Social Media Marketing ME interviewed Mohamed El-Fatatry about Social Media Marketing and the story of Muxlim. Here is the interview:

By Guest Blogger Rafi-uddin Shikoh from Dinar Standard
Posted October 6th, 2009

A while ago, as I was going through my subscribed Time magazine, I was reminded of marketing sophistication in action. I noticed that the Ford Taurus advertisement on the back of my copy was different from another copy of Time magazine (same Edition) that was subscribed by a female colleague. Hers had a female in the ad (mine had no person) and the car was of a different color. Ford obviously was trying to appeal to us differently. Ford does more than customize its marketing communications as it also develops its products for various segments (rugged trucks, Mustang sports car, family mini-vans etc.)

America has indeed been the world’s most sophisticated consumer market and so no wonder its marketers are the most innovative. From major brands such as Ford, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Disney, Apple, Citibank to smaller emerging brands, the level of market segmentation and target marketing in this vast/ diverse market is incredible. Customers are communicated and products customized based on needs that are categorized by demographic (gender, age, income, education, life-stage, ethnicity), psychographic (values, personality, lifestyles, hobbies), and behavioral (readiness, attitude, usage patterns, etc.) segmentations.

Faith-based marketing precedents

Among the various segmentations, faith-based marketing in the US has undoubtedly been another way to better reach and standout with large segments of audiences. Christian magazines today reach over 100 million Christian readers throughout the US every day (National Mail Order Association, 2008). Marketers from all categories of products and services advertise here and find this an effective way to build brand loyalty. A point to note here is that these publications do make exceptions not allowing advertising for sex, gambling, alcoholic beverages, or tobacco products. In addition to marketing messaging to reach this segment, there’s also an over $4.2 billion market (EPM Communication, 2004) of products specifically geared to the Christian market (books, gift items, music, school curricula, etc.)

Similarly, the market for ‘kosher’ food products in the US is estimated at more than $9 billion catering to Jewish faith based needs.

There are an estimated 5-6 million Americans of Jewish faith. According to the US Bureau of Census (2005), 40% of US grocery sales were certified kosher.  Also, the average number of kosher products in American supermarkets is 17,000 and 40% of the retail food products sold in the US today bear some type of kosher certification. Today, the kosher market has a much wider appeal than just for American Jews and is not limited to food products only. According to data compiled by Integrated Marketing Communications, consumers spent approximately $165 billion for kosher products in 2003.

American Muslim consumers: the un-tapped potential

Today there is a large and growing population of American Muslims who also provide marketers – mainstream and niche – tremendous opportunities. Opportunities that are, 1) related to better accessing them through right media, custom messaging and services, and 2) delivering products and services unique to their needs.

Estimates of the American Muslim population vary widely from 2 million to 7 million, with Muslims active in all walks of American society as doctors, entrepreneurs, lawyers, educators, athletes, and musicians. A 2007 JWT (major marketing agency) study showed that Muslim Americans spend about $170 billion on consumer products and estimated that this figure is expected to grow rapidly as the population expands and younger Muslims start working. Also, the 2007 Pew survey found that Muslim Americans generally mirror the U.S. public in education and income levels, with immigrant Muslims slightly more affluent and better educated than native-born Muslims. Given the above, it would seem logical that both mainstream and niche marketers are including the American Muslim segment in their marketing mix or business plans. Estimates of the American Muslim population vary widely from 2 million to 7 million, with Muslims active in all walks of American society as doctors, entrepreneurs, lawyers, educators, athletes, and musicians. A 2007 JWT (major marketing agency) study showed that Muslim Americans spend about $170 billion on consumer products and estimated that this figure is expected to grow rapidly as the population expands and younger Muslims start working. Also, the 2007 Pew survey found that Muslim Americans generally mirror the U.S. public in education and income levels, with immigrant Muslims slightly more affluent and better educated than native-born Muslims.

Given the above, it would seem logical that both mainstream and niche marketers are including the American Muslim segment in their marketing mix or business plans.

There is indeed a growing ‘Halal’ product category (similar to kosher – products in compliance with Muslim religious laws) emerging in the US covering Halal food deli’s, finance, clothing, media etc. Walk the streets of New York city (Manhattan) and you will find a Halal food stall on every other corner. ‘Halal’ mortgage offerings are now maturing. Amana Mutual Fund (managed based on Islamic rules of non-interest bearing, ethical investments) has even become a recognized quality fund amongst all US funds.

However, conspicuously missing are main-stream American consumer brands focus on this segment. No major brand has effectively targeted this segment in a consistent way. It’s surprising that the 2007 JWT study that substantiated the size and potential of this market hasn’t yet drawn any attention from major marketers. An AdvertisingAge, November 2008 article, (magazine read by major US marketers) aptly asked “It’s a $170 Billion Market, Why Aren’t You Targeting It?”

2009 American Muslim Consumer Conference – Another look

Perhaps the American Muslim market had been hard to reach (given its fragmentation and diversity), perhaps the right media channels weren’t available, perhaps the post-9/11 environment made it difficult for main-stream marketers to pursue it. Much of this however is changing – in an environment of economic crisis, the growing potential of American Muslim consumers is getting harder to ignore; a variety of media channels to access this market are maturing; and the post 9/11 environment of mass-media negative perceptions of Muslims is fading.

An upcoming conference, American Muslim Consumer Conference (AMCC), October 31st, 2009 in New Brunswick, NJ, USA is set to present this changing environment and the new market opportunity. This event is bound to provide marketers with another convincing look at this market.

The event has a great lineup of speakers of marketers, analysts, and experienced Muslim market entrepreneurs who will cover American Muslim markets scope, trends and opportunities, and ways to effectively reach them.

In an economic environment where any new idea or opportunity is worth evaluating, this market is bound to provide invaluable opportunities for both main-stream marketers and niche Halal market entrepreneurs. It’s the proverbial ‘elephant in the room’ for US marketers, one which they will increasingly run into. The question is: who are the few who will creatively and effectively ride it?

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Note: DinarStandard is a Knowledge Partner and presenter at the American Muslim Consumer Conference. DinarStandard and a Muxlim Partner (http://my.muxlim.com/DinarStandard/)  Keep up with their posts on Muxlim or visit http://www.dinarstandard.com/.

Muxlim is the exclusive headline sponsor and social media partner of the American Muslim Consumer Conference.

TechCrunch, the top global tech blog recently interviewed Muxlim CEO Mohamed El-Fatatry.

Robin Wauters from TechCrunch writes: Having spent the past couple of days in Finland visiting some of the country’s most interesting startups, the omnipresent Nokia and attending the great MindTrek conference, I’m starting to get some insight in the Finnish tech scene. In short: it’s relatively tiny but surprisingly fascinating.

Muxlim, a media company that is all about ‘enhancing the Muslim lifestyle’. Based out of Helsinki, Muxlim operates a network of websites and services geared towards Muslims from across the globe, a seriously underrated and underserved audience. If you consider the fact that there are approximately 1.5 billion Muslims on the planet, of which nearly 150 million can be found online, it amazes me that there aren’t more companies who target this vast amount of eyeballs (and wallets) whether it’s from a publisher or an advertisers’ perspective. No wonder Muxlim, being laser-focused on becoming the number one destination for Muslims to gather and share information, multimedia and more, is growing…

Read more:

http://uk.techcrunch.com/2009/10/02/a-conversation-with-muxlim-ceo-mohamed-el-fatatry-video/

Muxlim Selected among the SIME Awards: Rising Stars of the North – The Mighty 36. The SIME Awards were created in 1996 to honor excellence in online communication, business practice and technology, recognize the individuals and organizations responsible and inspire the Internet industry of the North to world-class performance.

The Jury includes:

Ann Westfelt, Visionary

Tommy Ahlers, Wayfinder

Nikolaj Nyholm, Polar Rose

Joakim Jardenberg, MindPark

Jonas Hombert, Jaycut

Pasi Niittymäki, Nitro

Peter Vesterbacka, Somebazaar

Henrik Torstensson, Stardoll

Vetle Sövik, Startsiden.no

About SIME:

SIME is Northern Europe’s largest conference about the Internet and digital opportunities. SIME brings together top executives, marketing professionals, aficionados and members of the press.

A new Muxlim homepage was launched today as part of a strategy to further highlight valuable content from across the Muxlim network and its partners. The content on the homepage will be updated several times a day, and will highlight the most important Muslim lifestyle news and insights from around the world, with a particular focus on Muslim minority countries.

To access the new homepage, please visit: http://muxlim.com

Muxlim CEO Mohamed El-Fatatry will be speaking today at Georgia Tech, Atlanta. The event was organized by the MSA at Georgia Tech.

TIME magazine recently quoted Muxlim CEO Mohamed El-Fatatry in an article about the one trillion dollar global Halal industry.

For non-food companies like South Korea’s LG and Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia, targeting Muslims is also big business. LG offers an application to help users find the direction of Mecca, while Nokia has free downloadable recitations from the Koran and maps showing the locations of major mosques in the Middle East. Such offerings increase brand loyalty, according to market research by the Finland-based Muslim lifestyle portal Muxlim.com. “There’s a lot of room out there for mainstream brands to appeal to Muslims without making changes to their products,” says Muxlim.com’s CEO Mohamed El-Fatatry. “It’s just about their marketing messages, about showing that this brand is interested in them as consumers.”

Click here to read the full article: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1898247-1,00.html

On Saturday 23rd May 2009, Muxlim members helped set a new Guinness World Record in the UK. 1,675 people participated over a period of 12 hours to set a new Guinness World Record for “The Most People To Run a 100m Relay In 12 Hours”. Muxlim was the exclusive social media partner for the event which had an official page on the network where people could sign up for the run, and spread the campaign to other online networks.

The official announcement on the Guinness World Records website can be viewed by clicking on the picture above.

The news was also covered by the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8065753.stm

Muxlim CEO Mohamed El-Fatatry will be participating in a panel about Media at New York Public Library as part of the Muslim Voices week.

Date: Thursday, June 11, 2009
Time & Location: 5pm in the South Court Auditorium of The New York Public Library

Panel Topic: MEDIA; Can entertainment and media, old and new, play a major role in shaping our views of diverse cultures and communities? Are there links between humiliating media images or stereotypes and a rise in conflict between Muslim and Western Societies?

Participants:

Introduction: Mahnaz Anwar Fancy
Moderator: Shamil Idriss (Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund)

Her Majesty Queen Noor
Mohamed El-Fatatry
Andrea ter Avest Dahm
Emmanuele Castano

New Media Age, UK’s leading new media and advertising magazine and Markinointi & Mainonta, Finland’s leading marketing and advertising magazine featured Muxlim in their latest issues, as the trailblazer in the Muslim Lifestyle Market. The articles cited market research figures by leading agencies such as JWT illustrating the huge potential and growth of Muslim consumers, and acknowledged the company’s postion as the industry leader in this emerging market.

The articles can be reached by clicking on the images above.