In today’s fast-changing and tech-driven world, being a lone wolf in doing business is no longer advised. To hit the numbers, management and workforces must continuously come up with fresh and unique ways to attract customers and keep them engaged.
One timely method to keep your sales game upfront is Peer to Peer Marketing or P2P Marketing.
Social business is the new norm. B2B professionals go beyond the usuals and connect with peers and colleagues to share best practices, collaborate, and gather insight and tools in their respective industries.
Business owners and marketing teams focus more on loyalty programs and customer satisfaction. With a more personal approach, they get better feedback and results with the help of word-of-mouth.
Social media, networking events, and online communities paved the way to enhance B2B sales through P2P marketing.
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What is Peer-to-Peer Marketing?
Encouraging customers to promote, recommend, and even offer your products or services to their family and friends. That is how we can define P2P marketing.
It is not the same as network marketing, wherein consumers sell the products to start a business and earn for themselves.
Peer-to-peer marketing is word-of-mouth, but in a more refined manner. If the latter is when one customer raves about your product or service to his family or colleagues, the former is when your customer locates others who fit your ideal buyer. It is a way of improving your brand’s reputation.
An example is shown in LinkedIn’s State of Sales 2017 report wherein key decision-makers responded to salespeople 70% of the time when they were introduced through referrals or professional networks.
USEFUL Tips for P2P Marketing
Here are the three most-sought tips to reap the optimal benefits of peer-to-peer marketing.
Differentiation is essential.
Buyers are often motivated to purchase based on their demographics. A newly graduate professional has different behaviors than a manager with 15 years of experience.
Your strategy must then not be too broad if you want to capture the interest of both customers. A customized and more specific strategy will work better for you to understand the needs of each group and provide content that is more desirable to them.
Effective marketing is engaging.
Marketing materials can be effective if they initiate post-sale engagement from your customers. Adding some humor, creativity, and even challenges can pique the minds of the consumers and probe more connections and interactions.
Sales representatives can use the resources from their company and innovate them, if possible, to make a product unique, trustworthy, and useful.
Interaction is vital.
In P2P marketing, customer responsiveness must be achieved. When you provide feedback to your buyers’ comments and suggestions, good or bad, you are sending a message that they are valued and that their voice about your products/services matter.
Through this simple personal touch through social platforms and online communities, you will gain quality customers who will come back to buy more and increase quantity of customers through word of mouth.
Where to capitalize on P2P Marketing?
- Identify the connection between your sales, customer relations, and marketing.
- Ensure to invest in developing content and deliverables explicitly tailored to a particular peer group.
- Enhance your goodwill and credibility through reviews, testimonials, and videos
- Focus on growing social platforms and awareness
How to Develop your Content to be more P2P Effective
- Share your story – Customers don’t get interested in a cold sales pitch. Instead, they engage when they hear your business’ or product’s story. When they understand and learn more about what you offer, they tend to relate and make them want to purchase what you sell.
- Create common connections with your buyers – Empathize with the consumers by making content more focused on how your products/services can affect and improve their lives.
- Let them know your cause – Establish a cause that your business believes in, something to be proud of, and something that grows trust. This way, your customers will know that your business is not mediocre, that solely focuses on capital returns.
- Make your goals long-term – Instead of looking at immediate results, utilize your P2P data to analyze and make your content more useful and effective for a longer game than a quick win.
P2P Takeaway
Large corporations and SMEs have succeeded in getting into their targeted buyers faster through referral opportunities.
Their account representatives, salespeople, brand ambassadors, or even owners have played vital roles in promoting, growing, and maintaining an engaging relationship with their family, friends, and colleagues.
By making your content P2P friendly and continually improving your marketing strategies through peer-to-peer opportunities, you can also entice more customers and boost your sales.
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