Does your Internet Marketing Pull?

by Paul Short

"Pull Marketing" has always been, and will continue to be the
most effective internet marketing strategy at your disposal.

Allow me to explain. Most marketing efforts can be placed into
one of three categories:

1. "Push Marketing" or advertising basically screams at the

viewer. "Hey Look at ME, Buy My Stuff NOW!" Because we are
exposed to this type of marketing thousands of times a day, we've
learned to tune it out, hate it and even protest against it. Look
at SPAM for instance. People even get arrested for using email
to "Push" their offers in front of us!

With Push Marketing we have no choice in the matter. We get a
sales pitch whether we want it or not. And who doesn't want a
choice in what they see, read or hear?

2. "Permission Marketing" on the other hand aims to seduce us
into allowing others to advertise to us. They offer up promises
of great useful content, special offers and discounts if we sign
up, opt-in or subscribe. It's effective but loosing ground day
by day as we see the content more and more diluted by the ads.

Basically, they ask us if they can advertise to us and we have a
choice whether the content they're offering is valuable enough
to us to put up with the ads.

3. "Pull Marketing" is when people come to you, with a purpose.

If I'm seeking the services of a programmer to develop a script
for a web site I'm working on, the first place I begin my search
is either a search engine or a site where I know programmers can
be found like Elance.com. I actually visit these sites with a
purpose and seek out the best person for the job.

Maybe I read an article or web based tutorial on designing
scripts for my purpose. Maybe I searched through HotScripts.com
and couldn't find what I was looking for.

The Point is, I went looking for them. I took the time and energy
to find them and I'm ready to buy now. I'm the most targeted
prospect the programmer could ever hope for.

Now, the key to effective Pull Marketing on the internet is
visibility. If that programmer was not visible when I went
searching he would have lost the sale. He used Pull Marketing to
his advantage and it was to my advantage as well because I
needed his services at the time.

Here are 7 ways to implement "Pull Marketing" into your internet
marketing strategy:

1. Make sure your web site is listed in the major search engines.
Your site needs to be optimized so that it is listed under the
appropriate keywords and phrases, making it visible when your
potential customers and clients are ready to buy.

2. Make your expertise memorable by writing informative articles
relevant to your industry or niche. Make those articles visible
by submitting and syndicating them to sites and ezines for
future publication.

3. Contribute meaningfully to online forums where your potential
customers gather to exchange their views, opinions and talk about
their problems. Leave a subtle keyworded link in each of your
postings. Now that other forum visitors know who you are and what
you know, they'll be more inclined to check out your link.

4. Brand your email with a signature. Every email you send out
should have a short blurb at the end along with your URL. Make
sure the main benefit of your business is stressed and make it
compelling and irresistable. Make it memorable.

5. Provide a content rich web site that pulls visitors into
interacting in some way. They have to come back for the newest
articles, they have to come back to see the results of a poll or
quiz they took part in. Constantly give your web site visitors
a reason to return.

6. Leave your URL and signature on any other related sites that
allow link submissions or link exchanges. Sign guestbooks, send
webmasters testimonials touting what a great source of info their
site has been to you. They may publish it, and your URL right on
their main page.

7. List your site in the appropriate category of every online
directory you can find. Drill down through the categories as if
you were a prospective customer looking for the services you
offer and submit your liating there. Targeted visibility
will do wonders for your marketing pull.

The bottom line is: Visibility is the key to effective "Pull
Marketing". You need to be there when your customers come
looking.

About the Author

Paul Short is a search engine optimization and web site promotion
specialist who's been helping his clients implement pull
marketing as an effective internet marketing strategy since early
1997. His web site is at http://www.top100marketing.com