eCommerce: Push Marketing vs. Pull Marketing

When should you use push marketing, and when should you use pull marketing for your ecommerce business?

Let’s begin by defining both:

Push Marketing is when you actively push your product toward a targeted audience. In some cases, you literally create a market for your product. For example, you have launched a website featuring your own custom made and designed baby clothes….then you advertise this clothing and your website with PPC, display ads, etc. In this case, you are creating a market for your product and pushing consumers toward it.

Push marketing is usually geared directly to the buyer.

Pull marketing involves creating a demand for your product. A good example of this would be the infamous Tickle Me Elmo a few years ago, or the Zhu Zhu pets this past holiday season. Kids saw these toys on TV and wanted them. Usually, you sink a considerable sum of money in pull marketing because you must actively build a demand a desire for the product, which generally takes a lot of advertising!

There is a place for both kinds of marketing---both push and pull---to help grow your online business.

The best of all possible worlds, though, is to use both types of marketing side by side.

Here are some examples of push/pull marketing strategies you could use:

Pull: You create an online community associated with your online business. As more members join and participate in the forum, they become involved with your website and your product/s. In this way, interest is translated into buying, and buying into customer loyalty.

Pull: Start a blog for your business and consistently post good quality, well written and informative articles relevant to your industry in some way. By delivering information that is of value to readers, you attract attention to your business and products through people who read your blog.

Push: eMail marketing is a prime example of push marketing. Sending out email newsletters and emails telling subscribers about sales, specials, promotions, contests or other noteworthy happenings on your website that might benefit the reader is a great way to use push marketing without spending much money.

Push: Paid advertising such as pay Per Click and banner display ads is an example of push marketing, although not inexpensive.

You can use push and pull marketing to build and grow your online business!