Rethinking Business-to-Business Communications in Africa
When Africa’s dynamic business landscape is discussed, this often happens exclusively in terms of the opportunity to deliver products and services for consumers. This consumer market opportunity is sizable and certainly worth focusing on. However, there is also a significant and sometimes larger business-to-business opportunity that is ignored.
Take payments as an example. Much of the conversation around African fintech has revolved around the consumer payment opportunity which is projected to reach a value of US$303.10 billion by 2027. However, according to Harvard Business Review, business spending on the continent is expected to reach $3.5 trillion by 2025. The same principle applies to e-commerce where the consumer market is projected to reach $34.8 billion by 2024 while the B2B market is expected to reach a total market size of $1.1 trillion by 2025.
There are other examples but I think the point has been sufficiently made. Africa’s B2B landscape is an underexplored opportunity with many interesting intricacies. The space, just like the wider continent, is known for its strong emphasis on relationships in the business environment. This emphasis means business development is typically a peer-to-peer engagement. Moreso than in other parts of the world. This emphasis also means that other business development strategies can be seen as “not necessary”.
Peer to peer engagements can be very effective, especially when you know who to speak to and when that person is able to deliver but it can also be the equivalent of fishing with a rod. Regardless of how good you are and how strong your rod is, you can only catch one fish at a time. This means there are various untapped opportunities that are not being explored simply because you are not able to reach these potential businesses that may be interested in your services. Public relations can be an effective tool for reaching these wider audiences, connecting with them and bringing them into your sales pipeline. Along with other strategies, effective public relations and communications can be a very useful tool for the business development tool kit that will enable more expansive business development opportunities.
Public relations and communications is all about sharing and managing information to shape a particular perception of an entity. When practised effectively, it can be a game changer both within and outside an organisation because it allows you to clearly translate your intentions and desires into easily understandable messages. It also helps with clarity of purpose to ensure that everyone is pulling in the same direction. Put simply, any goal, object or strategy you have can only be as effective as your ability to communicate it.
B2B communications might seem less flashy compared to consumer-facing communications but it can be just as impactful and engaging. Yes, the stories are typically more complex but this offers opportunities for more depth and intellectually stimulating narratives. The fact that the role of PR and communications is not as explored as consumer-facing PR and communications also means there are many stories and angles that are yet to be explored.
From a B2B perspective, rethinking the role of PR and comms is an exciting opportunity to bring together the best of Africa’s dynamic business landscape and the evolving communications channels to tell impactful stories about how businesses are being transformed across the continent.
As Africa navigates its way to the realisation of these opportunities, reimagining Business-to-Business communications is essential to maximising the opportunities that abound. It has to be more than distributing press statements and other output-based tactics. Leveraging public relations disciplines such as media relations, messaging, brand building, thought leadership and other outcome-based strategies can make it easier to connect with target audiences in a way that positively impacts the bottom line. Not only will it make your products and services more visible to businesses that may be interested, it can also serve as a tool for attracting more inbound leads.
If you’d like to hear more about how Talking Drum Communications can support you to manage your public relations more effectively, do get in touch - hello@talkingdrumcomms.com
