18

OCTOBER | 2023

How to Choose Between Push and Pull Marketing

How to Choose Between Push and Pull Marketing

There are numerous strategies to choose from when it comes to marketing strategies for your B2B e-commerce website platform. Email marketing, SMS marketing, blogging, infographics, flyers, billboards, and so on. Essentially, all of these can be categorized as either push or pull marketing strategies. While they may seem similar and leverage similar communication channels, they work on different mindsets. The main difference is in the manner in which customers are approached. Before you choose one or the either for your e-commerce marketing , you must establish your long-term and short-term business goals. So, let’s understand both push and pull strategy.

Push Marketing

As the name suggests, push strategy in e-commerce marketing involves pushing on the part of marketers and businesses; they directly promote their services and products to consumers. Sellers create awareness for their brand through unsolicited consumer interactions, regardless of whether the consumers have a need for that product or not. Types of push marketing include:

  • Free samples and trial packs
  • Social media ads, PPC ads, and Search Engine Ads
  • Re targeting
  • Banners – online and offline
  • Cross selling and up selling
  • Pop-up ads
  • Sponsoring events
  • Cold calling
  • Special displays at supermarkets
  • Print, TV, and radio ads
  • Stalls in trade shows

These can be very effective and get you immediate results as well.

Example

Company X has introduced a new range of heat-and-eat food packs, and so have placed staff in supermarkets, equipped with hotplates. They demonstrate the manner in which the food can be heated and cooked instantly, and offer a taste, and a sample pack. This way people come to know about this new product, and are likely to purchase a couple of packs when they get one for free.

Pull Marketing

In pull marketing, you pull the customer towards you by creating a need for the product, or by positioning your product as the solution to some problem they are facing. The trick is in convincing customers they need your product, so that they actively look for it, urging retailers to stock it. The pull strategy in ecommerce marketing is also called inbound marketing and focuses on helping the customer find you through the following methods:

  • Relevant Blogs
  • Optimized Website Pages
  • Word-Of-Mouth Publicity
  • Animated Online Explainer Videos
  • Infographics
  • Webinars
  • Chatbots
  • Social media posts
  • Customer reviews
  • How-to articles
  • Online reputation management
  • FAQ sections

Example

A spa chain has introduced an innovative range of skin treatments, so they post a series of information bits on social media. Consumer curiosity is created, and they contact the spa for more details and pricing, and share the posts, where their friends also get interested. Different branches of the spa experience a gradual but steep rise in demand for this new service.

When to Use Push and Pull Strategies?

Push strategy is a great method to meet your short-term sales goals, as they give you immediate results. You can create a buzz around your products and services immediately and convince shoppers to choose you over competing businesses. This is an effective strategy when your market is very competitive, and you can increase sales volume and build brand loyalty rapidly for products that consumers are familiar with already. However, it could be expensive to sustain in the long run.

Pull strategy is used to achieve long-term sales goals and building bonds with customers. It is very effective for businesses introducing innovative products, and works best when there is sufficient lead time. This allows consumers to properly compare products and choose without being rushed. Businesses can use pull marketing to promote products that have not yet been launched. Pull marketing takes a lot of consistent effort over a long time for it to be successful.

Why You Need a Mix of Both Methods

Both push and pull strategies have shortcomings, in spite of the many benefits they offer to businesses. No one strategy alone can help a business to achieve their short- and long-term business goals. A judicious mix of both is more likely to deliver the optimal results.

For example, ABC company has introduced a range of health foods. They want to penetrate the market and see sales happening quickly, but also want to sustain these sales for the long term. For the long-term goal, they start writing and promoting blogs that talk about various topics like modern food habits and their dangers, importance of right diet, optimal nutrition required for different segments of people, etc., and slowly progress into writing about their products and their benefits.

They post on Facebook and Instagram, using eye-catching images and witty text. They give out free samples in supermarkets, and even door-to-door. They also launch ads on TV, and/or radio, and send flyers through newspapers or straight in mailboxes. They create infographics showing a few scary statistics about lifestyle diseases and how the right food can help control them. The company is also likely to make different ads to target specific demographics like senior citizens, children, women, those with health issues, and more.

Here you can see that the company uses both inbound and outbound marketingtactics to drive the message home, and gain maximum visibility for their product.

What’s right for me?

So now you need to think what is the best strategy for your business. You have already seen how push and pull strategies work, and what their pros and cons are. First and foremost, define your immediate and future goals. Your strategy should also consider your budget and timelines. But don’t worry. IPIX Technologies is one of the top digital marketing companies based in Kerala, and we can design a custom marketing strategy for you. Our team has the expertise to craft and implement the optimal digital marketing strategies for a wide range of businesses. We will work with you to understand your business, and your unique requirements before we make our recommendations.

Conclusion

Proper promotion can make the difference between the success and failure of a product, so you need to be smart about choosing the right strategy. As one of the best ecommerce marketing companies in India,IPIX Technologies is rightly placed to help you with this task.

FAQ

1. What is the difference between traditional marketing and modern marketing?

A Traditional or push marketing involves direct interactions with consumers, by approaching them. Modern or pull marketing works to create a demand in the consumer mind, and get them to come to you.

2.Give examples for Push and Pull strategy

A Strategic product placement and company representatives approaching you to tell you about the product is push marketing strategy. Creating an explainer video which shows how to use a particular innovative product that has been just launched, is an example of pull marketing strategy.

3. Which one is more effective, push marketing or pull marketing?

A. Both are effective in different ways, and for different products. Push marketing is effective for short term, rapid increase in sales volumes, and for familiar, less expensive products and services. Pull marketing works in the long-term, and is effective in popularizing innovative and unfamiliar products and services.

IPIX Technologies is one of the leading web development company in India& USA and web design company in USA. We have team of skilled and experienced developers who have a wide range of knowledge and expertise in building and maintaining websites. For further information, please contact us today.



Follow Us
0495-2431044, 2434044

Perfection beyond imagination - since 2007...

Dubai

15th Floor, Lake Central
Business Bay, Al Abraj Street
P.O.Box 55535, Dubai, UAE

+97142762233
+971 52 935 6547
enquiry@ipixtechnologies.com

Bangalore

President Chamber, 102, Level 1
Hayes Road, Off Richmond Road
Bangalore, Karnataka,
Pin: 560 025

enquiry@ipixtechnologies.com

Kerala/Calicut

IPIX Tech Services Pvt Ltd.,
KSITIL Special Economic Zone,
Unit No 14, 1st Floor,
Sahya Building,
Govt Cyber Park, Nellikode (PO),
Calicut - 673016, Kerala, India

0495-2431044, 2434044
+91 9544 800 204
enquiry@ipixtechnologies.com
hr@ipixsolutions.com

Abu Dhabi

705, Abu Dhabi Plaza Tower
- Bldg # 17, Najda Street at Hamdan Street Crossing,
P.O. Box : 31616, Abu Dhabi

+971 52 935 6547
enquiry@ipixtechnologies.com

@ 2023 IPIX Technologies

wordpress development company UK