Marketing
At Petit à Petit Atelier, we don't believe in a 'one size fits all' marketing solution.
By taking the time to get to know our clients and understanding the problems they are solving, we are able to design personalized marketing strategies and solutions that produce meaningful connections with their clients, partners, donors, and investors.
Serving NGOs and social entrepreneurs throughout Africa and socially conscious organizations in the United States, Petit à Petit Atelier develops marketing, communications, and social media strategies and campaigns to support the business and philanthropic goals of its clients.
Our Work in Action
Building Trust at a Distance: How a Persona-Driven Digital Marketing Strategy Increased Qualified Lead Generation Among the Guinean Diaspora
PERSPECTIVE
The Realities
of Housing and Financing in West Africa
Jobomax Homes (Jobomax), West Africa’s most trusted homebuilder, operates throughout Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Cameroon. Although many things unite this region, from the rolling landscapes to the vibrant fabric hung throughout markets, one recurring sight stands out: countless unfinished homes.
In the region, there is an absence of housing banks and specialized real estate financing options within traditional banking systems. Therefore securing funds for home construction primarily relies on personal savings, family assistance, inheritance, land sales, and rental income.¹ The ratio of mortgage debt to GDP remains extremely low in Africa at 3%, with it being around 0.03% in Guinea, compared to 70% in developed countries.²˒³
For members of the West African diaspora, accessing bank loans to build homes in their countries of birth remains largely out of reach. Every year, they send billions of dollars in remittances back home,⁴ with one of their hopes being the completion of construction on their residence. Unfortunately, many are victims of fraud (no home or an incomplete home), poor construction, or a bad land title.
Jobomax has been tackling this challenge since 2014, delivering high-quality homes on schedule and on budget. Beyond delivering clear land titles, they offer buyer financing, enabling unbanked and underbanked families to achieve homeownership in West Africa.
MOTIVATION
In 2019, Jobomax was focused on marketing its developments in Guinea, targeting the Guinean diaspora in Europe, North America, and Australia. Despite their strong product offering, they struggled to expand their lead generation through digital channels. Their marketing efforts had relied on Facebook ads, attending diaspora events, and word-of-mouth referrals. Recognizing the need for a robust digital presence to scale lead generation, Jobomax engaged Petit à Petit Atelier to design and execute a strategic and cohesive social media strategy that would attract high-quality leads.
Engage the Guinean diaspora to generate qualified leads
Jobomax had figured out how to solve a complex housing and financing problem, but they realized that significant lead generation relied on credibility and transparency. The process of buying a home, such a significant financial decision, is traditionally done in person. Convincing the average potential buyer to commit to an overseas home purchase based solely on photos and phone conversations would require establishing deep trust. Given the diaspora’s past experiences with fraud and unreliable transactions, relationship-building was crucial. Working closely with the head of the Sales Team over a period of time and using Jobomax’s customer service experience and diaspora knowledge, Petit à Petit Atelier developed a set of target customers. This target customer list was then used to create a unique set of user personas. Petit à Petit Atelier refined these personas through iterative analysis, not only deciphering which user personas were their ideal customers but also fine tuning the details of each group.
These personas became the foundation for a tailored digital content strategy designed to answer the diaspora’s questions, address their challenges, and speak to their deeper needs. The messaging emphasized Jobomax’s unique value proposition: peace of mind. This persona-driven approach allowed Petit à Petit Atelier to take something typically cultivated face-to face, trust, and build it through a digital system. Consistent posting across multiple platforms reinforced Jobomax’s credibility and professionalism, strengthening its position as a trustworthy homebuilder.
Petit à Petit Atelier executed this strategy across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, tailoring content to each platform’s audience and engagement style.
Digitally Building Trust and Engagement
ACTION
As a direct result of this persona-driven digital strategy in 2019, Jobomax experienced measurable improvements in lead generation and conversion rates from social media sources. They saw a 43% increase in leads from Facebook and Instagram and a 90% increase from LinkedIn compared to the previous year. In addition, the strategy attracted more serious buyers, resulting in a 90% increase in deals won from social media-generated leads. Their conversion rate from Facebook and Instagram sources rose from 0.2% (in 2018) to 1.3% (in 2019).
By prioritizing audience understanding, trust-building, and strategic content creation, Jobomax not only expanded its reach within the Guinean diaspora but also created a ripple effect on the Guinean economy. With nine additional deals won and an average of 70 local workers employed on every house, the impact on local economic development is tangible.
Laying the Foundation with Stronger Lead Generation
IMPACT
“If a company comes and sets up in remote areas, it [development] happens little by little. Before Jobomax was here, it [Gomboyah, site of first neighborhood] was the bush. Because of this housing development here, someone now will say, ‘Wait I'm also going to build a house next door, because Jobomax developed the area, we can stay there, we can live there. We have water, we have electricity. Although the roads are not smooth, we don't complain. If I need something that I can't find right here, I can quickly go to pick it up.’ It comes gradually. We have the shops on the side of the road. And we thank God, we are here and we have no complaints.”
-S.P. Kamanou, subcontractor at Jobomax's site at Gomboyah, 2019
We helped Jobomax Homes build trust and drive growth through a persona-driven digital strategy in an emerging market.
Let’s make a difference together.
1. Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, “Guinea,“ Housing Finance in Africa, A review of Africa’s housing finance markets, 2021 Yearbook, (2021): 134, chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://housingfinanceafrica.org/app/uploads/2021/11/2021_CAHF-yearbook-final-compressed-1.pdf.
2. Christian-Lambert Nguena, Fulbert Tchana Tchana, and Albert G. Zeufack, “Housing Finance and Inclusive Growth in Africa Benchmarking, Determinants and Effects, 2, chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/1e157347-98a0-5f6e-a150-96884b31c8f5/content.
3. “Ratio of Mortgage to GDP in Africa in 2022, by country,” Statistica, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1068829/mortgage-to-gdp-rate-africa-by-country/.
4 “Remittances sent by 31 million international African migrants reached nearly $40 billion in 2010, equivalent to 2.6 percent of Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP).”
Sanket Mohapatra and Dilip Ratha, “Remittance Markets in Africa,” (2011): 3, chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/fr/248331468193493657/pdf/613100PUB0mark158344B09780821384756.pdf.