Welcome to the Pull Era.
For years, decades and even centuries, we have done almost nothing but push marketing exclusively. Push marketing includes print, radio and television. In all cases, you are pushing out your message to me whether I want to know about it or not. And more importantly whether I need your product/service or not.
Consumers no longer want you pushing your message down their throat. They want to seek it on their own terms – we call it pull.
When it comes to pull marketing, I am explicitly requesting information about what you do. For example, if I am looking to learn more about the foreclosure process I will go to Google and search "foreclosure process NYC.” I am pulling your message and brand to me. Or another example is if I am looking for a plumber and I go to Yelp and search for “plumbers” in NYC. Again, I am PULLING the information to me as opposed to me having no need for a plumber and yet having to hear about one during my favorite television show or morning radio show.
And let’s be honest here, if you are investing money in marketing wouldn’t you rather invest directly into people who are saying “hey, I have a need for what you do.”
PULL ERA = where customers pull everything to them on demand - products, services, information, knowledge and advice.
And no where can customers pull more easily than from the Internet.
I know you may be thinking I’m a bit biased because I specialize in Internet marketing but I promise you I’m not. The Internet really is what pull marketing is all about. Think about how you search for a product or service when you don’t know a business to use?
Do you flip on your TV or listen to your favorite radio station in hopes that they’ll play an ad for the exact product/service you need? Or do you open your laptop, pick up your smart phone or turn on your iPad and search on Google, Yelp, Bing, Facebook, etc…? I’m guessing it’s the latter.
- 16 billion searches are conducted on the 5 major search engines every month in the U.S.
- 86% of consumers use the Internet to find a local business
- 58% of consumers begin a purchase on search engines, outpacing company websites and social media
- Online search is the number 1 way consumers look for local products and services
- More than 20% of all searches on Google each day have a local intent
See, I’m really not pulling your leg here. Do you know what all the above have in common?
A consumer, potentially your new customer, is out there PULLING information related to products and services, potentially the exact same products and services you offer. So wouldn’t it be smart to promote yourself in those exact same places where they are looking?
- 1 in 3 mobile searches is local
- Google mobile search is up 4x in the last year
- Mobile accounts for 10% of all Google searches
Not only do you have to be in those places but you have to be mobile-friendly as well. But don’t go pulling your hair out agonizing over how you are going to accomplish all of this. I can help.
When it comes to pull marketing you have to establish dominant presence on the search engines. There are 2 ways:
- Pay per click (think Google AdWords)
- Organic listings
Ideally, you want them to be able pull a consistent brand message from you across both – via pay per click text ads, organic links to your website, directory listings, your Google+ Local page, Google Maps, Facebook fan page and Twitter profile.
Like it or not, consumers are pulling everything to them these days.
Most of all, consumers have all but become oblivious to traditional marketing methods unless you have millions of dollars to spend basically putting your ad on repeat on my favorite station. It’s time you let them find you on their own terms. Let’s just work on making sure you are where they are pulling that information from.
How do you see the pull era and pull marketing helping your business?
Partial content from: Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web to Transform Your Business by David Siegel