A lot of businesses are enamored by the “large” market in Nigeria – Africa’s most populous country – but are not quite aware of the best marketing channels to get to their customers.
However, if you don’t quite know where your customers are, then you wouldn’t be able to get your products or services in their hands.
Finding the right marketing channels for your business should be your number 1 priority when developing your go-to-market or expansion strategy in Nigeria.
Here are the top marketing channels that you should be prioritizing for your business in Nigeria
In-person (face-to-face) marketing channels
Face-to-face meetings and securing time with key stakeholders and decision-makers is among the top marketing channels to prioritize in Nigeria.
Regardless of whether the business you are in is B2B or B2C, you want to prioritize in-person meetings in Nigeria as a way to build trust and forge strong customer relationships.
The Nigerian market is growing and still developing. People still prioritize interpersonal relationships.
Customers want to put a face to the people behind the business. They want to talk about what they’re about to purchase. They want to sit down and discuss and consult before making the best decision.
Whether you’re deploying a team of salespeople to a retail environment to advertise your product, or your prioritizing, meeting decision-makers, with good old-fashioned B2B marketing, you want to always prioritize meeting your prospective customers where they are.
Industry Conferences & Forums
As stated above, in-person meetings are very important to build trust and strengthen interpersonal relationships between you and your customers.
One of the marketing channels to prioritize is industry forums, conferences, and exhibitions.
These avenues are great networking opportunities and it’s a good opportunity to meet important stakeholders and key decision-makers all in one place.
These industry conferences bring around people in the business community that have a shared interest in building their business and meeting the right people.
Industry events in Nigeria are good marketing channels for you to build credibility by meeting some of the key holders while they’re at a point where they are looking for certain solutions and thinking about engaging new businesses and vendors.
Whether you’re signing up to be a vendor to displaying your goods and services to attract prospective customers or you’re just a conference participant, make sure you’re going there with the professional mindset to utilize this marketing channel for the growth of your business.
Traditional & “Open markets” marketing channels
The third important marketing channel to prioritize is traditional and open markets. Regardless of whatever industry you’re in the open and traditional markets still hold a big chunk of the sales activities that happen in Nigeria.
From simple products like food and agricultural products to more complex products such as solar panels, cell phones, computers, and construction tools, a lot of these products are purchased in traditional open markets.
For instance, computer village in Lagos is where people and businesses go to get their computers and networking hardware. Alaba market is where a lot of people go and get household appliances and electronics. These open markets are very important.
Do your due diligence and if you find that these open markets make up a good share of where competitive and complementary solutions to yours are being sold, then make sure to prioritize these marketing channels to grow your business in Nigeria
Word-of-mouth marketing
Building trust is a key ingredient to succeeding and sustaining long-term growth in the Nigerian market. This trust provides the goodwill and brand value that will allow you to continue to capture more business opportunities in Nigeria.
To build this trust, you have to consistently deliver on the value that you promise your customers. Once you keep your customer base satisfied, they become advocates for your business and spread the word to others looking for similar solutions.
This word-of-mouth marketing is extremely powerful and should be prioritized as one of the main marketing channels that you have available to you. Compared to the other marketing channels mentioned above, this channel takes some time to build but it should be incorporated in your long-term strategy.
The way you achieve word-of-mouth marketing is to delight your customers with great product and service delivery along with excellent customer service.
By doing this, you build a loyal customer base that you can easily ask to provide a reference to a prospective customer.
A lot of times, these happy customers just provide the referral without you asking. So pay attention to build a good word-of-mouth marketing channel to gain new customers for your business in Nigeria.
Focus on your top marketing channels in Nigeria
Every business is quite different. Finding where your customers are and meeting them there is very important. You can achieve this with adequate due diligence and market research.
Once you know where to locate your ideal target base, you want to build trust with them by prioritizing in-person meetings, industry and networking events, their frequently-visited purchasing environments, and customer satisfaction to build word-of-mouth marketing momentum to facilitate the growth of your business.
