Advertisements that 'push' a sales or promotional message onto a consumer have been the leading marketing technique for a long time.
The Internet, however, has introduced a powerful new marketing technique called 'pull' marketing.
What is pull marketing?
Pull marketing is a more long term marketing strategy. It aims to gather interest in your company through marketing vehicles that do not overtly use push techniques, but rather present a helpful solution or a concept that show the consumer that there might be a better way.
With 'pull' marketing, the idea is to create content that people will seek out for themselves through search engines and informational websites. These customers usually know what they're looking for and are more ready to make a purchase.
Why is pull marketing popular?
Marketing that focuses on helping brands and organizations be more easily discovered is the next wave of marketing. Customers are more inclined to trust the result of their own 'pull' searches.
Pull marketing means that customers get exactly the information they are seeking to find, at the exact time they are looking for it. They no longer feel 'pushed' toward a sale. The customer feels, in fact, as though the pull marketing technique they have participated in has helped them find what they needed right when they needed it – which is a smarter way to market.
How do I use pull marketing in my business?
There are a few strategies recommended for pull marketing:
Talk to Searchers: Push marketing always spoke to the customer, but pull marketing speaks to the searcher. Push marketing would have put up an ad that said "Shampoo", but a searcher is actually looking for "how to get rid of dandruff." Searchers are looking for information, not just a product. They respond better to a conversational tone rather than a sales-y one.
Join the Conversation: If you become known as an expert in your area of business, customers will be inclined to trust your judgment and view you as the obvious solution to their problem. You can inform online communities by offering well-researched information on your site. One widely used strategy for informing the conversation is blogging.
Adopt Established Channels: It's difficult to come up with the next big wave of innovation, but it's easy to adopt a trend that is already very popular with your customers. One big trend that's very popular right now is social media, and it may be worth using that trend to connect with your customers.
You may wish to consider adopting a push/pull marketing strategy, at times pushing information out to your market and at other times implementing strategies to pull consumers to you. If you would like to review the effectiveness of your online marketing, please contact us.
