With easy access to the internet, particularly social media, this is probably the best time to do business. Whatever it is you’re offering, whether a product or a service, there are about 4 billion people on the internet and this gives you a potentially large customer base. But there is one issue whatever your business is, there are other people out there offering products or services similar to yours.
So the question is, how can you get people to choose your product? This is where marketing comes in. The goal of marketing is to express your market position to your target audience as enticingly as possible. To do this, you need a strategy. Several different marketing strategies exist. These strategies can be broadly categorized as either Push or Pull.
What’s the difference?
A push marketing strategy is one that attempts to communicate your product value to consumers where they are. Through this strategy, the business takes the product to the consumer. Several social media platforms have features that support push marketing. For example, promoted Instagram or Facebook posts, promoted tweets, sponsored updates on LinkedIn. Also, a lot of social media platforms have algorithms that increase the effectiveness of your ads by sending them to select people whom you feel are more likely to be interested in your product. Factors such as age, location, etc. can be put into consideration when determining the ideal audience for your ads.
A pull marketing strategy is aimed at attracting the consumer to your product. Pull marketing goes beyond just talking about your product. It requires you to talk about what it is that makes your brand unique and why it is the best option for your potential customer. Since consumers are most likely to do a web search on a product they want to buy, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be a key point of focus in any good pull strategy so that you and your product are easily discoverable by interested customers.
So which of these strategies should you use for your brand? The best answer is both. The push and pull strategies are intertwined to an extent. What’s important is that you find the right balance for your brand.
If you’re just starting up, then what you need is awareness. It’s impossible for consumers to be attracted to a brand that, to them, doesn’t even exist. At this stage, push marketing should be your major focus. Get the word out there. Afterward, you should prioritize pulling customers in. Pull marketing is vital to brand building and will require a lot of patience. This is because, you don’t want to just make a sale, and you want to make sure you acquire long-term consumers. These loyal customers could do more for your brand than even advertising can.