Overview

This article explores peer-to-peer marketing, a strategy that leverages customers, partners, and employees to recommend a brand to their peers, effectively turning them into marketing channels. It discusses the importance of trust in marketing and provides examples of successful peer-to-peer marketing tactics.

Information

What is peer-to-peer marketing?

Peer-to-peer or P2P marketing is word-of-mouth marketing where your customers recommend your business or brand to their peers. It turns your brand’s stakeholders (customers, partners, employees, etc) into marketing channels.

It’s a known fact that consumers hate being sold to, and people are more likely to buy products from those they trust. These two ideas combined form the basis for P2P marketing. With 56% of consumers being influenced by their peers while shopping, peer-to-peer marketing encourages new customers to purchase, builds long-lasting relationships, and strengthens brand loyalty.

Examples of peer-to-peer marketing

• Word-of-mouth: Your customers mention your business to their friends, family, or coworkers and discuss your product or the excellent service they’ve received. For example, if a customer contacts a customer service department and their call is answered immediately, they may be pleasantly surprised as they’re often left on hold. Then, if their query was dealt with in a helpful and friendly manner, they may be impressed with the customer service they’ve received and mention this to their friend. This recommendation could then encourage the friend to purchase from the brand themselves.
• Referrals: Another type of peer-to-peer marketing is to create a referral program. Also known as a refer-a-friend program, this marketing method rewards existing customers for sharing your brand with their network. You then reward them with an incentive, such as loyalty points or store credit, to thank them for bringing new customers to your business.

Why peer-to-peer marketing is important

Peer-to-peer marketing is an effective form of marketing that relies on your customers recommending your brand to their network. It’s important and effective because people trust the opinions of those closest to them, with 93% of consumers trusting friends and family over all other influences. So, if your customer recommends your brand to their friend, it’s likely that friend will look into your business and consider a purchase. This is because you are more likely to trust the opinion of someone close to you than a company’s advertising, as they are less likely to gain anything from the interaction and, therefore, seen as more honest.