In order to execute a successful marketing campaign, it’s important that you understand which approach best suits your goals and your audience. Push and Pull Marketing are two umbrella approaches that encompass various different strategies beneath them. In fact, it’s more than likely that you have been marketed to using these approaches, perhaps without even noticing it.
So, what exactly is Push and Pull Marketing and how do you know which is best for your brand?
What you need to know about Push Marketing
Push Marketing is the act of taking your product to consumers. This tactic is used widely in shopping centres and retail stores by setting up product displays or showrooms that are designed to appeal to customers. It’s also established itself in digital marketing with targeted advertising that asks the customer to ‘click here’ and ‘buy now’. At its core, push marketing is when you directly try to convince consumers to buy your product.
Most people would have experienced this strategy as a customer. Think about all the times you’ve been at the supermarket and seen a special display that makes a particular item or brand stand out. Or perhaps when you’re walking through a retail store and a brand representative approaches you to talk about a specific product. These direct tactics are used to ‘push’ a product onto the consumer so they are made aware of the brand, product and how it can benefit them.
Is Push Marketing right for your brand
This style of marketing is most commonly used by brands who are looking to stand out from the crowd. For example, when you’re launching a new product and want to get the attention of as many consumers as possible. Alternatively, for brands within a crowded or niche market, it can be an effective way of gaining the attention of consumers, so they choose your product over any other.
Push Marketing is intended to drive sales immediately. While there is the potential for this strategy to appeal to consumers over time, primarily it tells people to buy the product now. This makes it perfect for brands who want to see almost instant ROI, or those who are looking to drive sales with a smaller budget in a shorter period of time.
What you need to know about Pull Marketing
As you might have guessed, Pull Marketing is essentially the opposite of the ‘Push’ strategy. With this approach, you want the customer to come to you rather than to feel like they are directly being ‘sold’ to. In comparison to the short-term, immediate-results goal of Push Marketing, this is a far more long-term based approach.
Good examples of Pull Marketing are advertisements, media promotions and even word-of-mouth referrals both in person and online. While once upon a time this predominately incorporated TV, newspaper and radio ads, the rise of digital marketing has made it increasingly popular across social media. Influencer marketing, in particular, is a form of Pull Marketing as it gets your name and selling points out there to the right audience without asking for immediate action. Overall, the aim of this strategy is to expose consumers to your brand or products over a period of time. Eventually, the hope is they begin to want what you’re offering or have you in mind when they are in the market for that particular product.
For example, when you see an oven cleaning product advertised on TV, its goal usually isn’t to make you quickly go out and buy it that same day. Instead, most pull campaigns aim to make the brand name or product more recognisable to a consumer over time. So, after being exposed to advertisements for weeks or months, you are more likely to opt for that particular oven cleaning product the next time your oven is looking a little dirty.
Is Pull Marketing right for you?
As we mentioned, Pull Marketing is a long-term game. It doesn’t aim for immediate ROI and often costs far more to execute overall through repeatedly buying ad space for continuous exposure. However, if your brand wants to establish loyal, return customers, this is the approach for you. As Pull Marketing makes customers feel that they are coming to your product on their own terms, the likelihood of satisfaction is higher and provides a greater chance of establishing brand loyalty. So, if you have the advertising budget and aren’t looking for short-term results, Pull Marketing could be right for you.
About the Author
Ryan Jenkins is the Founder and CEO of Digital Eagles. I am driven by helping businesses grow and achieve their goals with experience spanning over 15 years. My passion lies with leadership, digital marketing, sales, coaching, business strategy.
