Since 2011 that I’ve been serious on the digital space, especially on social media, pushing my brand and launching digital products online, and selling in the mass market, I’ve learnt quite a number of things.

These lessons of mine can help you a whole lot if you want to market and sell to Nigerians in the mass market.

Don’t be tired of marketing your works. When I set up trainings, I create 20 to 25 case scenarios that I build my marketing messages around. Those messages capture the nightmares of my audience and I keep pitching till the day of the training. Nigerians need multiple exposures before they make up their minds to buy. When using a flier, make sure to not overuse it, else you’ll introduce flier fatigue in the minds of your audience. Once that sets in, they will assume they know all you’re saying and will gloss over it the next time you make a post. Switch up things. Use pictures that don’t immediately convey the end so that they get to the end without knowing that they’ve gotten to the end. It makes for easier conversions. 

Nigerians will ask the stupidest of questions and dumbest of things on earth. Oh dear, sometimes you will feel like appearing before the person and giving him a punch in the face. They’ll ask you date and venue when the flier shows all. Some will tell you to send them data to view your ads. They will ask you to summarize when you drive them to a landing page because they say 700 words is too long. Some will ask “How did you get my email” or “What am I doing here?” when they were the ones who clicked on the link as they were roaming around online. If you need their money to flow into your pocket, be ready to answer. One of my coaches said, “In marketing, see all prospects as kids in a kindergarten and never assume they know.”

Nigerians have apathy towards some banks. When we launched SIMPLY MARKETING in our company, I did something I’d never done before. We downloaded the spreadsheet from our backend and analyzed them. Our corporate bank, Access Bank, was least on the banks used to transact. GTB and Zenith Bank came tops. It means that we will open two or three more corporate accounts. You know why? Having asked, some folks have developed apathy towards some banks. When they see some banks, they wouldn’t want to proceed with payment. A Christian has apathy towards JAIZ Bank. A Yoruba person has apathy towards United Bank For Africa. You need to give room for options. Even though I want to do everything automated, you must accept that there’s still apathy towards the online world.

Mistrust is a key factor to always consider in Nigeria. Many people in Nigeria open Instagram accounts and scam people. When Nigerians approach you after you buying, especially if there’s a delay in delivery, their antennas are high and the word scam flies out faster than cars on the highway. It seems that there’s an expectation for you to fail. It’s just because of how they’ve been hurt or stories they’ve heard. Many times, to win trust, I overdeliver for less. It’s my brain, so I have a lot more in stock. 

From time to time, show evidences of progress. I do so. With lots of folks shouting 6, 7, and 8 figures who have failed to deliver on their promises, mistrust is everywhere. I show alerts from to time to show the progress when it comes to proving that they too can do same if they buy into my products. Don’t say what your product isn’t in the guile of getting people to pay. I mean there are folks who say that their products are ALL YOU EVER need to get a solution to a problem if you buy it. You buy and you realize the product is a bait to get you to pay for something else. I experience a ton of those sleazy folks online that I can’t touch them now with a 5-mile pole, even if they have changed. Don’t let that happen to you. Some may want to make a video or phone call to confirm you’re the one. I oblige them because that number isn’t so many, but they do. 

Many Nigerians aren’t still techie and don’t understand the lingo of tech. Many don’t understand landing pages. I met a lecturer who drove all the way to a DSTV office sited in a shopping mall to do a subscription payment. I’d gone to see a movie when I met him. When I asked why, he said, “I don’t trust these online things.” He’s a university lecturer. 

Many Nigerians have preconceived notions about how delivery ought to be. So, they click and pay and then a landing page to download the resource is open before them, but they overlook it and then reach you inbox with “Sir, I didn’t see it in my email.” Boy, most times, I school them on the process before going ahead to send them the resource. Why do I do so? So that next time, life is made easy for them and perhaps, for us, when a repeat buy happens. 

Many Nigerians aren’t patient to read or follow your online processes duly. Many don’t know where the spam, promotions, and update tabs are on their emails. They only know the primary tab and when they don’t see emails, they scream to high heavens before even asking. 

Don’t insist on one channel. If they want to pay via the bank, let them do so and you onboard them manually. Receive calls, accept WhatsApp messages and reply your emails. It’s absurd to say you don’t pick unknown numbers when you’re in business in Nigeria. Oh, if you’ve filled your tummy with money, then it’s okay to do so.

Be humble to accept feedback and tweak accordingly. That’s the super platform for success. It’s a given that you WILL NOT satisfy everyone, but your role MUST be to consistently tweak and improve to capture your audience’s varied preferences as much as you can. 

Be careful of using trigger words. You see, in Nigeria, people don’t joke with their Daddy GOs, political parties, and many other cultural things. If you can’t sustain the heat, better stay away from saying things that have a semblance of outright condemnation, negative criticism, or perceived attack, you had better hush. I’ve had folks leave my email list, block me off on Facebook and thrown thunderstorms of abuses inbox. Trust me, to the weak at heart, such can send you into a vortex of depression. 

Finally, always keep it simple. We know you can blow big grammar, but please when it comes to marketing in Nigeria, keep your words simple. The simpler the better. I learnt that lesson the hard way. Don’t complicate your life with big grammar.