Do not be deceived, there is no choice!

A friend of mine had a very interesting discussion with me recently. Basically, we were talking about why she was not aggressively marketing her company’s services. Typical of many small business owners, she was a little apprehensive about marketing.

Her comments were along the lines of her not having a very outgoing personality, there was not a lot of money to go around for marketing, and such. But the most interesting comment was this: “Maybe I cannot do push marketing, but what kind of pull marketing do you think I should do?”

Let me get this straight – too shy to do push marketing and you want to do pull marketing? Hmmm…. interesting.

I mean, you can get a lot of information on the Internet about what push marketing and pull marketing are. So, this statement took me by surprise. What was it in the definition of pull and push marketing that gives the impression that pull marketing was

• cheaper
• less demanding
• no need to encounter customer

This is so wrong. So, I have some good news and some bad news for all small business owners.

The Bad News is – pull and push marketing are two sides of the same coin
The Good News is – pull and push marketing are two sides of the same coin

What is the essence of marketing anyway? Please, put away your marketing texts and stop waving that MBA at me!

Marketing is basically about letting others know how wonderful your products/services are and to convince them that they should buy it from you.

Now, keeping that in mind, there is no such thing as push and pull marketing. Leave that to the “experts” and those who make their money marketing full time. For the small business manager, you just have to find what works for your particular industry and niche. More importantly, do what works for you.

For example, distributing flyers at the street corner can be considered “pull” marketing as you attempt to get customers into your eatery or hardware store. But it is really not so effective if you were a lawyer or a dentist. Putting up posters advertising your wares might work if you had your own brand, but it is not going to help get customers directly to your store.

Forget about push and pull marketing. Instead, think about “bread and butter” marketing. Every action that you take to attract customers must pay off for itself, at least. Don’t get caught up in jargon and industry fads. Focus instead on what works for you.

Talk to a marketing professional because they will know how to “do it”. But don’t get bamboozled by all the glitz. Use your hard won experience and tell them what you want to achieve and how much money you have to do it. Any good marketer should be able to work within your budget and deliver your results. The great ones will exceed your expectations.