A few days ago, a company director expressed frustration that his social media marketing was burning through considerable sums of riyals with disappointing return. After reviewing his strategy, I found multiple critical errors that are extremely typical among Saudi businesses.
Last week, a eatery manager in Riyadh lamented that his establishment wasn't visible in Google results despite being well-reviewed by customers. This is a typical problem I observe with Saudi establishments throughout the Kingdom.
Recently, a business owner asked me why his blog posts weren't creating any business opportunities. After analyzing his content approach, I found he was making the same blunders I see numerous Saudi businesses commit.
A few weeks ago, a clothing brand consulted me after spending over 150,000 SAR on social media advertising with minimal returns. After revamping their strategy, we generated a six hundred thirty-one percent increase in ROAS.
I dedicate at least two hours each week examining our competitors':
- Online organization and user experience
- Content strategy and posting schedule
- Online platforms engagement
- Customer reviews and assessments
- Search approach and rankings
For a travel customer, we identified that direct translation of their foreign queries resulted in exceptionally inefficient investment. After executing a culturally-appropriate search term approach, their cost per acquisition dropped by seventy-three percent.
When I started my online business three years ago, I was convinced that our special products would sell themselves. I overlooked market research as unnecessary – a choice that almost cost my entire venture.
For a doctor's office in Jeddah, we improved their local visibility by nearly one hundred percent by confirming their establishment data was perfectly identical in both Arabic and English on all platforms.
Through comprehensive research for a cuisine platform company, we discovered that advertisements presented between 9-11 PM significantly outperformed those presented during traditional peak hours, generating substantially better sales.
Powerful techniques included:
- Emphasizing collective advantages rather than self-improvement
- Incorporating appropriate faith elements where suitable
- Adjusting deal phrasing to match Saudi social expectations
- Producing separate ad variations for various areas within the Kingdom
Key elements included:
- Smartphone-prioritized creative styles
- Click-to-call extensions for call-inclined consumers
- Software marketing for relevant searches
- Platform-tailored destination sites
Important methods included:
- Consulting Saudi regional experts to identify actual search behavior
- Analyzing Saudi competition for query approaches
- Building a dual-language search term structure to engage every possible searchers
- Applying Saudi Arabic dialect rather than classical terminology
A few weeks ago, a merchant consulted me after using over 250,000 SAR on ineffective paid search efforts. After restructuring their strategy, we produced a five hundred thirty-seven percent improvement in ROAS.
Additional timing findings included:
- Reduced bidding during worship moments with consistent conversion rates
- Higher interaction on weekends notably after night prayers
- Periodic changes requiring budget adjustments during religious occasions
- Academic calendar influences on particular industries
I recommend classifying competitors as:
- Primary competitors (offering nearly identical products/services)
- Peripheral competitors (with partial similarity)
- Emerging threats (new businesses with innovative potential)
Last year, I watched as three similar businesses poured resources into growing their presence on a specific social media platform. Their efforts failed spectacularly as the platform turned out to be a mismatch for our sector.
Start by identifying ALL your competition – not just the well-known ones. During our investigation, we found that our biggest rival wasn't the well-known business we were watching, but a recent company with an innovative model.
I now utilize several resources that have dramatically enhanced our competitor analysis:
- Search analysis platforms to analyze other companies' keyword performance
- Social listening platforms to monitor competitors' digital footprint
- Site monitoring platforms to track updates to their online presence
- Newsletter subscription to obtain their 360 marketing experts communications
I use a simple document to track our rivals' costs modifications weekly. This has already enabled us to:
- Identify periodic promotion cycles
- Detect package deal strategies
- Grasp their value positioning