be a reflection for my thoughts !
While Coca Cola created a simple story but yet very Egyptian using un-known icons, it get a massive impact compared to a famous super start like Nicki Minaj for Pepsi campaign.
Please start to sell hope into better future and focus on positive messages, think beyond marketing and I believe consumer will appreciate and will give back 🙂
