Big brands are quick showing off to small businesses how great they are at hauling in the crowds. But actually, when it comes to pull marketing, the little guys shouldn’t be ignored.
There are many small and medium businesses (SMEs) that are really getting their heads around pull marketing. They may not demonstrate the polish of the big brands, but are experimenting with online techniques to bring in new business in a way that larger companies sometimes struggle with.
The explanation for this comes from the inherent challenges SMEs face, combined with the special perspective they often have on their sector. SMEs don’t have budgets that stretch very far with traditional push marketing, but they do have expertise in a niche sector that they can share. And as small business owners and directors are often in direct contact with customers on a regular basis, they naturally know the right tone of voice to use. When you look at it like that you realise that SMEs are very well placed to embrace pull marketing, as long as they take the time to establish a good web presence, generate content and engage with the outside world.
I think the real keys to successful pull marketing are to be generous and authentic. That is, be generous with the information you share and in the way you deal with people, and be authentic by being genuine – honest, human and not too corporate or ‘salesy’. SMEs are generally pretty good at this, they’re close to their customers and are not hamstrung by corporate marketing police so can be responsive and understand the right tone to use.
I would argue that pull marketing actually could lead to smaller companies experimenting with push techniques which they would have previously avoided. My theory goes like this. Many smaller companies simply do not have the budget for traditional marketing methods, or they are sceptical of such things. However, pull marketing is something they can get their heads around more easily; most business owners engage in social media on a personal level and those skills can be transferred easily for the benefit of their business. And it is perceived as cheap – though the real cost is in time, something that SMEs often have in favour of budget. So, after experimenting with a blog, Twitter and some whitepapers on their website, for example, the business owner then may have the confidence to progress to more traditional forms of marketing, tied in to their online activity – which is the smart way to do it anyway. Bigger brands could learn from this example.
Of course, not all SMEs are brilliant at pull marketing. And of course big companies have many advantages. One of these is in having the resources to refine the pull marketing process. Small companies really struggle at being good at each stage of the marketing process – online or offline. The owner manager or marketing manager of a small business will often focus on areas they feel comfortable with or can afford. Whereas larger companies can engage in the kind of refinement that is going to distinguish good pull marketing from bad as time goes by. Larger companies have the capacity to integrate search, digital marketing, CRM, analytics and web design. But perhaps it is sheer scale of the big brand marketing machine that allows smaller business to connect online in a more empathic way with their audience.
Article by : Daryl Willcox (iMedia Connection, 2010)