Lisa Mabe: Representing Muslim Consumers

Mabe founded Hewar Social Communications, a digital marketing and public relations company. Constantly studying trends in the Middle Eastern and Muslim markets, Lisa is a pro at what makes our community tick. elan got a chance to sit down and pick her brain about what Hewar excels at and what Lisa’s predictions are for our niche market in the near future.

What is Hewar Social Communications?

Hewar, which means “dialogue” in Arabic, is the public relations consultancy that national and international consumer brands go to when they need to have a dialogue between them and their Muslim and Middle Eastern consumers.

What made you interested in the Muslim market? How did you get involved?

Within the last year I was fortunate to have a lot of entrepreneurial influences around me that recognized my talent, energy and passion; they encouraged me to start my own multicultural practice. Realizing the Muslim consumer marketplace is underserved, yet has tremendous growth potential, I decided to carve out my niche.

What makes this group most interesting to work with?

They are not easily defined. Muslims don’t fit neatly into the little descriptive boxes marketers like to classify people in. Within each Muslim community are many different types of Muslims. While many Muslims do indeed think through the lens of their faith regarding their lifestyle, dietary and financial rules, it’s important to realize that not all Muslims are homogeneous.

Within Islam, there are many different subcultures, different interpretations of the Qur’an, and consequently, a very broad and diverse segment of lifestyles. For instance, while many have Middle East heritage or are recent immigrants, others are from right here, born in cities like Washington, D.C., Dearborn, Houston, Los Angeles, Columbus and Boston. While some are remarkably religious, often wearing traditional clothing and openly practicing their faith, others are quite secular. While some may be more staunchly conservative, there exist those who are very liberal and actively progressive. All these varied components naturally make Muslims more difficult to understand and reach for brands – that’s where I come in!

Why do you think it’s so difficult for mainstream American companies to accept that Muslim consumers are indeed a lucrative market?

We actually find that companies and brands are pleasantly surprised when they find out just how lucrative the global Muslim consumer market is. Despite that, many companies are hesitant at first to actively target Muslims (especially in non-Muslim majority countries like the U.S.) for fear of alienating other consumer groups.

What is the secret to marketing to American Muslims?

If I tell you, it won’t be a secret now will it! No really – what we tell clients is to not be overtly religious in their marketing communications, but instead focus on Muslims’ values and traditions as a culture and lifestyle. It’s also important to focus your outreach where Muslims already are – whether online, in print, radio, TV, etc. We usually advise clients to be targeted when trying to communicate with Muslims.

What company, so far, has done the best job in terms of reaching out to American Muslims?

Currently in the U.S., I don’t believe any mainstream companies are reaching out to Muslims in such a way that I would say they are doing in well. There are some companies, like Wal-Mart and Target, who will adjust what they carry on their aisles to ensure it is suites the local population – say like in the Dearborn/Detroit area. Companies in the U.S. still have a ways to go here, but the good news is they are beginning to wake up to the opportunity and the ones that are smart enough to do so will realize first-hand the substantial impact.

How much has the Halal market grown in the past year and what are your predictions about this market for the next year?

Halal is in fact a huge market – it spans from food, finance, tourism to fashion. Globally the industry is estimated to be worth around $2 trillion USD. Specifically the Halal food industry (worth $560 billion USD) is booming – in places such as the U.S., U.K, Middle East and Malaysia.

Some mainstream and non-Muslim owned brands such as Nestle have already tapped into the Muslim market by creating Halal versions of some of their goods and have seen excellent returns. In the coming years, we anticipate more and more companies to expand into the Halal space, as well as more Halal-only brands, such as Saffron Road, to pop up.