Person to Person (P2P) Marketing is an interesting topic worth exploring for all digital marketers. Instead of clubbing your customer segment into Business to Business (B2B) or Business to Consumer (B2C), a saner approach in today’s times of digital marketing uncertainty and trust issues is to go for a human essence in interactions. This is precisely what P2P marketing entails.
Why is the P2P approach necessary?
The right approach to interacting with customers is at the core of P2P marketing. And why would this be important? Precisely because businesses don’t drive a brand’s success, people do. So rather than going on and on about the brilliance of your product, P2P marketing concentrates on letting your audience know the answer to one crucial question they may have
“What’s in it for me?”
P2P Marketing tries to bring out a lucid and clear answer to this question and communicate it in the right way to your target audience.
Why now?
Remember how radio took a whopping 30 years to reach an audience of 50 million? Well, Facebook did 100 million in just 9 months! That’s the power of social we see around us today. Audiences today are connected, vocal, and social – across the world. And this is a power in the hands of the customer we simply cannot ignore. Most of the buying decisions now entail going online, checking reviews, talking with friends, and then making a decision. Hence P2P marketing – i.e. a personal interaction with the customer is an excellent fit for the evolving dynamics we are seeing around us.
How to enable P2P?
The below interesting pointers will guide you in making that personal connection with your customer to drive greater brand success:
1. Give a human face to your brand
While it is hard to break away from business jargons and terminologies, it is still doable. Instead of focusing what you do, focus on how your customers will benefit from it. This way, customers will come to know why they should go with your product/ services and not your competitor’s. Remembers it’s all about re-wording your business proposition in an easy to understand perspective.
2. Connect where your customers are
Customers need a platform on which they see that they can impact a brand’s decision. Instead of going round and round in consumer redressal forums or other forms of dispute resolution, they want a simplified way to resolve their pain points. Social media offers brands to carry out this task with incredible effect. By being present online and responding to their customers’ posts in real time, you not only prevent an issue from snowballing to a major PR catastrophe, but you also show other customers how quick and nimble you are in customer servicing.
3. Upgrade your metrics for P2P
Traditional success metrics in digital marketing won’t just cut it for P2P. You need to employ more targeted approaches that can accelerate the P2P campaign success. Some ways to do this is by having live stream events, doing personalised Q&A sessions, and surveying for NPS scores.
Today when privacy concerns are high, and ad frauds are on the rise, it is this crucial element that can connect your business to the success it deserves. Go on, try out P2P marketing and let us know in which ways you will be adding this essence to your overall digital marketing mix.
