“Businesses in the region have been looking to experiment with their digital strategies. This year saw marketers increasingly exploring non-traditional advertising formats that more closely correspond to their audiences’ media consumption habits. Marketers this year effectively targeted customers’ moments that lead to action, especially on mobile devices, with mobile apps marketing becoming the new way to acquire new buyers.” Said Ziad Rahhal, LinkedIn’s head of Marketing Solutions for MENA.
In an interaction with MediAvataar MENA, Ziad talked about the changing marketing trends in the region and how LinkedIn is ticking all the boxes by making conscious leaping efforts to reach more and more consumers each day.
MediAvataar: How is the MENA market different from other parts of the world?
Ziad: The MENA market has long been a meeting point for global international trade and has slowly evolved to be the central hub for the world’s business activities. The region has witnessed exponential growth in social media usage with a critical mass of users now heavily relying on such social media platforms to develop new business and entrepreneurial initiatives. For LinkedIn, it is a key market as we are witnessing increased opportunities for employment, start-ups and social entrepreneurship leading to economic empowerment of a large group of youth in the region
MediAvataar: With so many changes and challenges in the digital media world, what do you think is the way forward for brands looking to innovate?
Ziad: Brand loyalty has never been tougher to attain, thanks to an increase in choice at every price point, and immediate access — driven by e-commerce — to those choices. To win with valuable customers, brands must fundamentally rethink their strategies and move beyond simply co-opting culture or stating their position to finding a true calling and acting on it. Brands that live their beliefs in all that they do, and invite consumers to act with them, will be rewarded with more conversation, more conversion, and ultimately, more commitment.
MediAvataar: How important is it to continuously keep on coming up with new and never-done-before sort of ideas?
Ziad: Creativity and innovation should be at the heart of what we all do, whether it is our day-to-day work or when it comes to brand marketing. It is the ingredient that drives marketing effectiveness. In today’s world of all things digital, the demands on people’s time are more intense than ever. Marketers need to capture people’s attention through truly creative work, and start engaging with them in a meaningful fashion by appealing to their hearts.
MediAvataar: In your marketing career, what has been one of the most gratifying experiences so far?
Ziad: For the past 10 years, I have been fortunate enough to be part of this exciting region and working within fast-paced industries. With the recent announcement of LinkedIn reaching 500 million members globally and new marketing solutions products and updates, it was the best time to join a company like LinkedIn and since than it has been a very fulfilling journey.
MediAvataar: What are the new changes and trends marketers were exposed to in 2017?
Ziad: Businesses in the region have been looking to experiment with their digital strategies. This year saw marketers increasingly exploring non-traditional advertising formats that more closely correspond to their audiences’ media consumption habits. Marketers this year effectively targeted customers’ moments that lead to action, especially on mobile devices, with mobile apps marketing becoming the new way to acquire new buyers.
MediAvataar: How do you expect these trends to impact the marketing landscape of 2018?
Ziad: A key marketing trend of 2017 in the region has been the rise of ‘native advertising’. This is a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed. Marketers have realized that the only content that can resonate is the one that invokes emotion – and therefore there is a focus on creating content that searchable, shareable and sustainable and this will continue in 2018 as well. In 2018, we can also expect to see VR to become more popular across sectors such as travel, hospitality, design, education, engineering and healthcare where it will be a vehicle for storytelling and high-end experiences.
MediAvataar: LinkedIn’s new Marketing Solutions- what products/solutions have you launched in the region and how can it help marketers in their daily tasks?
Ziad: In April 2017, LinkedIn launched features such as Matched Audiences that can helps brands and agencies engage key accounts, prospects, and audiences that matter most to their business. LinkedIn made it easier for businesses to generate leads from Sponsored Content on mobile devices with the roll out of its new Lead Gen Forms feature. Lead Gen Forms make it easy to collect leads from the nearly 500 million professionals, influencers, and business decision-makers who use LinkedIn.
Another new tool that LinkedIn launched this year is the LinkedIn Website Demographics which is a free reporting tool that lets you see what types of professionals are coming to your website, giving you a powerful way to tune your marketing to those visitors, and develop better targeting and content for your campaigns.
MediAvataar: Marketing tips and tricks for the budding marketers.
Ziad: In today’s digital age marketers have a better opportunity than ever to reach the right person, at the right time, with the right message. However, the challenge some of them face is creating a highly targeted audience segmentation. Incorporating short content into your marketing strategy; personalized, engaging content and use of virtual and augmented reality videos in marketing are some good opportunities that have great potential in our region’s marketing industry. What is needed from marketers is to improve the efficiency in reaching customers, and improve the relevance of messages.