This insight post is a summary of the original blog post published by LF Channel: . What is a Prosumer and How they can help your Marketing Strategy.
What is a Prosumer?
Imagine this: one day you’re shopping, and you decide to buy the computer you were looking for. It is super-fast and has a lot of memory. However, when you turn it on, it starts to fail – it doesn’t start up properly and switches itself off. What do you do? You take your phone, open Twitter, and write a tweet mentioning the brand and explaining the problem. This may be a simple complaint for the user, but for the company it could be the start of a reputation crisis.
Today, there are few people who do not already have a smartphone in their hands. Consumers have empowered themselves through their mobile phones by taking advantage of the endless options they can offer. Therefore, as marketers we should not overlook the power of mobile marketing and the impact it can have on our communication strategies.
To understand the scope of mobile marketing, the first question to ask is: what makes a consumer decide to buy? Fifty-seven percent of online shoppers search for information on the internet before making a purchase, with Facebook and Instagram being the main networks they consult. In addition to this, 38% also leave comments, give their opinion, or ask questions on social media before deciding to buy a certain product. The change that consumers undergo when they go from simply being searchers to generating opinions is the transition to prosumers.
But wait. You may be wondering: where does this concept come from? It’s easy; the term comes from joining two words: producer and consumer. A prosumer is a person who not only consumes a product or service, but they also produce content about it. In fact, it is not a recent term, but was coined in 1979 to talk about the evolution of consumers who were involved in the manufacture and design of the products they consumed.
Want to learn more about the history of the term and power the word holds among the marketing industry? Check out the full blog post The Power of Prosumers in Your Marketing Strategy.
