Iranian businesspeople overlook power of local bloggers
By Hassan Amidi
Scholar
These days, communications have taken on a different meaning than before, and the reality is that today’s human society is being swallowed up by rapid technological and communication advances. Therefore, Iran’s merchants and traders must tap into this technological progress to introduce their products to the world. Unfortunately, the potential of media and content production has been left on the back burner, while other countries are making the most of this capacity.
Today, East Asian countries such as China and Japan roll out localized media campaigns before launching products to win over their audiences. In many cases, the power of these campaigns even outstrips the quality of the products themselves. In other words, these countries call on local bloggers to promote their export products in the target market, ensuring the product is put across strongly to various segments of society.
This crucial point has recently been overlooked by Iranian traders, who assume that because they have succeeded in industry and production, they will naturally succeed in product promotion and advertising both domestically and abroad. Meanwhile, many foreign traders carry out their advertising through local bloggers and influencers — and have hit the mark in doing so.
Weakness in product promotion
Iranian producers excel in manufacturing but fall short in product promotion. Without media backing and cultural understanding, one cannot expect to break into global markets effectively; Education in this area is essential.
In addition to leveraging local bloggers, Iranian traders can also make use of native social networks to introduce their products in foreign countries. Unfortunately, product promotion in Iran is mostly limited to the domestic market, and there is a lack of sufficient knowledge about the media ecosystems of target countries. It should be noted that in many countries, a local blogger can carry more weight than an official campaign.
Traders focusing on domestic promotion
One major flaw of our traders is that they put all their eggs in one basket by focusing on domestic product promotion and expect the same advertising approach to cut it abroad. However, our traders are out of their depth when it comes to running diverse advertising campaigns on platforms like YouTube.
Our merchants often see media as a rival rather than a partner, whereas media should be considered a strategic ally for economic actors and traders, even capable of stepping up as their operational spokespersons.
Weak presence in int’l exhibitions
One media tool that can make a splash in introducing products to target markets is participation in exhibitions. However, the reality is that our country’s booths at international exhibitions are not comparable in quality to others. Iranian traders’ weak presence in foreign exhibitions is evident. Most rely on outdated methods like printing banners, posters, and brochures, while most countries bring cutting-edge tools to the table to showcase their products.
Whether in the public or private sector, our objectives at exhibitions are unclear; We stick to traditional methods from two decades ago without any special plans or content tailored for exhibitions. Meanwhile, other countries show up well-prepared and armed to the teeth with strategies.
What is expected from the Trade Promotion Organization is to step up training for traders, preparing them for international exhibitions in terms of product introduction and content. Being a strong industrialist does not automatically mean being a strong content producer, and this mindset must be turned around.
Perhaps no institution has yet stepped in to educate traders that succeeding in exports requires training in content creation for their target audiences. This is a major pitfall for our merchants and traders, whose thinking in this area needs to be brought up to speed.
The above points highlight part of the reason behind our country’s shortcomings in exports. In some cases, our producers supply products equal to or even superior to those of other countries, but the reality is we lag behind in content production and media-based product promotion, an area that demands urgent attention and effort.
The article first appeared in
Persian on Tasnim news agency.