Pull Your Customers With Your Online Marketing
As long as there have been products/services to sell or trade, there has been advertising. Over time the mediums we use to get our advertising messages out may have changed, ie newspaper, magazines, billboards, radio, television, internet, but the concepts of advertising have pretty much stayed the same. One such concept is push vs. pull marketing.
With push marketing you are pushing your message out to consumers usually using a chain of suppliers and retail stores to create an interest in your product.
On the other hand, pull marketing is going to be focused on the already established interests, wants, and needs of the customer who will then seek out a product to fulfill those needs.
While a successful small business will most likely employ strategies using both push and pull marketing, the Internet and especially an emerging Web 2.0 seems to signify an increasing need to focus on one’s pull marketing.
The average consumer is bombarded with over 5000 advertising images a day and quite frankly is becoming increasingly irritated by, and immune to, the onslaught. The Internet shifts the power to the consumer where they can research, learn, compare shop, bargain hunt, and make their purchasing decisions not based on the marketing messages that are being pushed upon them, but instead those that they are pulling themselves. So your job is to make sure that your online marketing strategy allows your customers to “pull” information about your company.
Here are some online pull marketing strategies you can use:
- Pay Per Click
- Blogging
- Writing articles
- Virtual worlds
- Informative website with quality content
- Participating in forums
- Social networking
- Podcasting
All of the above marketing strategies will help consumers pull information about your company when they go online looking for the products and services to fill their needs.
Reader Comments
Eric,
You are absolutely right. Video is a strategy that I neglected to list. Thanks! 
This post really brings clarity to the difference between push/pull. I’m only and always pulling. It makes sense to me. I can add some value in the proccess and also be clear on my message. Branding would be a push… Article marketing and seo would be a pull… if I’m clear on it.
You got it Eric. 
Providing value, as you said, for your market is key in successful pull marketing. It will bring the customers back to you instead of your competition. Thanks for stopping by!
My apologies UK Small Business… just realized I misaddressed my response to you.
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Tim is Co-Founder and CEO of About Brandi Cummings
Brandi is Co-Founder and CCO of Telecentrex, LLC and brings over 3 years of expertise related to article marketing and various content-related Internet marketing strategies.
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Thats some great information, I’ve never thought of it as a push/pull relationship before…
Lets not forget the use of new video marketing through medias such as you tube, meta cafe and others : )