By: Lara Sous, Head of Public Relations and Brand Communication’ at MG Motor Middle East

As people’s routines and behaviours change during the month of Ramadan, brands should change their marketing and retail behaviours to complement and mirror consumers. 

Below are a few key insights for brands to be mindful of during Ramadan this 2023:  

  • Personalised Consumer Experiences 

It goes without saying that brands face not only having to provide consumers with a seamless digital experience, expecting personalised interactions through all stages of their journey, but also to delight them with memorable experiences for current and potential customers that mirror their demands.  

Brands need to future-proof their strategies to ensure they find the right balance when creating a fully immersive experience, one that also allows for that experience to become more human, more personalised, entertaining and significant in the consumer lives’. 

  • Leveraging Data and Analytics 

“Data! Data! Data!”, as said by Arthur Conan Doyle’s infamous Sherlock Holmes, has a resonance today that is far beyond what he could have predicted. However, data needs context, it needs to be part of an ecosystem that aligns with the brand’s objective. 

Integrating data and analytics gives brands a competitive advantage in creating seamless, exceptional experiences for their customers through predictive analysis. It allows brands to better understand and anticipate the expectations and needs of their customers through a deeper understanding of their customer demographics and psychographics.  

We need to think about data that will help us keep pace with our consumers. The psychographics, understanding the intent, personal values and uniqueness of our consumers is a vital component of how consumers make and take their decisions. Whether that is driving footfall to the showroom, generating website traffic or increasing the number of test drives, a holistic approach is necessary to stay ahead of competitors. 

  • Find your niche During Ramadan 

After global and regional volatility over the past three years; and with most of us still living through the effects today; the communications industry continues to face pressure to provide detailed and genuine information across multiple digital platforms without causing brand fatigue. Messaging needs to be tailored per platform and authentic to the brand’s communication strategy. 

Fresh, unique and valuable content that resonates with each platform’s audience, will allow brands to personalise their messaging. Brands should seek to work with content creators to attract new audiences through compelling stories that share their core values instead of mass appeal. 

Consumers always look to follow the opinions of their favourite personalities; as such, there’s a huge impact that influencers and brand ambassadors with an authentic and credible following can have on people and their purchasing decisions. Brands need have a more strategic approach to influencer collaborations; how they raise their awareness, visibility and consequently increase their sales during the busiest of the year in the Middle East region.