You’ve probably heard the old expression “People hate to be sold, but they love to buy”.

Another version of this that would be appropriate today is, “people hate to be found, but they love to find” especially with so much information readily available online.
Think of it as Push vs. Pull Marketing.

Push would be the traditional forms of advertising; radio commercial, magazine ad or telemarketing. Basically anything that is intrusive. In other words, they weren’t looking for information on your product or service, they were interrupted with it.

Think of it as Push vs. Pull Marketing.  Or Outbound vs. Inbound Marketing.

Push/Outbound would be the traditional forms of advertising; radio commercial, magazine ad or telemarketing. Basically anything that is intrusive. In other words, they weren’t looking for information on your product or service, they were interrupted with it.

Compare this to Pull/Inbound marketing where you position yourself so you are the one your prospects find when they are in the process of actively seeking information on your product or service.

Not to say that all Push marketing is bad or that you should abandon it altogether. You just need to be sure you are utilizing at least as much pull marketing as you are push.

One of the purest forms of Pull marketing is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The consumer is actively searching for a specific topic and they FIND you in the organic/natural search results.

When consumers are in an information gathering mode they don’t have their guard up like they do when they are receiving an unsolicited sales pitch. So, they’re much more receptive to your marketing message, assuming it’s delivered in the form of valuable information.

Where are your prospects looking for information on your products or services? How can you position yourself so you’re the one they find?