Businesses always promote feel-good goals, such as increasing community outreach, decreasing their carbon footprint, and increasing shareholder value.
Marketing’s goal is to find the least-resistance path to achieving those sales.
P2P marketing can be a crucial component of successful sales campaigns.
Digital advertising on our computers and phones is essential to today’s sales. However, peer-to-peer marketing (P2P marketing) continues to influence our lives and wallets significantly.
You probably bought your first soft drink or candy bar based on the recommendation of a friend.
What is P2P Marketing?
When a customer recommends an item or service to a peer, it is called peer-to-peer advertising. This includes friends, colleagues, and family.
P2P can now be extended to all “trusted” online peers with the help of chat groups.
If you spent money with a loved one or friend for the first time, you likely asked their opinion.
Even if your brother or sister never said, “Mom told me to buy the green dishwashing soap because it produces the most bubbles.”
P2P marketing is effective when it combines the satisfied customers a company cultivates with the influence these customers can have on their peers as they leverage the confidence instilled in the buyers.
Still, trying to figure out what P2P marketing is? Have you ever asked a friend, “Have You Seen Any Good Movies Recently?” Did you watch one of their suggestions?
P2P Marketing vs. Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing relies on “fame” to influence our purchasing decisions.
For more than 100 years, athletes and movie stars have captured our hearts and minds.
In 1950, athletes sold everything from nylons to cars to shaving cream. Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods were media darlings for their unreal athletic achievements and received unimaginable fees and sponsorships from Gatorade, Nike, and McDonald’s.
There’s a new group of celebrities today who are famous for nothing more than being known. These celebrities are not actors or athletes but can sell products.
Influencers are paid to influence their followers towards products that they also endorse.
Influencer marketing is a phenomenon that thrives on social media platforms and not TV.
While the seller of the product might emphasize their relationship with the “influencer,” the sellers rely on the so-famous person to post a testimonial on their social media and personal websites. It’s not subtle.
Can peer-to-peer marketing benefit your business?
Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising Survey found that 92% of respondents trust word-of-mouth more than any other form of influence when making decisions.
Most of the trust that peers have in you comes from their authenticity. (Unless your favorite aunt gets paid to bake those amazing cookies with chocolate chips of a particular brand for a fee).
P2P is so successful because you can trust your family and your friends. It’s authentic.
While we may be bombarded with marketing messages that we ignore, we tend to speak directly (and pay attention) to our peers.
All about the senses
When you buy the brand your aunt recommends, you may be unable to smell the cookies she bakes.
Sensory Integration is the brain’s ability to categorize and respond to information our senses gather.
Our brains make sense of the world based on past experiences.
Even the smell of chocolate chip cookies or a memory of someone telling us about them can influence our decision about what brand to purchase.
Unfortunately, a TV commercial that tries to influence the public is not as effective.
How to create an effective peer-to-peer marketing strategy
A marketing program that uses P2P dynamics to its fullest potential can be your business’s most transformational endeavor.
Why? It will transform your company from a faceless, impersonal blob to one with personality.
It’s your job to ensure that the products you sell are talked about and that they come from a company or source endorsed by all of your “peers.”
You’ll get a return on your efforts if you treat them as best friends and guests.
We mentioned that the goal of a company is to increase sales. However, the primary purpose of any business should be to generate repeat business.
Implement a method to deal with issues on site.
You can also use chatboxes online to solve problems more quickly. You can ask your customers to share their experiences on social media platforms like Yelp.
Incentivize customer participation
It is possible to improve your results naturally.
Some restaurants will give away free drinks in exchange for a Facebook shout-out. Some restaurants offer complimentary appetizers in exchange for a Yelp mention.
Many people ask for freebies, such as coupons with % off, free products, or food.
Humanize your interactions
Instantly respond to comments and questions posted on social media. Instant responses are fundamental to human interaction.
Social media professionals can help you increase quality referrals.
Higher Logic, Gamification, Discourse, and other tools capture questions and concerns from customers in private online communities.
Use Qualtronics, Momentive, or Momentive to generate a Net Promoter score.
NPS is a market metric that can be obtained with a simple question: “Would a service or product, from a particular company, be recommended to a friend?”
The question is, “How likely are we to be recommended to a friend, on a scale from 0 to 10?”
The information you gather from the five methods of interaction (all five are best) will help your company better understand your products and services and what your customers think of them.