Introduction Marketing is about connecting with your audience in the right place, at the right time. That means you will have to meet them where they are already spending a lot of their time, which is online. Therefore, busi- nesses use digital assets to connect and influence their current and prospective customers. Similar to global fashion, digital marketing is one of the most rapidly growing and popular marketing approaches in Iran and it’s making its way to become the market standard. This Iran digital marketing re- port provides information and forecasts about the digital marketing industry in Iran. The present report provides all the crucial facts & figures about digital marketing in Iran in 2018. Also included are the latest news about the subject, along with social media marketing and another related subjects. Find our other reports and publications on: www.sisarv.com/publication Disclaimer The information provided in this report is collected from valid sources. The information provided is without guarantee on part of the creator and Sisarv marcom agency. The creator and the publisher deny any liability in connection with the use of this information. Summary about Iran Iran is the second-largest country in the middle-east with over 81 million inhabitants; Iran is the world’s18th most populous country. Tehran is the country’s capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic, cultural and financial center. Iran is officially an Islamic republic government. Iran’s economy is a mixture of central planning, state owner- ship of oil and other large enterprises, village agriculture, and small-scale private trading and service ventures, while being the source of 10 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and 15 percent of the world’s gas reserves; Iran is considered an “energy superpower,” and the economy is dominated by oil and gas production. Reference: www.worldometers.info Reference: web.archive.org The country was the world's eighteenth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) and twenty-seventh by nominal gross domestic product in 2014. Iran is a member of Next Eleven because of its high development potential. Reference: countryeconomy.com Iran’s direct foreign investment from 1970 to 2016: Annual direct foreign investment in USD million: Iran Reference: www.ceicdata.com Competitive Advantages Iran made the development of non-oil exports a priority. The country has the advantage of a broad domestic industrial base witch a highly tech-savvy, educated and motivated workforce, affordable la- bor and energy resources. Iran‘s geographical loca- tion makes the country an important economic hub in the region, providing it with access to 300 million people in neighboring countries. Iran has the con- sumer potential of Turkey, the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia, the natural gas reserves of Russia, and the mineral reserves of Australia. Iran‘s area roughly equals that of the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany combined. Iran has a diverse climate which makes it suitable for a wide range of agricul- tural products. Reference: Iran Investment Monthly In 2017, Iran’s unemployment rate was estimated to 11.4 percent of the total labor force. Reference:www.statista.com Internet Usage in Iran • 1.9 billion internet users (in • 56,700,000 internet users • 146 million internet us- Asia) , 46.7% penetration 68.5% ers in the Middle East, rate of the population 58.7% penetration rate about 10% more than the middle-east and 20% more than Asia Reference: internetworldstats.com Online Reference: Tasnimnews.com Internet Penetration Rate in Iran by Age 74.7% of people 27.3% of people between 20-29 years between 50-89 years use Internet. use Internet. Reference: Measuring Information Society of Iran (mis.ito.gov.ir) Share of Web Traffic by Device in Iran Reference: Hootsuite Activity of Internet users in Iran Reference: Measuring Information Society of Iran (mis.ito.gov.ir) Iran’s internet penetration rate trend from 2000 to 2017 Reference: internetworldstats.com Population with Internet Access • 10 million people have internet access via fixed-broadband and 40 million people via mobile-broadband • 95 percent of villages with more than 20 families had access to high internet speeds in 2017 • Digital marketing agencies in Iran cannot access global CPC panels for online advertising but there are several quality domestic CPC panels instead • Some social networks and messaging apps have been banned by Iran’s government, such as Facebook and Twitter Reference: Mehrnews.com Reference: isna.ir • In Iran, digital marketing agencies can’t use the Instagram sponsoring feature so on this platform the workaround is to pay general content pages with high numbers of followers and engagement for posting branded content, instead of using the Instagram sponsoring feature, which proves to be an effective alternative in Iran. • Iranians used to communicate with Viber for messaging and online calls, but after the government-imposed restrictions on the app, people switched to using Telegram After a huge update, Telegram added some useful features such as channels and groups (people can post their content to be viewed in channels and groups and everyone can join channels to see its content), helping the platform becoming a social network of its own, next to being a messaging app platform. Telegram is currently the most popular social network platform in Iran with over 40 million active users. It is worth mentioning that just like on Instagram, we paid general channels with high sub- scribers to post our branded content on Telegram, for reaching a certain portion of our marketing goals. • LinkedIn is a rapidly growing social network in Iran. There are great opportunities and its professional, educated atmosphere is a great environment to be used for marketing goals, which is why marketing agencies in Iran always consider LinkedIn as part of their business strategy, which also includes getting in touch with other industry professionals or leads in a target segment. Bandwidth Regulations in Iran • Since October the 20th, all mobile phones require to be reg- istered with Iran’s telecommunications user database and phones not registered will be considered as “contraband” and unusable in the country. • In a move to expand access to the Internet, the Iran Com- munication Regulatory Authority introduced a mandatory landline Internet Fair Usage Policy. Through the newly introduced system Fair Internet Usage, each landline ISP is required to announce a bandwidth cap for different Internet speeds. A band- width cap is a limit imposed on the transfer of data over a network. Reference: Mehrnews.com Reference: isna.ir Reference: Mehrnews.com Reference: communication regulatory authority of Iran Most popular internet activities Global Percentage of internet users with activity Domestic Percentage of internet users with activity Reference: www.infoplease.com Digital marketing & advertising Digital marketing presents a tremendous opportunity to engage with consumers. Companies are also reshaping their marketing departments, going from traditional marketing to digital marketing. If your company is still relying on out-dated classical marketing that might have been effective in the past, it is time to accelerate change now. Why digital marketing over non-digital marketing ? • Cost Efficiency • Target marketing • Interactivity and feedback • Measurability • Brand Recognition • Real Time Marketing Results Reference: Wsionline.ee , smallbusiness.chron.com Global ad expenditure by segment in million USD (US $ millions,Globally) by 198 billion USD spent , 2017 was the first year where digital ad spend- ing took over television ad spending Reference: global media report 2016 by McKinsey Global digital advertising share over years (percent) % Reference: global media report 2016 by McKinsey Ad Expenditure in Iran Reference: Techrasa.com Market Shares • The e-commerce industry is responsible for about $2 trillion in annual sales. • Worldwide B2C e-commerce sales reached $1.7 trillion in 2015, and it is estimated to reach $2.35 trillion by 2018. • Digital marketing held 5.2% of shares of the Gross Domestic Product in Iran over the past year. This means the digital marketing revenue in Iran was 23.2 billion Dollars in 2017 Reference: hostingfacts.com Reference: isna.ir, irna.ir Advertising Methods Social media marketing and messaging apps What makes social media and messaging apps important in digital marketing • Increased exposure • Broader fanbase acquisition • Better Marketplace insight • Increased Brand awareness Reference: digitalseoguide.com Whom you will target • Percentage of Iranians that are users of at least one social media or messaging app I n J a n 2 0 1 6 , 3 7 % In Feb 2017, 60% In Oct 2017, 62% • Globally, the average time that people spend on social media or messaging apps are 116 minutes per day • In Iran, the average time spend for Iranians is 120 minute everyday, slightly more than the global average Reference: ispa.ir (based on survey) Reference: socialmediatoday.com , ispa.ir (based on survey) Social Media Penetration by Region Global Average: 37% The social media penetration rate in Iran was 21% in early 2017, But through a 35% annual growth in Iran the rate is now near 30% in the country. *Telegram is considered a social media platform rather than a plain messaging app in Iran, but this does not apply to its official status as a messaging app. Reference: hootsuite, statista.com Social Networking World Map Credits: Vincenzo Cosenza Vincos.it License: