While mainstream advertising has recently started to take diversity and inclusion into account, Islam has been advocating it for one and a half millennia.
Yet today most of the advertising targeted toward Muslims is very monotonous in nature and ethnocentric (to apply one’s own culture or ethnicity as a frame of reference) at best.
This may partly be caused by brands consulting or working with Muslim marketing agencies or in-house marketing teams that lack diversity themselves.
In our last blog post on how to choose the right Muslim marketing agency, we addressed this issue:
“Make sure that the agency has a thorough knowledge of the composition of the Muslim consumer market. The Muslim market is made up of people from all ethnic backgrounds, and when we say “all” we mean “ALL”!”
In this blog post, we take a look at how to create inclusive Eid ad campaigns so that you don’t isolate any group within the Muslim community. After all, the more Muslims you resonate with, the better your ROI.
April is Diversity Month
At Muslim Ad Network we are keen to bring back the spirit of diversity in Islam. At a time when Muslims are a fragmented community, we want to play our part in changing that.
It all starts with making sure everyone is included and no Muslim is left out.
This blog post coincides with Diversity Month (April):
We take a look at how you can create a more inclusive Eid ad campaign this year based on:
- Using Neutral Messaging
- Diversifying Your Ad Content While Avoiding Tokenism
- Making Your Ad Content Accessible
#1: Use Neutral Messaging in Your Eid Advertising
While many Muslims celebrate Eid ul Fitr (celebration after Ramadan ends) and Eid ul Adha (celebration during the pilgrimage season) as religious holidays, some celebrate it as a cultural holiday rather than a religious one.
Keeping this in mind, it makes sense to think about the language you use to promote your Eid ad campaign this year.
You may want to consider different messaging to serve the variety of perceptions people have of Eid. However, this could get a bit complicated. Focusing on common values allows you to be inclusive to all Muslims, regardless of religiosity levels, sects, or ethnic backgrounds.
With neutral messaging, you can focus on themes like community, family, and giving back; all of which are highly revered in Islam.
Your ad could, for instance, focus on the importance of connection and unplugging from our phones and social media. Such ad campaigns would be relatable given how hooked we are to our phones. It is also a clever way of celebrating the spirit of Eid and connecting with family whilst offering a neutral message.
#2: Diversify Eid Ad Content But Avoid Tokenism
Create ads that include and speak to more than one demographic. This is an important factor when planning your Eid marketing campaign. You should also be aware of the type of Muslim consumers that are out there and incorporate that into your strategy.
However, be careful not to tokenize any group within the Muslim community. Your Eid ad content should authentically reflect the Muslim community. Think about how your Muslim audience intersects with various races, dress codes, body types, ages, and (dis)abilities.
Creating fully inclusive and diverse Eid content cannot be debated as Muslims from all walks of life celebrate this joyous day; it is a must!
Your diversity efforts should be at the forefront of your marketing strategy – not just at the top of your Instagram feed during Eid. You can learn more about this by reading How to Target Advertisements to Muslims with Impactful Diversity and Inclusion Marketing.
“It’s not enough to simply cast diversity and inclusion…you need to build it into the fabric of your brand.” – Larry Milstein, LaterCon speaker, and Gen Z expert,
Your inclusive Eid marketing campaigns must be an extension of your everyday content, so it becomes business as usual once Eid comes around. The takeaway? Your Muslim advertising should be inclusive all year-round.
If you can’t afford your own photoshoots, purchase stock images that represent diversity. In addition to that, expand your network of influencers so that your influencer marketing strategy is more representative of your diverse Muslim audience.
#3: Make Your Content Accessible
“People with disabilities are the largest and most diverse minority globally. Disabilities are represented by all ages, races, ethnicities, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds.”
Source: Muslim Brands Must Be at the Forefront of Disability-Inclusive Marketing
The creation of accessible content is not only beneficial to those with visual and hearing impairments but can also strengthen your digital community and improve engagement.
Accessibility doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive.
Subtitles are a quick win for all of your video content, whether it’s for YouTube, TikTok, or IGTV. The majority of videos (85%) on Facebook are watched without sound, so you need to make sure your video is streamlined for silent viewing.
Another way to create accessible content easily is by using engaging image descriptions in your social media captions. These are helpful for people with visual impairments.
You can include alternative (Alt) text in your social media posts, including on LinkedIn and Instagram. It goes without saying that this should be the case for website images.
Alternative (Alt) text is meant to convey the “why” of the image as it relates to the content of a document or webpage. It is read aloud to users by screen reader software, and it is indexed by search engines.
Source: Harvard University – Digital Accessibility
For everything you want to know about accessibility please check out the WCAG Accessibility Check List
Conclusion
Access to the internet has turned the world into a global village and the new generation of Muslims see the world differently from how our parents saw it. No longer is ethnic culture the driver of Islamic identity as deemed by first-generation Muslim immigrants to the West.
If our marketing and advertising content do not catch up, we will waste a lot of time and money creating campaigns that for the most part fall on deaf ears.
We must also remember those who have disabilities, but of course, deserve as much attention as everyone else. This is especially true because compared to mainstream advertising, Muslim advertising is far behind on this issue.
If you are looking for a partner to advertise to Muslims for Eid and beyond who embodies what we mentioned in this blog post contact Muslim Ad Network. We have been advertising to Muslims for over a decade.
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