Deciding how to market your products has always been one of businesses’ most significant challenges. There’s a multitude of mediums to choose from, and deciding on a strategy can be challenging.
Do you want to aim for a softer sell and slowly pull in your customers or push your products with more aggressive advertising? Let’s look at the difference between push and pull marketing to help you decide which one is best for your business.
What Is Push Marketing?
Push marketing is what you typically think of when you hear sales marketing. It’s a strategy where you push your products in front of consumers to get them to see them and make a purchase—also referred to as direct marketing. Push marketing is one of the most common forms of advertising used in business. Typically, this type of marketing strategy is best used when you’re just getting started advertising, pushing newly released products, or trying to increase sales.
Examples of Push Marketing
Examples of push marketing are often seen in many big-name retail stores. Businesses looking to promote their products may contact a retailer to offer them incentives or a deal to push their products and increase sales. This type of marketing is often effective for new brands looking to jump-start their sales and brand recognition. Customers will be able to interact with your product and hear more about it by having the store’s employees sell your product to customers. If employees didn’t push the new product to customers, they might not even know it exists.
What Is Pull Marketing?
Pull marketing is more relaxed than push marketing. It’s a marketing tactic where customers come to you rather than pushing products to a customer. Most of the tactics used in pull marketing are mass media promotions or running a sale on your products. With pull marketing, brands are more focused on creating brand loyalty to retain loyal customers, whereas push marketing focuses on generating sales quickly.
Examples of Pull Marketing
Pull marketing is seen almost every day in banner ads or television commercials. This strategy focuses primarily on creating awareness of your product or business rather than reaching for more sales. This is a common tactic in marketing children’s toys. Manufacturers will start showing commercials for these products, and once demand begins to increase from children and parents, big retailers will start to buy them and stock their shelves with them. Now the business can watch as more retailers and consumers come to them to try and buy these products.
Which Method Is Better?
It depends on what you’re hoping to accomplish when deciding whether you should try push or pull. If you’re looking for a way to increase sales of a new product line, push marketing will be your best route. It happens quickly, and you’ll receive more instant gratification from generating sales.
Pull marketing will be better for you if you’re more focused on creating brand awareness and establishing a more loyal customer base. Pull marketing doesn’t work as quickly as push marketing, but if a business is diligent with its pull marketing strategy, it can pay off big for them in the long run.
The Takeaway
Both of these strategies are effective and beneficial for your business. Choosing either push or pull marketing depends on your business goals and what you hope to accomplish with your overall marketing strategy. Take your time, do your research, and consider which strategy will work best for you and your business.