In the field of Marketing, push and pull strategies are two popular strategies used to promote sales. A push strategy focuses on getting the product into the hands of consumers, while a pull strategy focuses on creating consumer demand for the product.

The importance of push and pull strategies

Push and pull strategies are two basic and important marketing strategies that can help businesses achieve their business goals. Businesses need to clearly understand these two strategies to be able to choose the appropriate strategy and implement it effectively.

Push marketing strategy

Push strategy is a marketing strategy that focuses on push products to consumers. Besides with pushing products to consumers through distribution channels (wholesalers, retailers), and salesforce with sales visit, point of sales, the push strategy is considered associated with outbound marketing, accordingly, it is used a lot paid ads (TV, printed, social ads), trade shows, conference presentations, sponsorships, promotions, email marketing. Businesses will use marketing tools such as direct sales, promotions, product displays, etc. to motivate retailers, agents, etc. to buy and sell their products.

The goal of a push strategy is to create consumer demand for a product through making it widely available and easily accessible.

Pull marketing strategy

Pull strategy is a marketing strategy that focuses on creating consumer demand for products through communication and advertising activities. Pull marketing focus a lot on inbound marketing to create valuable content for customers, customers can access information through proactive searching, increase brand recognition, thereby drawing customers to products and services. Businesses will use marketing tools such as advertising, PR, events, etc. to create attention and attract consumer interest in the product.
The goal of the pull strategy is to encourage consumers to search for and buy a business’s products on their own.

The difference between push and pull strategies

Push strategy and pull strategy are two popular marketing strategies used to promote product/service consumption. These two strategies have fundamental differences in terms of customer approach, strategic focus, distribution channels, level of interaction, and advantages and disadvantages.

Methods of approaching customers

• Pull strategy: Focus on attracting potential customers, stimulating their demand for products/services. Businesses use marketing channels such as SEO, SEM, Social Media, Email Marketing, etc. to provide useful and attractive information to customers, making them interested and wanting to own the product/service. of business.
• Push strategy: Focus on bringing products closer to customers. Businesses use marketing channels such as television advertising, radio, newspapers, etc. to introduce products to customers, creating shopping demand.

Strategic focus

• Pull strategy: The focus is on increasing brand awareness, attracting customer attention and then increasing customer conversion rates.
• Push strategy: The focus is on accelerating consumption by bringing products closer to customers.

Distribution channel

• Pull strategy: Deployment is mainly based on the enterprise’s website system, social media platform, etc. Website is the most important distribution channel in the pull strategy, a place to provide information, interact with customers and motivate them to take actions such as purchasing, registering to receive information, etc. Some Pull marketing tools such as: SEO, Blogs, Social Media marketing, etc.
• Push strategy: Start with offline marketing channels like sending direct mail to customers, email marketing, online advertising and agent system or sales staff. Businesses can then use online marketing channels to support the push strategy. Some Push marketing tools such as: Display Ads, Billboards, Direct Marketing, etc.

One thing to keep in mind is that although push and pull marketing can use the same methods like content marketing, email marketing, online advertising, etc., the two methods will have different approaches. For example, push and pull marketing use social media for the marketing campaign, but push marketing will use social ads, on the other hand, pull marketing will use social posts with value content; or email marketing: push uses email marketing to advertise services and products; pull uses email marketing to push useful content, making users interested and curious, like newsletters) or different ads: push uses TV ads, social ads, print ads, pull uses Google or search ads.

Interaction

• Pull strategy: The level of customer interaction in this strategy is very high because customers have great demand for the product/service. Businesses do not need to influence too much to promote demand from customers.
• Push strategy: The level of customer engagement in this strategy is lower than the pull strategy. Businesses need specific research and analysis to succeed. For example, with direct mail, businesses need to rely on collected customer data to personalize messages sent to customers. That way, they feel cared for and have a good impression of the business.

Push strategy example in marketing

Retail businesses often use push strategies to bring products to consumers. These businesses will use tools such as direct sales, promotions, product displays, etc. to motivate retailers, agents, etc. to buy and sell their products.

Automobile manufacturers often use push strategies to get products into the hands of auto dealers. Automobile manufacturers will use tools such as discounts, commissions, etc. to encourage auto dealers to sell more of their products.

Pull strategy in marketing example

Fashion retail businesses often use pull strategies to create consumer demand for products. These businesses will use tools such as advertising, PR, events, etc. to create attention and attract consumer interest in the product.

Cosmetics manufacturers often use pull strategies to create consumer demand for products. Cosmetic manufacturers will use tools such as social network advertising, influencer marketing, etc. to create attention and attract consumer interest in the product.

When should businesses apply push and pull marketing strategies?

Push and pull strategies both have their own advantages and disadvantages. Businesses should choose a strategy that suits their goals and specific situation.

There is no single right answer as to which strategy you should use.

Recently, marketers are turning to the natural “attraction” aspect of pull marketing because consumers are becoming less interested in traditional forms of advertising. However, both push and pull always have their place.

When to use Push Marketing?

If you have a specialized product or service, push marketing may be the best option. Targeting potential consumers directly increases the likelihood that they will engage with your ad, as it is relevant and specific enough for them to take action.

However, due to its specific nature, it is no necessary to use push marketing if your goal is simply to increase engagement or brand awareness, as conversion rates will be lower. Even so, you’ll likely see more customer engagement translate into revenue.

When to use Pull Marketing?

If you are a new brand or business just starting to grow, pull marketing can be the best option to increase brand awareness and boost reputation.

You can expect higher engagement with pull marketing because it is broader, but the conversion rate to sales is lower.

When to use both Push and Pull marketing strategies

Most marketing professionals choose to use a combination of both, and there are some industries where this combination works best. For example, in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, both push and pull are necessary.

You want to increase awareness but don’t want to limit your market.

When attracting B2B leads at different stages of the buying cycle, you sometimes need to make sure they know you (using pull marketing with SEO) and also target direct needs them (using promotional marketing mail) at the right time.

See more: IMC – Effective integrated marketing communication strategy for businesses

Choose the right strategy based on your goals and target audience to achieve optimal customer acquisition and conversion results!