How to Engage the Halal Consumer?

When people ask, “How can my company engage the Halal consumer?”, the answer is almost always – “it depends”.  Halal consumers are diverse. They live in different geographical locations and their demographics, buying behaviors, needs, wants, and interests vary.  Halal consumers are not always people who follow Islamic dietary requirements. They may be people of various faiths who choose to purchase products because they believe they are qualitatively better than mainstream offerings.  This group represents a minority that has been growing over time.

That being said, the majority of Halal consumers do purchase products like food, drugs, and cosmetics in order to adhere to religious requirements.

Halal Consumer Diversity

Geographically, Halal consumers exist in every country around the world. They can be any race, culture, or ethnicity. Savvy marketers ignore blanket stereotypes and recognize the diversity in the Halal market. In marketing, casting a wide net and hoping for results is inefficient.  In order to locate and target Halal consumers for your brand, begin with your product. Look at the demographics, psychographics, and buying behavior of your existing customer base. When you decide to certify your products, you can begin to narrow down your ideal market from that starting point. Then look at the unique characteristics of the Halal market and customize.

For example, in the Halal meat industry, there are consumers who demand bacon, sausage, and porterhouse steaks, and others who will eat lean lamb and chicken only.  Each product line has one or more consumer personas.

Define Your Customer – Develop Personas

Get specific by targeting the people most likely to demand your Halal product. First, know your product and your customer and then expand your market by finding consumers with similar demographics, interests, and buying behaviors. In other words, conceptualize and develop the ideal marketing persona for your product.

For example: Who buys Halal food online?
Persona Number One (of many)
68% of online food buyers are:

American-born Muslim women between the ages of 25-45. They have educated moms with families of up to 4 children on average. Many are time-constrained professionals working a double day. They value family, health, education and are connected friends and like-minded acquaintances on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. They are often proponents of social justice, particularly when causes relate to families. Many belong to Mom groups and enjoy watching recipe videos. They want good quality food, accessible and convenient, that their children will eat and enjoy. 

Any brand can develop customer personas. This is a starting point. From the persona, brands can create a strategy to connect to and convert prospects. The company will know who to target, what products to promote, what messages resonate, how to engage, and where to reach the best prospects. 

A food brand, for example, will put the right recipe, in front of the right person, at the right time. The brand knows trusted and entertaining influencers that their audience follows and engages the customer in conversations.

Partner with Social Media Influencers

Partnering with social media influencers to promote products to followers that match the brand’s persona is a great way to introduce a brand to the right audience. Going a step further, artificial intelligence and machine learning can help locate micro-influencers and determine whether or not follower counts fall within the company’s core demographic for their target audience.

Include In-Person Experiences

In addition to digital marketing, the brand can be present at in-person events like shows, markets, and exhibitions.  Experiences, reviews, ratings, and testimonials from like-minded individuals can be shared from event venues like pop-ups and trade shows.

The Halal consumer is diverse and unique. Finding them can seem like looking for a needle in a haystack. Savvy business brands with Halal-certified products can use tools to reach this niche market. To get the maximum ROI, the key is to understand and describe the type of person who is most likely to buy the product. Then efficiently locate and message these groups with content they are looking for.  Whenever possible, also attend events, shows, and exhibitions. Let people try the products and share their experiences. Then watch your products fly out the door.