Structure of Marketing Program for Islamic Microfinance Institutions

This paper attempts to show that how employing a comprehensive marketing program will assist Islamic microfinance institutions (MFIs) in improving their overall performance. Islamic microfinance institutions just like other Islamic organizations should follow Islamic rules (Shariah) in all aspects of business. Then a suitable marketing program for Islamic microfinance institutions should include predefined marketing concepts relying on the Islamic values. Similar to other organizations, the main purpose of the marketing program of the Islamic microfinance institutions is to retain existing customers and attract new ones. Other than this, the efficient marketing program should contain some specifications emphasizing on the nature of the market and institution itself, competitors, developing the marketing plan, and the clients’ preferences. In fact, there are some significant differences between conventional Islamic types of microfinance that need to be highlighted in the marketing plan, like avoiding predetermined rate of interest, emphasizing on sharing risks of investments between both sides of each transaction (not only the borrowers) and so on. The paper highlights the major characteristics of an appropriate marketing program of Islamic microfinance institutions, specifically. In addition, differences between marketing programs of conventional and Islamic type of microfinance institutions are also indicated.