Carl Leaman, President, Be The Best Business

If you think of your business as a doorway, and just on the other side of the doorway is your product or service.  And reluctant to enter the doorway is the prospect.  How do you get them to come in? With marketing!   Think of marketing as a type of force on the prospect. You can choose to pull the prospect through the door or you can push them through the door.

What is pull marketing?  Pull marketing is where you develop lead generation strategies that are meant to entice the prospect to buy your product or service.   Some classic examples are “FREE” or “half off!” or “bring in this coupon to save 25%” or “buy one get one free”, etc.

With pull marketing,  you are trying to create a sense of increased, time limited value so that the customer will come into your business to buy.

What is push marketing?   Push marketing is where you develop lead generation strategies geared toward distribution and business alliances to entice them in promoting your product.    As a consumer,  you rarely see this type of marketing when it is directed to business to business.  It might include wholesale discounts, kickbacks, bonuses, commissions, and other types of support.    It’s all designed to have the stategic alliance or retailer promote your product to the end users over a different product.

In recent years,  I’ve seen an exponential increase in another type of push marketing taking over.  It’s the referral and word of mouth marketing.  When businesses encourage happy customers to spread the word to their friends and families, that’s a type of push marketing.   Or, when companies make ads that are controversial, cheeky, or downright shocking, they create a little buzz – that’s another type of push marketing. 

Why you need both.   Just one strategy will not give you as good of a return.   I believe you need to balance both strategies to create a great marketing mix that powerfully entices customers to come through your door.   Some customers react to one type or to the other.   For example, the bargain hunters might react to the pull marketing tactics while the socially-aware buyers might respond to the push marketing.   Or, if you have a product that requires a lot of convincing to buy, the “double barreled” approach will help to ensure that they can’t resist your offer.  

Our list of successful lead generation strategies is available “FREE” for you.  DOWNLOAD NOW 

Please submit additional success strategies you have tried.  I will add them to the list.  Include in your success story the Test & Measure criteria,  the Conversion Rate,  and the Return on Investment,  experienced in your campaign.

Congratulations in your success in advance.

Coach Carl.

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