As many of us already know, there are several factors affecting digital marketing in Nigeria. Previously, one of my students listed about 11 challenges facing him in his local environment. If you ask other people from different parts of the country, you’d be astonished by the number of factors affecting digital marketing in Nigeria. As a full-time digital marketer, I have personally experienced many challenges at different times. In the next few paragraphs, I will discuss about the 7 factors affecting digital marketing in Nigeria.

Awareness

Awareness is one of the major factors affecting digital marketing in Nigeria. As a digital marketer, I spend most of my precious hours trying to carry people along. The word digital marketing is a total confusion for the majority of the people in the street. In fact, we often find it very difficult to tell people what we do because everything they were told about the internet guys is “SCAM”. This factor alone is enough to make digital marketing very challenging.

Police harassment

Whenever my friends (digital marketers) mention the word “Nigerian police,” one thing that always come to my mind is the harassment of the innocent people. Personally, I believe that these people were trained to know the truth; however, due to their selfish interest, they have made it their regular habits to harass the hardworking digital marketers in the name of preventing internet scam. On several occasions, Nigerian police have arrested digital marketers and detained them without a single evidence of internet scam. If this unlawful harassment of innocent, hardworking digital marketers is not monitored, Nigerians will continue to struggle to make it online.

Online Presence

Digital marketing is all about using the digital technologies such as search engine, email and social media to promote products and services. No doubt, the number of people using the internet in Nigeria is still very low compared to the users in the advanced countries like UK, USA, France, and Australia. One of the good things about digital marketing is the ability to promote businesses to a larger audience with simple targeting. However, not having enough people to deliver targeted promotion to can reduce the efficacy of online advertising. Fortunately, we’re are witnessing a rapid improvement in the number of people using the internet in Nigeria. Hopefully, the percentage of internet users will be doubled in the next couple of years.

Scam

I have never thought that anyone could scam me until a pretending digital marketer went away with my hard-earned money. It all started when I was desperately in need of PayPal funds to complete one of my transactions on eBay. For me, thinking that everyone in our Digital marketing Facebook group was marketers like myself, was a big mistake. The scammer commented on my post and told me that he has PayPal funds for sale. Sorry, you won’t understand the reasons why we buy PayPal funds if you don’t live in Nigeria.

Ever since I fell victim of such practice, I have never trusted any self-acclaimed marketer except I know him/her personally. This behavior is one of the biggest factors affecting digital marketing in Nigeria.

Poor internet coverage and expensive data

Your friend who says he/she doesn’t like using the internet is likely not being honest. Yes, give him/her a good computer with unlimited internet connection and watch what their behaviors. The simple truth is that the expensive data and poor internet coverage has discouraged many people from using the internet. I am saying all of this because I have experienced it. When I was in the university, poor internet connection was my greatest challenge. There are times I could not download a 200 KB file due to extremely poor connection. How about using your last money to purchase mobile data and when your download is around 98%, you get a “download failed” notification? Almost every Nigerian would have experienced it. It is not funny because this has really affected many digital marketers.

Sometimes it is not about downloading a large file, but inability to reply messages as quickly as possible. Expensive data is the primary reason why most people in Nigeria cannot verify some facts on YouTube or other data-consuming websites.

Bad orientation

Till tomorrow, many people in Nigeria will not believe in digital marketing because their orientation about using the internet is damn bad. All the points I presented in this article is 100% valid. Of course, you could have heard people condemning the use of high end mobile phones because all what they know about mobile phone usage is to make calls and send text messages. This “disease” is not limited to the people living in the villages. In fact, I have seen graduates who condemn the usage of high end mobile phones.

With this bad orientation, digital marketing in Nigeria will not grow as expected. Fortunately, we can orientate people and show them some of the reasons why we use such expensive devices. You’re not justified if all what you use your expensive phone to do is to woo the ladies.

Hectic online payment solutions

Lastly, the hectic online payment solutions has crumbled digital marketing in Nigeria. The majority of talented marketers in Nigeria cannot make their products available in the global market because of the unfavorable online payment solutions. PayPal, which is the easiest means to pay for product or services online is not fully functional in Nigeria. As at the time of writing this article, Nigerian PayPal cannot receive fund. There are other online payment solutions; however, they are not as convenient as PayPal. Apart from the convenience, they are extremely expensive to maintain.

Another issue about other available online payment solutions is the security threat. Except you’re very sure that your information is 100% safe, it is not advisable to enter your Master Card details on websites.

These and a couple of other factors are the major challenges of digital markers in Nigeria. However, despite the numerous challenges, there are countless opportunities for dedicated online marketers. Using the internet technologies, you can acquire the right skills, get your dream jobs, and empower yourself. Internet is really a blessing to some of us in Nigeria.

If you’re planning to become of the professional digital marketers in Nigeria, you can visit a reputable center to learn all the intricacies. Of course, we’d be glad to help you advance your digital marketing skills. Here at Ojasweb, we offer digital marketing training and consultating at affordable rates.

Our office is located in Badagry, and you can book an appointment with us at your convenient time. Contact us at info@ojasweb.com, +2348060380375 or +2348078440640.

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