Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai

In this special episode, Ambreen and I answer some questions we get from business owners on making sales through digital marketing. We take you through what digital marketing is and how it can sometimes be challenging to get it right in the UAE, while also talking about the right mindset and approach one should have when doing digital marketing. We go through KPI's and expectations from agencies or people you work with, and what the foundation of all marketing should be to help you get successful sales.

Things we discuss:

• Why digital marketing is such a buzz word
• Challenges of doing digital marketing in the UAE
• The right mindset and approach to digital marketing for small businesses
• Difference between social media and digital advertising
• What determines a successful campaign & setting the right KPI's
• Understanding what to invest & results to expect from digital marketing
• Why it's a terrible idea to chase likes & followers & the business of fake engagement
• Understanding and working with algorithms for digital success
• Digital marketing for B2B businesses
• How to pick the right agency to work with
• The future of digital marketing and avoiding overwhelm of new platforms

Notable moments:

(29:52) If what you're offering is not valuable to the audience, then in most cases, it's not going to work. And that doesn't just go for digital marketing, it goes for any form of marketing

(31:06) Your sales cycle and your customer journey - this is the businesses responsibility, to start thinking about these things. What is my customer journey, what is my sales process? If your sales team is not equipped properly and is not trained well and does not know how to handle the buzz that the digital marketing campaign creates for you, then you're not going to get a result

(39:24) Your audience targeting is the most important thing you should keep in mind, because who your ad campaign reaches out to and who starts interacting with your ads.. the algorithm is watching that

(44:20) Consumers are also spoilt for choice over here in Dubai because of the fact that we're a small audience and the locality, the area is also small. The audience has a lot of options on where to go in a small vicinity, so they're picky - they can easily move from one place to the other, which makes it difficult for businesses

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UConc_r4xXBwflx4XN9b5zNg/

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

A week ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to be featured on Dhiren Bhatia's Elevated Entrepreneur Podcast - an exceptional series that invites successful entrepreneurs and industry leaders to share their insights and experiences on what it takes to run a profitable business. In this episode, Dhiren and I had an in-depth discussion on everything from how you can market your business using different online platforms, to what kind of digital marketing campaigns should you be focusing on and how you can quality drive traffic to your website effectively.

Notable Moments:

22:50 - So you know a lot of clients come to us and I asked them so who is the target market? It is everyone. Everyone cannot be your target market. It has to be a particular kind of person who is your target market.

33:59 - You should know the goal of your campaign, what exactly do you want to achieve by running a digital marketing campaign? Like if you have a store, do you want people to come to the store? Then it's a different kind of campaign. Do you want to get phone calls? That's a different kind of campaign. Do you want to receive leads as email addresses and phone numbers like full leads like proper persons interested in your product or service? That's a lead generation campaign. In eCommerce, we usually run sales based campaign because it's an online eCommerce system right? You can run a campaign driving traffic to the website and making actually as the conversion-based campaign. So for different businesses, different kinds of campaigns, so one know your goal. No digital campaign should be without a revenue KPI.

In this episode, Reim El Houni, talks about the challenges she faced in the filmmaking, tv and digital industry and how she has to constantly be on top because of the evolutionary nature of these mediums. She talks about perseverance as she shares her journey which began 20 years ago as a production runner to winning the bronze medal in The New York Festival’s World’s Best Television & Films in 2018.

Things we discuss:

• How things are changing and video content is now a MUST for everyone
• Pitching an online show, Dubai on Demand, back in 2014 when brands didn't see the value of being online
• Focusing on the social media landscape and working with influencers to help them grow
• Redefining the meaning of ‘influencers’ and helping content creators grow with a solid social media strategy
• How Linkedin and Instagram is one of the strongest social media channels in this region
• Learning to push back and maintaining boundaries
• Making mistakes and learning along the way
• Why maintaining business relationships are so important
• Understanding the market and implementing the right idea at the right time
• How small business owners end up spending more in the long run by choosing a cheaper option for video content
• How important it is to love the industry you’re working in so you can give it your best
• Trying to maintain normalcy in life with such a demanding career

Notable moments:

15:00 - Well, I’ve made so many mistakes. The fortunate part was that I had already been in the industry for 10 years before I started my company so I had a good gauge of the market, what others were charging. So I think that's usually a good starting point. However, even with that knowledge, it was very important for me, in the beginning, to just get clients.

34:00 - When the brands started to realize:

1- We had just started and had no track record and views yet and

2- When they realized it was all online and all on YouTube. And back in 2014 most of the brands we met with were not interested on YouTube.  It's so fascinating to me now that 5 years out and everyone is on YouTube. I’ve always been a little early, you know.

40:00 - I think it’s great and terrible at the same time. I'm a big learner and I love going to conferences. I spent years going to the US. For my industry you go to different events even in Europe. I always came back very excited with a lot of ideas and wanted to implement them. As a result, I have implemented very early for this market. So, it’s just about whether or not you can keep the momentum going. I was very fortunate with Dubai on Demand. In 2014, no one was ready for that. I am fortunate to have a second coming with that in the last two years. But there was definitely a phase in the middle where it was very disheartening and I was thinking, “Am I doing the right thing?”

1:04:12 - I am a big believer in not having any regrets. I might make the wrong decisions but atleast I made the decisions.

In this episode, Roy Koyees, talks about the struggles he faced while launching his healthy snacks company, Freakin Healthy. Roy discusses how healthy snacks often come with an elitist badge and are too expensive for the common person. He talks about how he wants to break this notion and make sure that health is mainstream, affordable and delicious for everyone.


Things we discuss:

• How a corporate job in Johnson & Johnson’s health division helped Roy realize about the importance of clean eating
• Fuelling his entrepreneurial bug with side projects even when he was working full time
• Why it is important to have a safety net and financial security before you start your own business
• Catering to a diverse group with a variety of products instead of sticking to a niche product
• How competition helps you innovate and bring out your best but has also increased the challenge to enter major retailers
• Sticking to a strategy that focuses on building a healthy community around the brand
• How consumer-facing marketing activities helped the brand grow and staying connected with the consumers
• Learning from fellow entrepreneurs and becoming a part of a bigger network
• Dispelling the myth that healthy food is only for the elitist class 
• Creating an affordable and accessible line of premium healthy snacks for everyone

Notable Moments:

28:22 - Do you think it’s become a fad? These expensive healthy snacks. I think diets are one thing. But I think clean eating is another thing. Diets could be fads at some point, like no diet is long term. I think if you eat clean and eat whole, that’s the best way to move forward. It’s more about well being. We’ve been eating a lot of junk. Preservatives. A lot of allergies now, intolerances. So I think people are trying to clean their system.

33:00 - The first year I think I almost did everything. It was very tough and coming from a senior management position in corporate, with everything was at your beck and call, to going to a place where nobody knows you and you’re actually delivering packages. But that, for me, builds the brand in a different way. It builds a character on the brand.

40:00 - We wanted to dispel this myth that healthy food is an elitist category. It's only for those who know. For those who are into yoga. For those who are into superfoods. For those who can afford it. So we wanted to break that. And hence the name. So we also wanted to break that barrier of ‘fluffy’ health food. And resonate with people.

56:54 - I don't really believe in balance. There needs to be a balance in the long term but in the short term, you have to give your 100 percent to something. And you're gonna have to sacrifice something else. It’s just how it works.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

In this episode, Nina talks about how her passion for art and creativity led her into the world of fashion and beauty. Armed with talent and a strong entrepreneurial spirit, Nina launched her own brand, The Mink Lashes, and wants to inspire other women to be fearless with their approach to beauty.

Alongside Nina is her husband, Bobby who is the operational backbone of the brand. Bobby talks about why he decided to switch gears in his successful banking career and support his wife’s dream to build an international beauty empire. 

Things we discuss:

• How Nina got inspired with photoshoots at a very young age
• How she started her journey with Estee Lauder and learned the basics of business
• Learning the signature style of each makeup brand
• How she built her own experience by breaking the norm
• Standing out from her competitors by offering additional services 
• How technology has made it so easy for people to put across their talent 
• Thinking about developing the business in a way that it doesn’t solely depend on her presence 
• How Bobby helped her understand the business operations on a whole new level
• Being encouraged by Bobby to take risks and have faith
• Learning to work together as a pair 
• Being genuine as an influencer 
• The importance of finding the right mentor

Notable Moments: 

20:24 - I’ll be honest. I didn't think to myself that this when I was freelancing, that it is just something on the side for me. I knew that I wanted to be huge. I wanted to make sure that this business is a success. And I wanted to be a lot more business savvy compared to my competitors who were out there.  That was always in my mind. 

27:00 - You can't continue doing business in a way where you are not making the money. Ultimately you’re in for business, not for fun. There is a bottom line that you need to look in as well. 

45:00 - I had a very strong business core DNA into me from a very young age. Because I was working in a bank, I was not able to utilize the experience that I had because I was working for someone else. 

57:00 - I don't think it's often that you’ll find a husband and wife able to work with each other. I have to say, we do that pretty well.

1:27:32 - If I have got collaborations to come through paid or through social media bookings and it's something that I genuinely don't use, and there have been many, I won't do it. Because it isn't just about the money. You have to be genuine.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

In this episode, Namita talks to Dr. Natalia Weichoski on how she helps individuals stand out from the grey crowd – online and offline. The award-winning speaker shares her journey on how she found her true calling as a LinkedIn Marketing guru, a Forbes Coaches Council Member, a Top 100 Leader in Education, Bestselling Author and the Middle East's leading Edutainer. 

Things we discuss:

• How Natalia left her passion for dance and shifted from Germany to start a career in education in Al Ain
• How she was extremely successful on the outside but “dead” on the inside
• How she decided to take a nine-month sabbatical to take ownership of her life and changing the way she thinks, speaks and acts
• How she unlearned everything to find a true form of expression and happiness
• Finding the right social platform to express herself. 
• Going viral and developing a new, unique training program, which combines the most successful elements out of performance coaching, personal branding and public relations
• How to present yourself and your careers as brands and build an authentic and professional online image.

Notable Moments:

22:25 - I learnt how to meditate, I started waking at 5oclock. I learnt a lot about NLP and how much victim language I was using so I needed to change my language as well. I changed the way I eat. Stopped coffee, stopped alcohol, stopped fast food. Went more into cooking and read upto 5-6 books per week and studied all of these people from all around the world and their version of happiness, their version of success, their dream job, entrepreneurship. 

56:00 - We are so much more powerful than we think we are. Our power as a human being, the mind, our visualization, our feelings, our heart. We are supernatural when we know how to tap into that. But in order to go there you really need in order to do the self work. And I believe that life turns us into an onion so you need to peel. And the closer you peel an onion, what will happen, you’ll start crying. 

01:02:35 - If everyone was to work a little bit more on him or herself and reconnect to the sole source or the divine, how do you call it, it would be so much easier and so much more fun and so much more creation and less of the struggle and pain

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

In this episode, Namita interviews her sales guru, Ramez Helou, Founder and CEO of "The Academy for Sales Excellence". After reaching the position of Business Head at Unilever in 2009, Ramez stepped away to pursue his passion for keynote speaking and sales training. Today Ramez has trained over 100,000 sales professionals in 5 continents by teaching them about authenticity and relationship-building instead of conventional sales techniques.

Things we discuss:

His journey of leaving a high-paying job as Business Head at Unilever to start his own sales training center 

How he built a thriving business after starting as a one-man show

Defining his own niche when the Dubai market was going through a recession

Understanding objection is not rejection and dealing with points of objection before the client points it out

Why it’s important to come across as a helper rather than a seller and living up to the promise

Why time management is the most important resource for an entrepreneur

Why relationship building is so important in finding your target audience

How to differentiate your business from the competition & utilizing the latest tools to build authority

Namita’s own personal experience and transformation after taking coaching from Ramez 

His signature 10-week journey for business entrepreneurs that combines learning and a coaching session

Notable moments:

(12:00) - What if you train them and they leave? What if you don’t train them and they stay 

(18:30) - Are you a giver of values or a taker? 

(32:35) - Many people started asking me how do you do it… Packaging yourself and developing a product which allows them to free up their time so they can scale and they have a peace of mind that, God forbid, if anything happens it can provide for them later on

(35:05) - You may be an expert in online marketing, but you might not be an expert in converting one to one conversation. You still have to sit down with the marketing directors of your clients and you need to be able to understand how a competitive pitch happens.  Maybe you’ve had them happen to you but now, to be on the launching side of that. Oh my God! It’s a completely different skill.

(44:15) - To sell is to serve! It’s a philosophy.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

Manish talks about how he stumbled upon yoga when he was struggling to meet deadlines during his job as copywriter in an ad agency. Today, Manish runs Total Yoga in Pune, California, Dubai, Derby, and Auckland. Together with his partner, they’ve also launched the Yomaste Yoga retreats where they take yogis on a yoga-inspired adventure. Manish’s aim is to strive and create a yoga style that caters to mindfulness training.

Things we discuss:

How yoga called him on this path at a very young age

The difference in teaching yoga VS yoga as a business

His experience with Bharat Thakur Artistic Yoga in Dubai and working as a Yoga teacher and CEO for him

Deciding to move to Bangalore India with his ex-wife and co-founding Total Yoga in Pune

Discussing the initial challenges with launching Total Yoga and avoiding competition with his Guru

Struggling to keep up with the pace of expansion in Total Yoga. They now have centers in India, Singapore, USA, UK, UAE, and New Zealand

Introducing Yomaste Yoga Retreats to Himalayan Destinations like Rishikesh, Ladakh, Nepal, Varanasi and more

Staying authentic to your own beliefs and treating profitability as a secondary notion

Discussing the unique business model they use to expand worldwide

Notable Moments:

(01:02) - You have to find out what you’re comfortable with and then your own business based on those principles.

(01:07) - Essentially, your work speaks for itself. It doesn’t matter. Nothing else matters apart from conviction.

(01:10) - Business cannot be differentiated from life. If you’re a weirdo in life, you’re going to run a weird business. You cannot change a person’s business principles without talking about life principles. The way you run your business will reflect how you are. If you’re a messed up business it simply means you’re a messed up person.

(35:45) - I realized very early that my work, as an entrepreneur, is not dependent on anybody else’s work or time. That’s the beauty of yoga. That I can go and teach by myself anywhere in the world. And I’m not dependent on anybody else. So that’s the way I run my business.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

In this episode, Deepak Lalwani talks about how he challenged a fitness giant like Fitness First by offering a one-on-one fitness experience in his 1500 square foot boutique group exercise studio. He also talks about how he took a major risk when building the TRIP studio, a virtual reality immersive spinning class in Dubai. Deepak further discusses how GFX stands out from its competitors, by offering affordable and bespoke fitness classes to its customers.

Things we discuss:

• How he manages to sustain a 16 year old team that comprises of some of his very first employees
• Recruiting efficient team members and implementing the right sales strategies
• How to replicate a business model in different countries and multiple locations
• Investing in team building activities and training
• Believing that fitness should be affordable for everyone
• Making exercise and fitness fun for kids
• Choosing the right franchisee who is as passionate about the business as yourself
• Why choosing the right location is the most important decision for any business
• Being patient and understanding the dynamics of the market before deciding to expand

Notable Moments

(25:58) - No app no business! We want to make it completely seamless for the user experience

(27: 59) - Word of mouth. Honestly! The best marketing for us has been word of mouth. We have an Instagram presence. We have a great website presence. We are completely e-commerce driven. We have a Facebook presence. But at the end of it. It’s the people. Our members, they really really love what we’re doing. They love the instructors. They love the space. Ans they love the warmth They love the results. We have people change their lives.

(58:09) - Talk is cheap! And a lot of people basically very easily said that you know, you can expand this right? I’m like, yes it can be. But it requires the same amount of energy as the first one. I’d rather do one well than ten poorly.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

Matt Farr talks to us on how he left a high-paying banking job to follow his real passions of mountaineering and exploration that finally led him to establish his own adventure travel company, Mountain Quests. He shares how being open to ideas and being a risk-taker helped him convert his true passion for adventure travel into a profitable business.

Things we discuss

• How a holiday plan to Thailand landed him to a doctor and opened his eyes towards a whole new lifestyle
• What made him leave a high-paying banking job and establish an adventure travel company without any business plan
• How being open to ideas and being a risk-taker helped him find his true passion
• Learning to tread slowly and making sure that it’s a solid business
• Opening up to new kinds of clientele like schools
• Learning to be an entrepreneur through the power of relationship-building
• Working with your competitors and helping each other grow
• Why credibility and trust is the most important factor when it comes to convincing
• Being innovative when it comes to offering bespoke experiences
• Finding the right business partner at the right time
• Why seeking help is so important
• How investing in your skill and yourself is the best thing you can do

Notable Moments

(10:31) - I had the idea. I was presented with this opportunity and then I really had to learn how to set up a business and how to be an entrepreneur. Because from my entire life, going to school, going to work, I was molded into being an employee who is successful. Who works for a bis business, big company, a bank. And that’s my path. That’s what I was told by everyone is what you do in life. And I just accepted that.

(13:40) - In a small business, you wear so many hats. And you have to explain that to people you hire.

(17:02) - I love it! Students are different prospects to adults. So as an adult, we have been molded a certain way, either by ourselves or by society, and it’s much harder for us to break that mold. Whereas a child or a young adult, they are still open. They are still learning. They are still trying to find in the world and see things. So to watch a student have this transformation with their teachers and friends on this journey is very rewarding.

(27: 14) - Gone are the days when people wanted to be sold to. Nowadays it’s all about sharing value. And that’s how we try to approach things.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/