By MaryAnne Gitimu and John Musyoka
Introduction
Digital marketing is the use of online digital channels to promote, endorse and market products and services. It provides a dual impact on employment, offering digital jobs and spurring entrepreneurship through which non-digital jobs are realized in the value chain. Currently, there is an upsurge in the use of digital platforms in Kenya, driven by improved Internet connectivity, smartphone penetration and changing consumer behaviour.
Digital marketing is guided by a legal framework documented in the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the Data Protection Act of 2019, together with the Data Protection (General) Regulations 2021 and the Kenya Information and Communication (Consumer protection) Regulations of 2010. Digital marketing approaches use existing social media channels, Search Engine Optimization, email marketing, blogs and websites. Other digital marketing approaches such as video advertisement, sponsoring content on popular websites and undertaking online sales are common approaches among entrepreneurs. In most cases, entrepreneurs use advertisement channels to promote their products digitally to a wider audience and increase their competitive edge.
In 2022, 46 per cent of digital-enabled jobs in Kenya were in digital marketing (Kenya Private Sector Association, 2022), making it the largest contributor to digital jobs. Approximately 250,000 jobs were in content creation and article writing, 141,000 jobs in transcription, and 76,900 jobs in software development. Notable is the gender disparities between technical digital marketing roles (62% men, 38% women) and non-technical (55% women, 45% men), including content creation and social media management (UN Women Report on Gender Analysis in Technical Areas, 2022).
Despite the growing number of jobs, there are emerging opportunities in data analytics and digital strategy, reflecting the increasing importance of digital marketing value chain in creating jobs. For instance, data-driven decision-making in digital marketing campaigns can inform entrepreneurial activities, which will in turn create job opportunities within and outside the value chain. This blog focuses on the status of digital marketing and its implications on job creation.
Status of Digital Marketing and its Implications to Job Creation in Kenya
Approximately 5 per cent of the adult population (1.2 million) work in digital and digitalenabled jobs (Kenya Private Sector Alliance Report, 2022), increasing from 638,400 (3%) in 2019. The Ajira Digital Programme launched in 2016 has empowered over 1 million Kenyan youths to dignified work through digital platforms. Digital work includes digital marketing, website design, blogging, scientific content writing, social media campaigns, virtual assistant, graphic design, accounting, coding, online surveys among other tasks. Digital work has significantly contributed to job creation. As of 2022, the number of jobs created in digital work in Kenya included: 461,523 (46%) digital marketers, 141,021 (14%) transcribers, 250,000 (25%) article writers, 76,921 (8%) software developers and 64,100 (7%) data scientists.
Figure 1: Contribution of digital and digital enabled work to job creation
Source: Kenya Private Sector Alliance Report (2022)
The uptake of digital marketing is significantly influenced by increased Internet access (40.8%), smartphone mobile penetration (58.3%), and growth in social media and consumers spending more time on digital platforms. This presents an unprecedented business opportunity for entrepreneurs looking to reach and engage with the audience.
According to the digital global overview report, Facebook is the most frequently used digital platform (13.1 million) with the highest advertisement reach as a per cent of total population in Kenya (23.6%) while X (Twitter) is the least frequently used digital platform (1.9 million users) with the lowest advertisement reach (3.4%).
Figure 2: Uptake of digital marketing in Kenya
Source: Digital Global Overview Report, January 2024
*FB is Facebook
Challenges and Emerging Issues to Digital Marketing
Despite the increasing uptake of digital marketing, various constraints limit the realization of full potential in job creation among entrepreneurs in Kenya.
Limited digital infrastructure and quality of service in rural areas
There is limited access to digital infrastructure characterized by unreliable Internet access with slow speed, unstable connection and high cost of Internet services in rural areas. These hinder the ability of entrepreneurs to fully use the potential existing in the digital marketing platforms. Therefore, there is a need for policy interventions to enhance Internet connectivity in rural areas, making Internet access reliable and affordable.
Digital literacy divide
Digital marketing jobs require technical skills, which are expensive to acquire. This has hindered the youth from exploiting the online job market. In addition, most entrepreneurs have limited digital literacy and skills-gaps in digital marketing. This means users lack effective and efficient technical skills related to creating content, data analytics and understanding online marketing strategies. The divide is even wider between men and women.
Data and privacy protection
Inadequate data protection and privacy regulations among entrepreneurs have been a challenge to uptake of digital marketing. Data privacy concerns are expanding as more entrepreneurs collect, internalize and analyze data for the targeted market. The regulations related to digital marketing in Kenya provided in the Data Protection Act (2019) have not been fully implemented and entrepreneurs do not trust the safety of their information over the Internet.
Taxation regime
The digital services tax introduced in 2021 is gradually becoming a challenge among entrepreneurs.
Recommendations
- The Government could consider strengthening the public-private partnership to enhance investments in Internet connectivity and reduce the cost of Internet services and smartphones, especially in rural and hard to reach areas.
- The Government could establish community digital literacy centres, which offer subsidized training for men and women entrepreneurs and digital marketers to enhance job creation.
- Enhance and enforce the Data Protection Act of 2019 by creating programmes for entrepreneurs and consumers on data privacy rights and responsibilities. Integration of online marketing platforms with mobile banking solutions and support regulations will improve uptake of digital marketing by entrepreneurs.
- The Government could offer tax incentives among the entrepreneurs using digital marketing approaches to encourage more businesses to shift online. This will result in demand for more digital marketers.
