Trends Shaping The Market in Lebanon

In today’s series, we examine how customers expectations in Lebanon are evolving.

Many people today base their customer satisfaction on how easy and fast a product (or service) is to use. Coined as the “Uber Generation”, where people get frustrated and cancel an Uber ride because it’s 5 minutes away, it’s generally accepted that an effortless experience = convenience. Companies offering convenience will win regardless of their brand status. Those who don’t adapt to these changes are subject to their competitors eating up their market share and potentially creating a different market altogether, making them obsolete.

So how should companies in Lebanon adapt to these changes?

While customers initially appreciate better services, they quickly get used to, expect and demand them. Further, the experiences that customers have with any organization help shape their perceptions. In short, service leaders in virtually any line of business are raising the bar for every organization.

Today, developments in social, mobile, web and other capabilities continue to push the meaning of convenience. However, it always boils down to the return on investment.

Mohammad Mortada ? LinkedIn Profile | Website

Clients in Lebanon are convinced that there’s a black magic formula called social media that brings them results instantly; they expect huge results with mediocre investment. Unfortunately, many agencies are abusing this expectation unethically by promising “guaranteed results of 500-1000 followers monthly”, “x number of clients within the first month”, and so on and so forth. To put this in a case, 1000 Instagram followers cost less than $10  and all they have to do is keep faking that growth until the end of the contract or the customer figuring out what’s going on. I had a client who approached me from a referral and he told me that his former agency has “successfully” grown his Instagram account but he’s not seeing any increase in sales. Using a simple audit, I showed him a report that 90% of his followers originated from India and Indonesia.

Agencies who want to stay in business for the long run should avoid black shortcuts and give the client an honest estimation of the achievable results. Honesty is the best policy.

---

Charbel Ghanime ? Linkedin Profile

With the influx of medium-sized agencies, boutique agencies, local design studios, freelancers, along with large multinationals and others now providing a plethora of services ranging from design, development, and strategy, clients are now expecting competitive pricing, one-stop shops, and quick results. By considering marketing as a cost rather than an investment, a social media content creator as a creative director for online campaigns, and junior designers/developers as leads on website/mobile app UI/UX, clients will ultimately meet their financial expectations but effectively end up not meeting any of the other expectations they have. Clients need to be patient, to build their brand from the ground up on steady foundations, and to have a long-term strategy & vision.

---

Abdul Rahman Alieh ? Linkedin Profile

It’s up to us as startups to disrupt the market, to nip at the heels of the big boys and drive change and innovation through consistently providing convenience. Ad briefs are no more shared by email using carefully manicured Word documents; they’re now shared on the phone and on WhatsApp. This dynamism creates an opportunity for nimble startups. Sometimes you just have to be unreasonable to exceed customers expectations. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

At SocialWeTalk, we now offer a free trial period with no risks whatsoever for companies to try our service. Customers are loving it!

---

Stay tuned as we discover in the next series how can a small company in Lebanon win clients’ trust.