Today I want to talk about the difference between “Push” and “Pull” marketing, how they are different, and which one should you be using.

Push Marketing:

With “Push” marketing the person doing the marketing is in control of the message they are sending out and how it is received by potential customers – think of “pushing” your message into the consciousness of the prospects. “Push” marketing involves the active engagement of a target market through methods like advertising on relevant Websites, email marketing or cold calling or cold emailing a prospect. In summary “Push” marketing involves:

*A focus on features of a product or service
*seeks a direct response
*prospects either buy in or they don’t, can opt in or opt out for permission based marketing
*Advertising is an example of “push” marketing
*Short term, event or time based campaigns
*Pro-active
*Goes out directly to the market and normally interrupts them
*Includes methods such as banner advertising, Ezine Ads, Email Marketing, Cold Calling, Pop Up’s etc
*Generally gets faster results

Pull Marketing

With “Pull” Marketing the recipient of the message is in control of the message and their decision to act or not, here the customer “pulls” your content or product towards themselves because they are interested in learning more about it. “Pull” marketing involves the active development of a highly visible brand. This encourages customers to actively seek you out, because they believe you can fulfill their needs. In summary “Pull” marketing involves:

*Brand awareness campaigns
*Generating publicity for the end users to find you
*Long term campaigns, build trust and awareness
*Seen by many people
*Very evident in the world of social media
*Includes methods such as testimonials, social networking (Facebook, Twitter etc), directory ads, media interviews, word of mouth, conference
speaking
*Positioning yourself as the expert

So which method is best? This depends on your needs, if you have a time sensitive offer you would want to use a “Push” marketing strategy, however in general for most businesses it is better to use a combination of “push” and “pull” you need to used “pull” marketing to establish brand awareness in the marketplace and position you as an expert so that your brand can gain recognition and trust, whilst using “push” marketing to market specific and short term offers.

If you need assistance with push vs pull marketing campaigns or need any other specific advice to do with marketing your business contact Aimee at aimee@resgroup.co.nz