Special Feature
Somaliland is reaching an important point in its marketing journey. The challenge ahead is no longer simply convincing businesses that marketing matters. It is helping them understand what marketing actually is, what it should contribute to a business, and what capabilities are required to do it well. marketing matters. It is helping them understand what marketing actually is, what it should contribute to a business, and what capabilities are required to do it well.
Special Feature
Salman Ibrahim
Somaliland Has Discovered Marketing. Now It Needs to Learn It.
Introduction
In this inaugural article on Marketing Africa Magazine, Salman Ibrahim, a Marketing And Business Growth Strategist based in Somaliland writes that Somaliland has Discovered Marketing, and now it needs to Learn It. He delves deep sharing a perspective on the evolution of marketing in Somaliland and what comes next.
Preamble
Something has changed in Somaliland. Marketing is no longer an unfamiliar concept reserved for a handful of large companies. Businesses are increasingly investing in social media, content creation, influencers, digital advertising, branding and online presence. The conversation has moved from“ Do we really need marketing?” to“ How do we market ourselves better?” That is progress.
But there is an interesting challenge that comes with finally discovering marketing: sometimes, we discover the tools before we discover the real discipline. A business can have an active Instagram page, a TikTok account, regular content, influencer partnerships and paid campaigns, yet still have only a limited understanding of marketing. Not because these things are not marketing. They are. But they are channels and activities within a much larger discipline.
Marketing is also about understanding people, markets and behavior. It is about positioning, research, pricing, customer experience, retention, brand building and creating value for both the customer and the business.
This distinction matters because Somaliland is reaching an important point in its marketing journey. The challenge ahead is no longer simply convincing businesses that
Somaliland is reaching an important point in its marketing journey. The challenge ahead is no longer simply convincing businesses that marketing matters. It is helping them understand what marketing actually is, what it should contribute to a business, and what capabilities are required to do it well. marketing matters. It is helping them understand what marketing actually is, what it should contribute to a business, and what capabilities are required to do it well.
When Marketing Becomes Activity
Perhaps the easiest place to see this transition is in the way businesses measure marketing. A campaign can generate thousands of views, strong engagement and a growing number of followers. It can produce cheaper leads and higher conversion rates. On paper, everything can look like a success.
But what happened to the business? Did customer acquisition become more efficient? Did those customers stay? Did revenue increase? Did margins improve? Did the campaign attract the customers the business actually wanted?
One of the articles in the August Issue of Marketing Africa Magazine makes this distinction particularly well: a campaign can perform strongly according to its immediate metrics while the business itself has not meaningfully grown. Once campaign numbers are placed alongside revenue, retention, sales quality and customer behavior, the story can look very different.
This is where marketing needs to start speaking the language of the wider business. A marketer should be comfortable discussing Customer Acquisition Cost, Customer Lifetime Value, retention, churn, conver
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