Today’s marketers live in a world where pull marketing rules, especially online. Pull marketing involves developing consumer interest by providing entertaining or educational messages that pull attention toward your business, often via your website.
In today’s screen-connected marketplace, pull marketing is interactive; it’s two-way communication that begins with information, usually referred to as content, that you originate and customers encounter through search engines, referrals, and social media. From there, customers take over by clicking a provided link, reaching out by phone or in person, and, best of all, passing your message on to others through online or off-line sharing. Pull marketing is also called inbound marketing and two-way communication.
Push marketing involves pushing messages and products at customers by interrupting them and prompting them to take the action you’re promoting. Push marketing is one-way communication: You talk and your customer listens and, ideally, takes action. Most often, push marketing takes place through mass media advertising, direct mail, online banner ads, and cold calls to prospective customers. It’s also known as outbound marketing and one-way communication.
Outbound marketers have to push their way in front of customers, interrupting them and hoping to seize their attention. Inbound marketers draw customer interest with valuable content that customers find, share, and act upon online.
