Everything You Need to Know About Digital Marketing In Kenya

The sheer size and scale of the internet is almost incomprehensible. But the internet is more than a safe space for adorable videos and tutorials: it is a dream come true for brands in Kenya. Companies in Kenya have swarmed the internet in recent years to take advantage of this, a strategy known as Digital Marketing.

But what is digital marketing really? Digital marketing is the act of promoting and selling products and services by leveraging online marketing tactics and channels such as social media marketing, search marketing, and email marketing. If you’re new to digital marketing, it may feel overwhelming. We get that… But in many ways, digital marketing is no different than traditional marketing.

In both, smart organizations seek to develop mutually beneficial relationships with prospects, leads, and customers. Now, think about the last important purchase you made. Perhaps you purchased a home, hired someone to fix your roof, or changed paper suppliers at your office. Regardless of what it was, you probably began by searching the Internet to learn more and find your best options. Your ultimate buying decision was then based on the reviews you read, the friends and family you consulted with, and the solutions, features, and pricing you researched.

Why every Kenyan Business needs Digital Marketing

Each company will have different specific goals in mind, but most are trying to achieve growth by reaching more consumers and convincing them to purchase. To do this effectively, you have to take advantage of all the most valuable marketing resources and technologies, and in the modern world, the internet tops that list. This makes every business in need of digital marketing. It’s necessary you understand the benefits of digital marketing for businesses, which include:

Lower costs and higher flexibility for your marketing efforts
Access to consumers who rely on their mobile phones or do all their shopping online
The ability to speak with authority on topics related to your product or industry
A chance to engage with influencers, earn their respect and get them to endorse your company
Opportunities to incorporate multiple types of media into your marketing
The ability to track customers’ purchase journeys

Digital Marketing Techniques in Kenya

What is a Digital Marketing Strategy? This is perhaps best answered with a question. Can you sum up in one sentence what you will be trying to achieve over the coming years? If not, then you don’t have a strategy. If you can articulate that but you don’t know how to get from where you are to your end vision, then you don’t have a strategy. If you have a vision and a path to get there then you have a strategy. There are various important digital marketing strategies applied by various businesses in Kenya. They include the following:

Search engine optimization
Search engine marketing
Content marketing
Social Media Marketing
Pay-per-click advertising (PPC)
Affiliate marketing
Email marketing
Video Marketing
Influencer Marketing
Programmatic Advertising

Best Digital Marketing Tools for businesses in Kenya.

Marketing tools vary in form and cater to specific functions to help you carry out your marketing strategy.

With so many tools out there, marketing teams can easily get overwhelmed by choosing what they should have in their arsenal. Before jumping off the deep end and giving everything a try at once, consider the following: Who’s your audience? Where’s your audience most likely to be found? What materials will your audience find most useful/engaging? How can you deliver your materials to them in the most efficient way?

There are various marketing tools out there that can take some of the workloads off of your shoulders. These tools are especially valuable for small businesses that don’t have the resources to dedicate a team to in-house marketing, or the budget to outsource the work to a marketing agency.

Email marketing automation platform – Email marketing platforms, such as MailChimp and Mailerlite, give marketing teams a one-stop-shop for their email marketing needs. With these email marketing tools, users can not only build custom email campaigns, but they can also use list segmentation to build smarter email lists, make use of our analytics and insight feature to monitor the success of campaigns, and test it all before sending.
Social scheduler platform-These tools are designed to help marketers plan, schedule, and send content out through various social media channels. One platform well known for this is Hootsuite.
Image design platform-Content is highly crucial in digital marketing and having top-quality imagery to accompany your content is what’ll get you noticed. Canva is one of the image design platforms that offer marketing teams many different options for creating branded materials. Apart from stunning images, you can create various branded materials from posters to fliers.
Communication and organization platform- Finally, another vital aspect to consider is having a platform that allows you to easily organize your business projects, while also being able to communicate with your workmates. These platforms help you have a team calendar, a team chatroom, and a Project organizer

What does a Digital Marketer do in Kenya?

A digital marketer — or a Digital Marketing Manager — is responsible for crafting a marketing strategy, as well as implementing and managing it.

Regardless of the focus of their work, any digital marketing professional needs to be able to:

Understand the opportunities presented by different channels and devices
Maintain a competitive edge by staying up to date with ever-evolving trends, tools, and behaviors
Know how to decipher “big data” strategically and capitalize on insights
Gauge why consumers use different channels and devices and for what purpose
Manage dynamic customer relationships to create meaningful interactions

What type of content is better for each stage of the buyer’s journey in Kenya

The buyer’s journey is the active research process a buyer goes through leading up to a purchase. In a nutshell, it’s everything that someone would need to do before deciding whether or not to purchase from you. It follows them through four stages: becoming aware of a need, considering different solutions to fulfill that need, making a decision between the different solutions, and becoming loyal to a brand.

Stages of the buyer’s journey involve- Awareness, Interest, Consideration, Purchase, Post-purchase then Repurchase.

How B2B and B2C companies can use Digital Marketing strategies in Kenya

Digital Marketing is applied by different companies in Kenya in different ways, each to a different degree of success.

Therefore, different companies — B2B and B2C (Business to Business and Business to Customer) — use Digital Marketing in very varying ways.

So, what are some of the differences between B2B and B2C Digital Marketing strategies?

Social media has helped bridge the gap between B2B and B2C strategies since companies can now advertise to both companies and customers alike with the same platform and the same strategies.

The difference between these strategies comes in how they have used and the type of content.

The audience

Customers in the B2B businesses include business owners and managers. In other words, people know a lot about the industry that you are operating in.

Companies will have to make sure their content does not talk down to these professionals and instead talks to them.

On the other hand, B2C companies deal with customers who know a lot about the market but do not know the intricacies of the said market.

Another big difference between B2B and B2C customers is that one is looking for a product or service that has plenty of utility, while the other is looking for the best value.

B2C customers are often looking for products that give them the most utility for a lower price. However, B2B customers are rarely concerned with the price of a product and look more to its functionality, versatility, and utility.

B2C companies will mostly choose a very friendly, inviting, and often very casual tone to attract their target audience.

This tone is also a reflection of the brand’s personality, which is why it is essential to every B2C business.

These companies will also use platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and even Snapchat — casual and relatable social media suites — to promote their brand.

B2B companies tend to have a more serious tone and a very straightforward message. These companies use very specific social media platforms like LinkedIn, which is a business platform.

Size of the market

B2C companies are effectively advertising to a massive market with millions of possible customers.

On the other hand, you have B2B businesses that are always catering to a very specific niche of owners and managers.

Relationship with customers

B2C companies are more concerned with creating brand loyalty and increasing revenue.

B2B companies have a much more specific criterion that takes higher priority over increasing revenue.

We have now come to a close, and we hope that this article will help you better implement Digital Marketing in your advertising strategy and use it to its fullest potential.

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