Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog, “Are Prosumers Relevant for B2B Marketing?"

Welcome to the Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog. Today's post, "Are Prosumers Relevant for B2B Marketing?" examines the effect prosumers are having on B2B brands, as well as, how prosumers are shaping the general marketplace. The term 'prosumers' is not exactly new. The futurologist, Alvin Toffler introduced the term prosumer in his book, "The Third Wave," published in May 1984. According to Mr. Toffler, the term prosumer represents a mix of a producer and a consumer.

The advent of social media revised the adage, 'the customer is always right" to a new ideology, in that the customer is now producing brand content in real time. By today's definition, prosumers are people or individuals that both consume and produce media, content, or even products. Think of prosumers as consumers that can directly impact a market, brand, products, and services. Further, because prosumers are consuming and developing, they are both a producer and a consumer.

Futurecast's president Jeff Fromm, who has penned several marketing books on Millennials and GenZers states that "They're all doing it from the palms of their hands—they want to co-create their story, use reviews, and make an informed decision quickly." That prosumer process would appear to alter the old "sales funnel" methodology.

That said, it may be a huge mistake to believe that all consumers are prosumers; and that brands and marketers should consider ditching the sales funnel technique. We contend that all hands on deck approach are a better strategy, which means brands should include both the sales funnel and prosumer strategies.

The Twenty-First-Century Customer

Consumers were considered to be unplugged in the days before the Internet explosion. Today's consumers are now plugged in across various digital touch points, enter omni-channel and multi-channel marketing. However, customers continue to place great value in face-to-face experiences while simultaneously devoting time to the digital landscape. Moreover, today's customers are operating in a hybrid fashion consuming digital content experiences as well as valuing face-to-face meetings.

Both B2C and B2B brands are being forced to invest in digital and with that focus, the mobile experience is leading the way. Unlike desktop computers, mobile technology persists with or on the person at all times, can be accessed anywhere, resulting in a more active, more engaged lifestyle.

The twenty-first-century customer now expects brands to be able to provide easy access to engaging content, regardless of where a customer may be in the physical world. Three years ago, 83% of B2B marketers believed that mobile apps were a necessary marketing component to be added to their marketing strategies.

Today's prosumers are on the record stating that 91% of mobile users need access to content that is very important to them. Therefore, B2B and B2C marketers and brands should ensure that mobile access is simple and provides access to relevant brand content.

Digital Word of Mouth

Digital word-of-mouth travels faster and can reach broad audiences in a single click. Prosumers in no small degree have ownership of brand experiences, and no doubt you may have examples of how prosumers conduct brand ownership.

An excellent example of prosumer brand ownership is the United Airlines passenger debacle in 2017. A single tweet depicting a video of a passenger dragged off an overbooked flight went viral and disgraced United Airlines brand. United Arlines CEO in conjunction with the callous treatment of the passenger left a damaging stain on the brand.

Brands and marketers should take the United Airlines debacle to heart and understand how difficult and time-consuming it is to remove or reverse negative social media comments from the internet. A disturbing human trait is the tendency to heighten negative experiences over and above positive moments. Andrew Thomas, the founder of Skybell Video Doorbell, states that undoing negative customer experiences takes approximately 40 positive customer experiences to reverse the negative perception.

Prosumers and B2B

Remember when non-profit brands and marketers chose to forgo using B2C marketing and advertising strategies? As the digital age rose in stature and usage, the non-profit sector began to embrace strategic and tactical marketing concepts.

The B2B sector similarly presented marketing experts and advertising gurus with challenges when it came to utilizing successful B2C marketing strategies. The B2B space requires a divergent path when it comes to prosumers. B2B targets other businesses, and while the sales cycle tends to be longer, the challenge is for B2B organizations to deliver operational strategies that meet the digital experience expectation.

B2B brands should avoid shying away from creating and delivering experiential and purely engaging touch-points for both current customers and prospects alike. B2B organizations can achieve better prosumer buy-in by focusing on creating seamless mobile experiences, or personalized landing pages, or a customer portal that delivers engaging, relevant content.

The Prosumer Pie

In the not too distant past, B2B brands were of the mindset that marketing to millennials would be premature. The new reality is that millennials are now the key influencers in the buying cycles. As of 2017, the Pew Research Center came out with new results indicating that millennials are the largest workforce group, and make up 35% of those in the labor force.

It is vital to understand that prosumers produce content, regardless of whether or not the brand would want these content producers to do so. In a sense, prosumers are living the brand story as opposed to storytelling for the brand. Prosumers are the ones who bring a brand overview to life. B2B brands should embrace the idea that prosumers can help the brand secure more consumers.

There are a ton of consumers versus the number of prosumers. Think of it this way. Prosumers represent the lifeline to consumers and are a direct connection to them. From the content marketing perspective, prosumers produce engaging content that attracts consumers and informs them of the brand. Informed buyers tend to make better customers, the better the content, the more educated the buyer.

The Bottom Line

Prosumers can either build a brand or destroy it. Therefore brands need to employ a robust monitoring system to ensure that response times are instant. According to the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, people tend to report negative experiences at a much higher clip. Anywhere from nine to 15 people, and sometimes up to 20 will share their negative experiences.

Think about 20 people sharing a less than stellar experience about your brand. Now multiply that factor by the number of friends each person has, as they will at the very least be able to see that negative post, share it with others, and so forth and so on, and the numbers could easily become millions in less than a day.

The Net-Net

Prosumers are a significant addition for any brand who can gain have access to this unique buyer group. B2B execs and C-Suite managers are people too. Since 91% of all consumers are mobile armed and ready, it makes good sense for B2B brands to engage with prosumers, listen to their posts and comments, and make inroads by opening lines of communication with these marketing content producers. Thanks for reading "Are Prosumers Relevant for B2B Marketing?"

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