Entering African Markets? Start With Research and Consulting, Not Campaigns
The African continent is a major area of potential market growth for businesses attempting to expand internationally, particularly at this time in history when Africa has created the world’s largest free trade agreement and has a growing middle class.
Businesses that are considering entering Africa should know that Africa is no longer just a trend. Many businesses enter Africa by treating it as one united market and launching large-scale, mass-market digital marketing campaigns without having local insight into how each of the country is operating.
Instead of launching marketing campaigns, you should start with a consulting service before entering African markets.
Understanding Africa’s Various Cultures
The African continent consists of 54 independent countries, multiple languages, each of which has its own market, constraints, legal system, as well as technology capabilities.
The vast number of differing cultures is what makes it necessary not just to have access to raw data to enter Africa. Although raw data will be helpful, raw data alone does not provide you with the insight or experience that one needs when trying to market a business in Africa.
It’s very common for companies to think that purchasing a massive list of email addresses is the first step to marketing their products or services. However, this is not true; the real first step is understanding the local business landscape, including who, how, and why businesses operate in specific areas.
Strategic consulting is the bridge between an overall strategic goal (high-level) and localized execution of that strategy. Through strategic consulting, a company can identify its target sectors based on the solutions that they provide; therefore, when a campaign is launched, it will hit a “hot” or “fertile” market.
Why Consulting Will Provide More Value than Direct Campaigns
Companies will enter new markets with a “campaign-first” mentality. As a result, they can be tempted to prioritize the “volume” of clicks or impressions rather than the “value” of each click or impression.
In the B2B environment in Africa, the currency, or value, is based on relationships. Professional consultants enable organizations to develop a profile of the different decision-making units (DMUs) that exist within major corporate organisations.In order to do this, organisations will have to conduct research to determine how the DMUs fit together, as well as how the DMUs interact with each other.
For example, the procurement processes in Nigeria and many other African countries are highly collaborative, meaning that if a company runs a campaign to a single DMU, it is not accounting for the other three or more DMUs who would ultimately have the decision-making power to approve or disapprove of a purchase.
Unique Challenges of Reseller Partner Engagement in Africa
A critical component of a consulting-led entry is reseller partner engagement in Africa. Implementing Direct-to-Consumer (DTC), Direct-to-Enterprise (DTE), or other similar routes can be a daunting task due to cultural and logistical challenges of establishing your own DTC/DTE routes as well as having the ability to scale your business in the region.
However, working closely with established local partners gives you the best position to achieve your global expansion objectives. The most important factor in being successful in Africa is finding a suitable local partner to market your products.
The best way to do that is to look for potential partners who have an existing portfolio of products that align with yours and who have established relationships with local regulators.
CIO and HR Enterprise Contacts: The Gatekeepers to Marketing Technology in Africa
In the B2B technology and services sector, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Human Resources (HR) Director (or Head of HR) are the main gatekeepers for entering the enterprise.
Gaining access to CIO and HR enterprise contacts from African requires substantial precision; generally, automated tools do not offer this level of identification. AFRICAN executives are often very guarded, and this is even more true in human resources.
Two Tales of Hubs: Kenya & South Africa
Expansion into Africa will typically start with the major economic hubs. However, the type of data that is needed for these regions is very different.
South Africa and Kenya enterprise data represent two of Africa’s most developed markets with highly sophisticated levels of business data; however, both markets operate at different speeds.
South Africa has a long-established & highly developed corporate sector with a comprehensive legal & financial framework.
Therefore, all data for South Africa should be compliant with the POPIA (Protection of Personal Information Act), & the decisions will take considerably longer to be made due to the multilayers of management that are involved in the decision-making cycle.
Kenya has become referred to as the Silicon Savannah because it represents the technological center of East Africa. It is the fastest-growing mobile technology area in the world with a rich startup-to-enterprise ecosystem.
As such, businesses operating from Kenya can move very quickly and place a high value on innovation and agility.
Alt Text: African business consultants working together
Start Your Consulting Journey With Database 360
At Database 360, we have been continually enhancing our understanding of how to enter the African market for several years. We believe that when it comes to helping our customers, they require more than a simple list. Rather, they need a pathway to obtaining a “yes.”
Our methods combine the highest-quality B2B (business-to-business) data available, as well as a strategic-level view on how to take action with that data. We supply South Africa and Kenya enterprise data that provide the necessary context to ensure that they can succeed.
Whether you are in need of identifying CIO and HR enterprise contacts in Africa or you need assistance in building out your reseller partner engagement in Africa, we focus on providing the highest-quality data as opposed to simply providing large amounts of data.
The Bottom Line
Without proper preparation and planning, your efforts to promote your brand in Africa will be equivalent to throwing your promotional funds into space. No one will know of your efforts unless you take proactive measures to successfully market your brand.
Make sure to prioritise research and consulting services before entering the African market as well as learn about the various cultural aspects of the African region you are interested in entering. Once you’ve done all this, you’ll lay the foundation for all your future marketing efforts in Africa.
For serious and quick success in an African market, visit our website or contact us at Database 360 to discover how we can assist you with reliable data, insight, and consultation based on extensive research.