There are a couple of different ways to catch fish: One way is to figure out what bait or lures the fish like, where they live, and what time they are active, and cast a line that attracts them to nibble. Another way is to throw a large net in the water and snag whatever fish are there.
In the marketing world, reaching new customers directly through a proactive approach (casting a wide net) is called push marketing, while seeking to attract new leads through a desirable brand (a shiny lure) is referred to as pull marketing.
Push and pull marketing each has its advantages and disadvantages. This article will go over both in detail, lay out the key differences between the two, and explore how you can use both these marketing strategies to improve long-term business growth.
What is push marketing?
Push marketing, as its name implies, is a marketing strategy that focuses on reaching out directly to potential customers. Also known as outbound marketing, push marketing aims to identify a target audience and push relevant and interesting content to them through proactive outreach efforts such as advertising, email marketing, direct mail, or other similar marketing tactics.
Examples of push marketing strategies
Push marketing aims to promote your brand, product, or service directly to consumers. Here are a few push marketing examples:
Display advertising
Display ads are billboards (digital or analog) that market your brand or products to a general audience. Online display advertisements often show up as banners or sidebars on web pages, as search engine ads, or as standalone ads on social media platforms such as Instagram.
Radio or television advertisements
While it’s easy for ecommerce businesses to focus on newer marketing channels with advanced analytics such as Google Ads, radio and television ads can still offer brands strong reach. For example, during an average week in June 2024, radio reached about 85% of all people in the 35- to 64-year-old age group in the US.
Direct marketing
Direct marketing is a push marketing strategy that involves communicating directly with customers through email newsletters, direct mail, SMS marketing, and in-person selling.
What is pull marketing?
Pull marketing, also known as inbound marketing, is a marketing strategy that aims to foster demand for your business or product by creating a desirable brand. Using more indirect methods, such as search engine optimization, pull marketing seeks to build a customer base that comes to you—rather than the other way around.
Examples of pull marketing strategies
Pull marketing focuses on drawing in customers by positioning your brand as a leader in your category. Here are a few pull strategy examples your business can employ:
Search engine optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategy that aims to improve a website's discoverability on search engine results pages (SERP). It includes a range of tactics such as optimizing product pages with search terms (also called keywords), publishing quality content to rank for specific keywords, building a profile of backlinks, and improving site performance. The idea is to give your website the best chance of ranking when someone is searching for a product you offer or a topic that’s relevant to your business.
For example, if you sell women’s hiking boots with Vibram soles, you’d want your site to show up when people are searching for that. You might also want your site to show up for other hiking-related searches, like “what to pack for a hiking trip,” so that hiking enthusiasts can discover your brand.
Content marketing
Content marketing is the practice of using content as a vehicle to build trust with your audience, rather than directly pushing a product. It uses your company’s expertise to work in service of your customer, with the goal of building a long-term relationship. Tactics and formats include blog content (which can be targeted to SEO keywords), podcasts, how-to videos, white papers, and print magazines. For example, intimacy company Maude created a forward-thinking, thoughtful blog called The Maudern, where it published editorial content that sparked conversation and generated buzz among its target audience.
Word of mouth
When people are talking about your brand, they’re giving you free marketing. Worth of mouth can extend to review sites or social sites like Reddit, where people often share their honest thoughts on a product. Creating brand affinity and loyalty with a stellar product and excellent customer service is the best way to drive word of mouth.
Push vs. pull marketing: Which should you use?
While the intended end results for push and pull marketing are similar (to grow your customer base and increase sales), one may be more appropriate for your business than the other, depending on your goals and constraints.
Push marketing is more direct, so it has the potential to bring in customers faster than pull marketing. If there’s time pressure to drive short-term sales—for example, via a limited-time promotion or for a new product launch—push marketing may be the way to go. If you aren’t time-constrained and are focused on building brand loyalty and a sustainable pipeline of leads, the slow burn of pull marketing might make more sense.
Cost is also a factor. Push marketing can become very expensive—consider, for example, the high price point of TV ads. Pull marketing, which often leverages organic channels, can be accomplished on a lower budget, but those savings must be weighed against the longer timeline to results.
In reality, you don’t have to choose between the two strategies, as most businesses use a combination of both push and pull strategies to foster immediate and long-term results.
Push vs. pull marketing FAQ
What is a pull strategy in marketing?
Pull strategy in marketing is the practice of creating demand for your product or brand. These efforts aim to draw in potential customers with strategies such as search engine optimization, word-of-mouth marketing, or content marketing.
Is push or pull marketing more effective?
Both push and pull marketing have their place: push marketing is useful when you want to reach out to a wide audience or drive sales quickly—such as with a limited offer or a sale. Pull marketing, which uses techniques such as search engine optimization and content marketing, has a longer timeline to results but can build longer-lasting relationships with your customers.
Is SEO push or pull marketing?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is generally considered a pull marketing strategy. Curating your website or content with relevant keywords, internal linking, and a streamlined user experience can build your brand visibility when users are searching online—so that you can pull them onto your website.
