Ramadan 2021 in a pandemic:

How to be creative and reach audiences:

The holy month of Ramadan is just around the corner Ramadan is a time of celebration. Pakistan and Muslims largest festivity million of Muslims Think, Search and purchase. As wearing new clothes and using perfumes (Itar) is sunna By Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) That why markets all over Pakistan are full with customers  This presents an opportunity for brands to connect meaningfully online with the right audience. Here’s a guide to help marketers better understand Muslim consumers and build effective digital marketing campaigns during Ramadan in Pakistan and the Muslim world.

Social Media Consumption Changes

Your brand should be aware of the change in social media trends during Ramadan. The reason for this is the fact that people tend to change their daily behavior, such as eating habits, socializing, sleeping times, and religious devotion. This affects when social media is consumed.

ASHS Marketing Agency, based in Pakistan, reveals that the most popular times for people to consume and share content on social media are 3 a.m. and 7 p.m.

These are the times when people have their sehri (meal early in the morning before fasting) and iftar (evening meal with which Muslims end the fasting day).

3 a.m. is apparently the best time for brands to engage with Muslim audiences on Facebook and Instagram during Ramadan. Even right before the fast begins, people are shopping — sales at 4 a.m. during Ramadan are 17% higher than an average day. Naturally, the sales will drop at the end of the day at around 6 p.m., when people break the fast for the day. After a whole day of fasting, nobody wants to think about shopping. Mostly after Maghrib Prayer mostly go for Taraweeh prayers.

Ramadan Is About Gratitude, Compassion, and Family

Ramadan is an extremely important month for Muslims. It’s a month marked by gratitude, prayer, family, and community. Therefore, businesses that decide to build ad campaigns have to be careful about what is said, what products are advertised, and how they are advertised.

It is also important to understand that Ramadan is a religious holiday and it should respect the Muslim culture and traditions. It is best to run through your campaign ideas with people who actually observe Ramadan and can advise.

Ramadan is about family and prayer first and foremost. It’s not a time when customers are necessarily looking for deals. In fact, flashy ads that are only about deals and discounts may backfire. Ads specific to Ramadan,  This can play an important role in whether shoppers notice the ad or not. So, as you think about creativity, focus more on the holiday and less on the price.

How do you create a marketing campaign that celebrates the holiday and shows that your brand actually understands what it is about and people who observe it?

Here are some great examples:

Get to Know Your Ramadan Audience Better

By understanding your target audience’s motivations during Ramadan and its impact on their digital habits, you can deliver tailored and effective messaging to an audience that makes sense for your marketing campaign. There is a key question to ask yourself before planning any marketing campaign for Ramadan, which is “what exactly do consumers like to watch on social media before, during, and after the holy Ramadan?” According to Facebook, there were over 280 million people globally have had around 3 billion interactions with content related to Ramadan 2020. Moreover, approximately 1.3 million people stated that they were interested in attending over 350,000 events related to Ramadan 2020. During Ramadan, cooking videos on YouTube and TV drama series prove very popular, with viewership increasing by 151%, likes by 447%, sharing by 228%, and subscriber sign-up by 490%. Also, Facebook saw a 25% increase in conversations about food during Ramadan 2017.

Prepare for Ramadan Peaks – Know How and When to Budget for Ramadan Ads

Based on the online browsing and buying activity of shoppers, they are browsing and purchasing as early as the month of Ramadan begins. It is vital to maintain your campaign’s momentum throughout the holy month and its pre and post-Ramadan phases.

This year, Ramadan starting around 15 April 2021 – followed by Eid el-Fitr from 14 May 2021. This means that retailers who plan to grab early-bird sales by drawing traffic to their websites need to be strategizing their re-targeting budgets accordingly.

Be Creative and Broaden Your Horizons

A constant challenge for advertisers is creating well-crafted content that builds personal connections, attracts viewers, and makes them want to tune in. This is more critical during Ramadan than any other time as people spend more time watching videos on YouTube, spend more time surfacing social media, perform more searches, and access the internet on their mobiles more often.

This holy month is an ideal opportunity for brands to create unique marketing campaigns for their customers. So, check the following four tips to help get you exceptional results this 2021 Ramadan Marketing.

Use PR Marketing to Tell Your Brand Message:

Nowadays PR marketing is getting famous day by day. Different brands hire famous personalities like models and they recommend their product. This way, digital marketing is a very good way to promote a brand or a product. 

Make Your Story Heard & Your Audience Eager for More:

For example, if you’re planning to use video ads, then you need to be fast and start strongly. You should tell what your audience needs to hear within the first 5 seconds; including the brand and the core message. Also, you should design your story and key message so it can be delivered in several ways, and try to keep the audience engaged by showing multiple cuts of your story at a faster pace. Needless to say that, you should keep repeating your main call-to-action in all videos.

Don’t Be Afraid to Be Different:

Try to be unexpected and surprise your audience and keep them engaged with your brand. Use contrasting approaches to capture attention by challenging the status quo in your storytelling (EX: defying character stereotypes). You can also use exaggeration and don’t be afraid to take creative risks or exaggerate. These differences make your ad memorable.

Be Seamless, Accurate, Consistent, and Useful:

All consumers seek to gain more information, about brands, restaurants, best deals, etc., during Ramadan. It is better to leverage signals like time and location (Ex: dynamic countdown banners to ‘Iftar’) and provide appropriate information.

4. Maximize Your Mobile Use

It has been seen that people spend much more time online on their mobile phones. With this in mind, it’s clear that understanding how people are interacting with ads and brands is crucial.

In case you have your own website, it must be speedy and mobile-friendly for optimal marketing results.

 Evaluate Your Ramadan Digital Marketing Campaign and Measure success

Now, we reached the last and most important step in your Ramadan digital marketing strategy which is measuring success. This step is different for different types of marketing campaigns.   (e.g. direct mail; social media marketing, outbound calling; TV, Print, Radio advertising; public relations campaigns, etc.)

Final lines

Successful marketers understand that Ramadan can be a very high-sales season when marketing campaigns are done properly for the right products.

The brands that engage with their audiences during Ramadan know them well, respect their beliefs and align their strategy with the theme of Ramadan, which can potentially drive new interest and audiences.

Ramadan is an important month for Muslims across the world. Whether your brand targets Muslim customers directly or not, you may try incorporating a Ramadan marketing campaign this year. It is an honest and powerful way to engage with a new audience and show inclusivity.

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With Love

Hasan Siddiqui