Peer-to-peer marketing, often abbreviated P2P, for Peer-to-Peer Marketing is the practice of customers engaging other customers through recommendations. It is effective because when consumers are deciding to buy a product or service, 93% of them trust their friends, families, and colleagues over other influences.
RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES
What Makes Peer-to-Peer Marketing So Effective?
Businesses use an abundance of peer-to-peer tactics to sell their products and services. A company uses this kind of marketing, for example, when they send an email or text message to customers asking them to recommend the company to their friends.
Sometimes, the company will offer those customers something in return. This strategy can trigger conversions.
Peer-to-peer marketing is effective because it doesn’t feel like a sales tactic.
People are gravitating away from businesses that feel pushy or self-focused. They understand that a company might have given their friend or acquaintance a product for free to try out. But they also know that people who are not receiving money would rarely recommend something they don’t believe in.
Trust Is Key
In other words, there’s an element buy phone number list of trust that’s at play in these interactions. Simply put, people generally trust their friends to be honest with them.
As more and more people turn away from brash and overzealous marketing, P2P options lend authenticity. And that is priceless.
These tactics, though not new, are becoming even more important today.
This is because Millennials and Gen Zers are far inbound lead generation: 7 strategies for your online store more interested in authenticity. They understand that peer-to-peer marketing benefits consumers as well as businesses. For example, they like the fact that they can network their way to a better vacuum, a longer-lasting phone, or a more entertaining experience without initially paying for the privilege themselves.
Peer-to-peer marketing gives voice to another type of consumer as well. For example, there are those who have nothing to gain except feeling good about giving recommendations about products and services they enjoy or find useful.
Ultimately, P2P is a form of marketing that feels trustworthy and authentic. What works best about peer-to-peer marketing are the real, genuine reviews from people who wish only to promote businesses they care about. Usually, people’s motivation is simply to help other consumers with whom they feel an affinity.
RELATED ARTICLE: BUSINESSES AND SOCIAL MEDIA: SHOULD COMPANIES JOIN THE ACTION?
How Do Peer-to-Peer and Influencer Marketing Differ?
To explore the difference between P2P marketing and influencer marketing, let’s consider an example.
Jessica Alba’s business, The Honest Company, has a referral program where they credit existing customers $20 for each invited friend who makes a purchase.
This is a perfect example of P2P marketing as this initiative taps into the company’s existing consumers to reach new prospects.
Influencer marketing, on the other hand, refers to social influencers on online platforms who promote products and services for businesses they don’t own.
RELATED ARTICLE: 5 METRICS TO TRACK FOR AN INFLUENCER MARKETING CAMPAIGN
Both are equally valuable marketing options, but they achieve different goals.
P2P marketing is likely narrower uk cell number in reach. However, each person reached with P2P marketing tends to convert to a sale more quickly than do those reached by influencer marketing. This is because P2P marketing leverages the power of a company’s existing relationship with its customers.
Let’s Look at Some Peer-to-Peer Marketplaces
Surkus
Surkus is a discovery platform that aims to connect brands and companies looking for more exposure and engagement with people who are seeking access to more events and services that fit their needs.
Surkus’s approach is quite simple. They operate from a belief that consumers are first and foremost people. These individuals, moreover, have value for the brands they seek mainly because they’re real, genuine individuals. Their friends and family trust them.
Therefore, businesses should be willing to treat them well. In fact, Surkus operates from the principle that each of these individuals can be persuaded to become an informal influencer. This elevates the company’s perception of their customers immeasurably.