Are Content Creators where the money’s at, or is it the Prosumers more broadly? 

Firstly, what’s a Content Creator?

Take, for example, a YouTuber who creates, edits and produces vlogs. This is a Content Creator. Now say this vlogger has a growing following and wants to ‘level up’ the quality of their videos. This is a Content Creator who is in the market for some new kit, be it speakers, cameras, microphones and more.

Content Creators are causing a lot of buzz in the marketing world at the moment. They are a growing portion of the tech market, borne of social media where content creation is being ever more democratised. TikTok in particular has helped put them on the map recently. They’re potentially a very lucrative target audience who want to spend on hardware, and also have an enticing reach of fans to help boost brand equity and advocacy.

But are Content Creators really where the opportunity is? Well, they are a growing and sexy target, but starting from a very small group of people. To get in with the top dogs and build brand equity, a lot of companies are also gifting their kit, so a strategy that focuses in too heavily here might not offer an attractive return. But what about the Prosumer market more broadly?

What’s a ‘Prosumer’? Despite its original ties to the producer/consumer combo, when it comes to Tech it’s easier to think of it as a way of describing ‘professional consumers’ – consumers who are looking to invest upwards with their tech in order to create more professional results. Content Creators sit within Prosumers, yes, but to assume that is the extent of the Prosumer market would be to miss an important nuance, and opportunity.

Think about our ever more global way of working and living, add in a global pandemic, and the need for more professional level hardware within a multitude of sectors beyond ‘Creatives’ is on the rise. If you’re on calls all day every day for work, for example, you may want to invest in higher quality headphone/microphones. Ring lights, another example, have already seeped from professional videographers down to competent TikTokers, but don’t be surprised if there’s a ring light sitting on your colleague’s work from home desk. If we’re to use TVE as at least an anecdotal frame of reference, there are certainly some flashier products starting to appear on Teams’ calls.

So which brands are winning? Well, brands from both professional and consumer strongholds are piling in. Prosumers are looking for brands that they can trust to improve quality, and are happy to fork out for higher price tags that were in the past felt to be overkill for light usage. So the traditionally professional brands have the opportunity to target Prosumers without losing their ‘professional’ exclusivity and damaging their carefully carved out market space. Consumer brands such as Apple recognised this space long ago too; iPhones are now your partner for creating, editing, and producing your content, look no further (and here’s a nice juicy price tag to prove it).

Prosumers offer a strategically valuable space from a sales perspective and they’re also often the perfect micro influencers and brand advocates to help grow your brand. If you can win with Content Creators, amazing. If you can win with Prosumers more broadly, even better.

Has your brand staked a claim in the Prosumer market? And if not, should it?

By: Rachel Ballard

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