New Business, Does My Marketing Need To Push or Pull? - By: Debora Kinsler

When a business is trying to promote a new product in the introduction stage, the public is not aware of the product therefore a "push" strategy instead of a "pull" strategy should be utilized. Instead of trying to pull your customers in utilize the push strategy whereby the strategy is to get the product to your buyers/customers without advertising. Some successful push strategies might include: Direct E-mail Campaigns Banner Advertising Word of Mouth Advertising Trade Shows (depending on your product) E-mail advertising has quickly become a major method of no cost advertising for all businesses whether they are new and old. E-mail advertising allows a business owner to maximize sales while minimizing expenses. Four advantages to a good e-mail marketing campaign are: Increased sales conversion Ability to generate repeat sales Up-sell and Cross-sell products Gain valuable feedback from your customers Sales Conversions. Statistics show that it takes 7-9 visits to a web site before a purchase is made. When someone visits your site, you have captured their e-mail address and can then utilize the pull strategy in which you develop advertising and promotional strategies that are meant to entice the prospect to buy your product or service. Some examples are half off or use this coupon to save 25% or, a free e-book or some other creative incentive. This is a great method to use if someone leaves your site without purchasing your product. Repeat Sales. Keeping in touch with customers that have previously ordered on a regular basis via e-mail is critical for customer service and creating trust. By doing this, you can more easily generate repeat sales that can be up to four times more profitable than the initial purchase. Up-sell and Cross-sell. E-mail gives you the chance to offer another product that coincides with the purchase. Such as someone who orders "Dotcomology The Science of Making Money on the Internet" would also benefit greatly from "SEO Made Easy" In your e-mail thanking them for their purchase of Dotcomology, you could simply suggest the benefits of "SEO Made Easy" Valuable Feedback. If you provide a section in your website that allows for customer comments you will allow your customers to provide feedback on your website, what they like or dislike about your website or products, offer reviews etc. This in turn will let you know what you need to do to enhance your site or product offerings. Another very popular method of push strategy is by use of banner advertising. A banner and link are displayed on a high traffic web site, in which the people visiting that site see when the page loads. This banner would advertise your product or service. Banner advertising in generally used to: Sell more of your products Notify previous buyers of new products or discounts Get people to remember your company name and business. Even though click-through-rates of dropped 0.39% on average, many companies both large and small are still sing banner advertising successfully. It is still possible to get a click through rate many times the industry average by combining good placement and design. Combining less than average advertising rates and above average response rates can lead to an acceptable ROI. In the past few years another method of push marketing has grown exponentially. Word of mouth advertising. Think about what you do if you are happy with a particular product or service. You tell everyone about it, especially if it is something that will help them. You do the same thing if you are dissatisfied with a product, except you loudly discourage it. Encourage your customers to spread the word about your product or service by offering them a referral incentive or discount on another purchase.