The Shift from Push to Pull Marketing
Consumers' behavior is ever-changing, which means the marketing tactics used to effectively communicate to them need to parallel those changes. As Social Media becomes ever more popular with mainstream consumers, push marketing strategies are quickly losing their value, being quickly replaced by pull marketing.
While push marketing utilizes traditional media channels such as television, radio and print to persuade consumers to buy a product or service, pull marketing speaks to consumers' new-found personal independence in the market. It's no longer the big brands that are in control, but it's the savvy consumer who uses the Web to decide what products they want and who they want to buy them from. However, though consumers have taken the reigns, marketers can still implement pull marketing strategies to help steer them toward their brand.
Consumer Behavior Should Determine Marketing Strategies
Consumers are much more discerning than they were 10 years ago. They're proactive - they seek information, pay attention to the details and read ratings and reviews to help them do their research. As a result, push marketing that uses mass communications to boast their superiority aren't going to be as effective as they once were.
Instead, brands that want to succeed need to inspire their target audience to consider their brand as an option, and then develop a relationship with their consumers. However, it will be the consumers who decide, based on that relationship and their own online research, if these products and services are the right choice.
To improve your competitive advantage, educate the consumer about your brand by giving them access to product details, user reviews and the brand itself. Use your Website to provide educational content. Use Paid Search to deliver targeted message points to consumers at the right stage in the buying cycle. Use Social Media to engage your customers and create meaningful relationships.
There are so many opportunities for brands to succeed in online marketing, don't miss out on any of these chances to make a sale.
Online Technology is the Foundation of Pull Marketing Strategy
The good news is that the same online technology that enables the shift in buyer behavior can help your brand break-away from your current push marketing campaigns. E-Power Marketing® utilizes these strategies to sway consumers in the direction of our clients' brand:
- Search Engine Optimization: Consumers are doing much of their product research online. To help them find you, implement a solid SEO strategy that builds your Website's search visibility for the right keywords that consumers use to carry out their research. One of the most important pieces of SEO is creating and optimizing educational content that is created to inform visitors, not sell to them. Having an optimized, efficient Website online is the first step to gaining natural search visibility and becoming a recognizable industry resource to your online customers.
- Social Media Marketing: Use social networking tools to connect and build relationships with your consumers and you will begin to build your brand's credibility. Seek out online influencers and thought leaders - consumers are more likely to heed their advice. Use Social Media channels to connect with both customers and potential customers by creating relationships. Consumers want to see brands online. They want to be able to interact with them and they want to be heard. Creating a successful Social Media Marketing campaign goes far beyond setting up a Facebook or Twitter account. Brands must be active and engaging on Social Media channels before they will be successful.
- Online Reputation Management: Monitor what is being said online about your brand, determine the cause of the praise or complaint, and respond appropriately. Online communication tools give you the ability to communicate directly to consumers, so take the opportunity to turn unsatisfied customers into loyal fans. Be on the lookout for false information or rumors and set the record straight with actual facts. If your brand has made a mistake or your product didn't perform as expected, don't ignore the issue or cover it up. Savvy consumers will blow the whistle on your lack of authenticity.
- Paid Search: Tailor campaigns to the individual segments of your target audience and position your messages on the Websites that your consumers are frequenting. Remember that you might hook them with your paid search ad, but if you lead them to an ineffective PPC landing page, potential customers will quickly navigate away from your site.
Buyers' behaviors are shifting and big businesses no longer have the marketing control they once had. But that doesn't mean brand marketing is defunct - businesses just need to update their marketing plans to include online pull marketing strategies. As consumers become more proactive and inquisitive, brands need to respond by developing the content, relationships and ads that smart consumers are looking for.
Contact E-Power Marketing for more information on how our team of specialists can transform your online presence. Give people what they are looking for online. Let E-Power Marketing show you how!
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