Push vs. Pull Marketing for Retailers

Picture this: You’re scrolling through your social media feed, and within minutes, you’re bombarded with targeted ads, influencer posts, and product recommendations. Next, you open your email to find a flash sale from your favorite retailer, and as you walk past a store, a banner catches your eye, enticing you with a limited-time offer. You didn’t actively seek any of this out—it just arrived at you from all angles.

This flood of messages isn’t an accident. It’s the result of two key marketing strategies that have become the foundation of modern retail: push marketing and pull marketing. Push marketing is all about actively getting your message in front of the consumer, while pull marketing works by drawing consumers in with content, experiences, and long-term engagement that build trust and loyalty.

To cut through the noise and connect with their audience, a balanced approach to both strategies is essential.
In this article, we’ll dive deeper into the world of push and pull marketing, explaining how each strategy works, providing real-world examples, and offering insights into how retailers can leverage them to drive growth and success.

What is Push Marketing?

Push marketing involves actively "pushing" products or services onto consumers. It is a proactive approach where businesses bring their message to the audience rather than waiting for customers to seek them out. This strategy is particularly useful for increasing brand awareness, generating immediate sales, and promoting new products.

Examples of Push Marketing in Retail:

Traditional Advertising: TV commercials, radio ads, and print ads in newspapers and magazines help reach a broad audience. These forms of advertising are especially effective for mass-market products and big promotional events.
A furniture store runs a TV ad showcasing a weekend sale, ensuring a wide reach and attracting potential customers who may not have been actively looking for new furniture but are enticed by the promotion.
Direct Mail Marketing: Sending flyers, catalogs, and promotional mailers directly to consumers. Direct mail is particularly effective for personalized promotions targeting specific demographics.
A clothing retailer sends a seasonal catalog with exclusive discount codes to its loyal customers, enticing them to shop for new arrivals.
Sales Promotions: In-store discounts, coupons, and special offers create urgency and encourage purchases. This method is highly effective for clearing out inventory or boosting sales during slow periods.
A grocery store offers a "buy one, get one free" deal on a popular cereal brand to increase foot traffic and drive impulse purchases.
Point-of-Sale (POS) Displays: Eye-catching displays placed near checkout counters encourage impulse buys. These displays are particularly effective for lower-cost, high-margin items. I.e., a bookstore places a selection of bestselling novels and candy bars near the checkout, prompting last-minute purchases.
Email Marketing (to a purchased list - use with caution): Sending promotional emails to potential customers, though it may raise ethical concerns. This can be effective when combined with a strong call to action.
Example: A new online store purchases a list of local residents and sends them a welcome email with an exclusive discount to encourage first-time purchases.

What is Pull Marketing?

Pull marketing focuses on attracting customers by creating valuable content and experiences that organically draw them in. This strategy helps build long-term customer relationships, establish brand authority, and enhance trust.

Examples of Pull Marketing in Retail:

Content Marketing: Developing blogs, videos, and infographics related to products or industry trends. Providing useful content builds trust and keeps customers engaged with the brand.
Example: A home improvement store publishes detailed step-by-step blog posts about DIY projects, helping homeowners solve common problems while subtly promoting its products.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing website content for better search rankings ensures that potential customers find your products when searching online.
Example: A shoe store optimizes its website with keywords like "best running shoes for flat feet," helping it appear at the top of Google search results for customers actively seeking recommendations.
Social Media Marketing (Organic): Engaging with audiences through valuable content and interactions on social media platforms helps build brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Example: A beauty store regularly posts Instagram tutorials showcasing makeup techniques using its products, driving engagement and encouraging followers to purchase featured items.
Influencer Marketing: Partnering with influencers to promote products adds credibility and extends reach to targeted audiences.
Example: A fashion brand collaborates with a well-known style blogger who shares outfit ideas featuring the brand’s latest clothing collection, attracting her loyal followers.
Public Relations: Generating positive media coverage through press releases and events enhances brand reputation and attracts new customers.
Example: A new restaurant hosts an exclusive launch party for food critics and influencers, generating buzz through media coverage and social shares.
Email Marketing (Opt-in): Sending personalized emails to subscribers who have shown interest in the brand helps maintain engagement and drive repeat purchases.
Example: A bookstore sends a monthly newsletter with personalized book recommendations based on past purchases, keeping customers engaged and encouraging future buys.

The Buyer’s Journey and Push vs. Pull Marketing

Understanding the buyer's journey is essential for choosing the right marketing approach. The buyer's journey typically consists of three stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. Push and pull marketing strategies align differently with each stage.

Awareness Stage

At this point, consumers are unfamiliar with your brand and are seeking to understand their needs. Push marketing is especially effective here, as it gets your message in front of a wide audience who may not yet know they need your product.
Push Example: A large-scale TV commercial that highlights a new tech gadget or a billboard campaign promoting a summer sale.

Consideration Stage

Consumers start researching solutions and comparing options. Both push and pull strategies come into play, but this stage is ideal for content that builds trust and offers value, making pull marketing more important here.
Pull Example: SEO-optimized blog posts or video tutorials demonstrating how your product solves a specific problem, which drive organic traffic.

Decision Stage

Now that customers are ready to make a purchase, the focus shifts to converting them. Push marketing, with targeted ads and personalized promotions, can drive urgency, but pull marketing’s ability to nurture relationships will ensure customer loyalty post-purchase.
Push Example: A targeted email campaign offering an exclusive discount to encourage a purchase.
Pull Example: A customer testimonial or case study that reinforces the decision-making process and confirms their choice.
By aligning your marketing tactics with these stages, you can ensure you're not only reaching customers but guiding them down the path to purchase at the right moments.

Read detailed guide on customer journey stages for retailers here: Customer Journey in E-commerce

Push and Pull Marketing Strategy

An effective retail marketing strategy integrates both push and pull marketing tactics. A balanced approach helps maximize reach while ensuring long-term customer engagement.

Combining Push and Pull Tactics:

A retailer might use push marketing (direct mailers) to announce a sale while utilizing pull marketing (SEO and social media engagement) to generate organic traffic.
Retailers can use push email campaigns while leveraging pull content marketing to sustain engagement.
Paid advertisements (push) can complement influencer marketing (pull) to enhance credibility.

Retail Media: A Hybrid Push/Pull Strategy

Retail media has emerged as a powerful way to blend both push and pull marketing strategies within retailer-owned digital and physical platforms. It combines the benefits of direct advertising with organic content, leveraging first-party data to target consumers effectively. Retailers are now embracing retail media networks to create more customized, in-the-moment marketing experiences that span across the buyer's journey.

Watch podcast on retail media: Retail Talks by Yango Tech - Episode 1: All about Retail Media

Examples of Retail Media:

Sponsored Product Listings: Products appear at the top of search results or in high-visibility areas on retailer websites or apps. This tactic is a push method because it places products directly in front of shoppers, increasing visibility and driving immediate sales.
Example: On Amazon, a sponsored product ad for running shoes appears at the top of search results when a user searches for "best running shoes," pushing the product into their line of sight.
Display Ads on Retailer Websites/Apps: Banner ads and native ads placed strategically within retailer environments also act as a push tactic, grabbing attention as consumers browse. However, these ads can be designed to pull customers in by showcasing valuable offers or information.
Example: A banner ad on Walmart's website offering a special promotion on tech gadgets, encouraging shoppers to explore the sale.
In-Store Digital Screens: Digital signage within brick-and-mortar stores combines push and pull by showcasing promotions (push) while using dynamic content that can provide product information or customer reviews (pull).
Example: A display screen showing a promotional discount on a certain brand of skincare products while also featuring video testimonials from satisfied users.
Targeted Email Campaigns: Retailers often send personalized emails based on past shopping behavior or demographics. These can be considered both push (directly reaching the consumer) and pull (tailored to the customer’s interests and needs).
Example: A customer who recently bought a pair of jeans may receive an email with a personalized offer for matching shirts, pushing the product but also leveraging previous data to pull them back in.
Couponing and Sampling: Digital coupons or free samples offered via retailer platforms blend both approaches. They are a direct push that encourages immediate action (coupon use) while also creating an opportunity for the retailer to showcase their value, leading to pull behavior in the future.
Example: A grocery store app that offers a $5 discount for any purchase over $30, which pushes the consumer to act while positioning the brand as a go-to for savings.
Retailers can seamlessly integrate both push and pull marketing via retail media, meeting customers with tailored messages in the right place at the right time. This strategy improves brand visibility and drives sales, while also nurturing long-term customer relationships through valuable, targeted content.

How to Start Using Push and Pull Marketing

Retailers should analyze their target audience and business goals before implementing marketing strategies. Here’s a step-by-step approach:

Identify Business Goals

Before launching any marketing campaign, clearly define your objectives. Are you looking to boost immediate sales, improve brand awareness, or increase customer retention? Understanding whether you need a short-term revenue boost (push) or long-term engagement (pull) will help shape your strategy. Set measurable KPIs, such as sales figures, website traffic, or customer engagement rates, to evaluate success.

Understand Your Target Audience

Conduct in-depth market research to understand your customers’ demographics, behaviors, and purchasing habits. Use surveys, focus groups, and sales data to determine what appeals to your audience. This will allow you to tailor your push and pull marketing efforts effectively, ensuring that promotional messages reach the right people and that organic strategies resonate with your audience.

Leverage Data and Analytics

Data-driven decision-making is crucial for optimizing marketing efforts. Use first-party data, such as customer purchase history and online behavior, to refine targeting. Analyze competitor strategies to identify gaps and opportunities. Tools like Google Analytics and customer relationship management (CRM) systems can provide valuable insights for fine-tuning push and pull tactics.

Develop a Content Strategy

A well-rounded content strategy involves both push and pull elements. Create valuable, engaging content that attracts customers (pull) while also leveraging paid promotions to expand reach (push). Maintain consistency across blogs, social media, and video marketing efforts, ensuring that each piece of content aligns with your brand voice and objectives.

Integrate Retail Media

Retail media allows brands to use retailer-owned platforms to reach customers effectively. Sponsored product listings, digital ads, and in-store promotions blend push and pull strategies, ensuring that marketing messages reach shoppers at the right moment in their purchasing journey.

Monitor and Adjust

Marketing is an ongoing process that requires regular evaluation. Track performance metrics for both push and pull campaigns and adjust strategies accordingly. Use A/B testing to determine what works best, optimizing messaging, visuals, and placement for maximum impact.

Measuring Success

Tracking and measuring the success of push and pull marketing efforts is essential to understanding their effectiveness and optimizing future campaigns. Success is not solely defined by immediate sales but by various indicators that show growth, engagement, and long-term customer retention. To gain a comprehensive view of your marketing efforts, consider both short-term metrics (which reflect immediate impact) and long-term metrics (which indicate sustained growth and engagement).
Here are the key metrics to measure success in push and pull marketing:
1. Sales Metrics
Total Sales Revenue: This is the most direct indicator of marketing success. Push marketing, with its emphasis on immediate sales, often shows quick returns, such as increased revenue from a flash sale or seasonal promotion.
Example: A retailer running a one-day promotion with paid ads might see a spike in sales revenue for that day, directly correlating to the push marketing efforts.
Conversion Rate: The percentage of visitors who make a purchase after interacting with a marketing campaign (either via a website, ad, or in-store promotion). This is critical for both push and pull strategies.
Example: If a retailer sends out an email campaign with an exclusive discount, a high conversion rate indicates the effectiveness of the offer and the targeting.
2. Customer Acquisition and Retention Metrics
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): This metric calculates how much it costs to acquire a new customer. It helps measure the efficiency of your marketing efforts, especially push tactics like paid ads or direct mail.
Example: If you're spending $500 on a Facebook ad campaign and acquire 50 new customers, your CAC would be $10 per customer. A lower CAC means more cost-effective acquisition.
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): CLV represents the total revenue a retailer can expect from a customer over the entire duration of their relationship with the brand. Pull marketing strategies such as content marketing and email campaigns contribute to building stronger, long-term customer relationships, which drives CLV.
Example: A retailer that provides valuable, educational content (pull strategy) may have a higher CLV due to repeat purchases over time, as customers trust and engage with the brand consistently.
Customer Retention Rate: This metric reflects how well you’re keeping customers over time. Higher retention rates typically indicate successful pull strategies that foster customer loyalty (e.g., email marketing, personalized offers, or community-building through social media).
Example: A loyalty program or regular email newsletters can help maintain customer engagement and increase retention rates, demonstrating long-term growth.
3. Engagement Metrics (for Pull Marketing)
Website Traffic: For pull strategies like SEO and content marketing, the volume of visitors to your website is a crucial metric. Higher traffic indicates that your content or optimization efforts are resonating with your target audience.
Example: If a retailer publishes an informative blog post about home improvement tips and experiences a significant increase in website traffic, it suggests the content is attracting potential customers.
Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave a website without taking any action (such as making a purchase or viewing more pages). A high bounce rate could signal that your website or landing page isn’t delivering the right message or is not optimized.
Example: After an SEO-focused content campaign, if your bounce rate is low, it shows that visitors are staying engaged with your site and potentially making purchases.
Social Media Engagement: This includes likes, shares, comments, and other interactions on your social media platforms. Strong engagement is a clear sign that your content is resonating with your audience and building community.
Example: A fashion retailer that regularly posts Instagram tutorials and receives high engagement (comments and shares) is likely successfully building an audience, which can eventually lead to increased sales.
Video Views and Watch Time: For pull strategies relying on video content (e.g., tutorials, product demos, or influencer partnerships), tracking views and watch time helps assess whether your video content is attracting attention and holding interest.
Example: A beauty retailer who publishes "how-to" makeup videos on YouTube can measure the success of these videos through views, comments, and watch time metrics.
4. Return on Investment (ROI)
ROI on Advertising Spend: This is a core metric for evaluating push marketing tactics such as paid ads, sponsored posts, or display ads. It measures how much revenue you generate compared to what you spend on advertising.
Formula: (RevenuefromAds−CostofAds)/CostofAds(Revenue from Ads - Cost of Ads) / Cost of Ads(RevenuefromAds−CostofAds)/CostofAds
If the ROI is positive, it means your push efforts are paying off.
Example: A retailer invests $10,000 in paid search ads and generates $30,000 in revenue from those ads. The ROI would be 200%, indicating a strong return on the advertising investment.
Ad Conversion Rate: For push marketing channels like digital ads, measuring how many people who saw your ad actually converted to customers (i.e., made a purchase or completed a desired action) is essential.
Example: A paid Facebook ad that leads to a high ad conversion rate shows that the audience was receptive to the ad’s message, and the targeting was effective.
5. Brand Awareness Metrics
Brand Recall: This metric measures how well consumers remember your brand after being exposed to your marketing campaign. It’s particularly relevant for push marketing efforts, which are often designed to increase immediate brand recognition.
Example: After running a TV campaign or a large-scale billboard ad, a survey could measure whether consumers recall your brand and how it influences their purchasing decisions.
Social Listening: Social media platforms, especially with hashtags, allow you to track brand mentions and sentiment. Analyzing these conversations helps you gauge how well your brand is perceived and how much buzz your campaigns are generating.
Example: A retailer’s PR event or influencer collaboration can be monitored via social listening tools to determine how much positive sentiment or word-of-mouth promotion it generates.
6. Influencer and Affiliate Performance
Influencer Campaign Metrics: When using influencers for pull marketing, it’s important to measure metrics such as engagement rates, click-through rates, and direct conversions driven by the influencer's posts.
Example: A fashion brand working with an influencer might track how many sales came from a specific promo code shared by the influencer, or how many followers visited the website from the influencer's link.
Affiliate Revenue: For retail brands working with affiliate marketers, tracking affiliate performance (e.g., clicks, conversions, and commissions) helps evaluate the effectiveness of your affiliate network.
Example: A retailer who collaborates with affiliates to sell products can measure success by analyzing how much revenue affiliates are driving through tracked links.

What Actually Shows Growth?

To truly gauge growth, focus on both immediate wins and long-term sustainability. Look at:
Sales Growth Over Time: Both immediate spikes (from push tactics like ads or promotions) and consistent growth (from pull strategies like SEO, email engagement, and content marketing) indicate a healthy trajectory.
Improved Customer Retention: Growth isn’t just about attracting new customers; it’s also about keeping them. The higher your retention rate, the more likely your efforts are generating sustained interest in your brand.
Brand Sentiment and Awareness: Positive shifts in consumer sentiment, alongside increased brand awareness, signal that your marketing campaigns are reaching the right audience and resonating with them on a deeper level.
Measuring success involves monitoring a variety of metrics that collectively show the impact of push and pull strategies. While immediate sales can be attributed to push marketing, the long-term effects such as improved customer retention, higher engagement, and brand loyalty are often driven by pull tactics. By carefully tracking these key performance indicators, you can ensure your marketing efforts lead to sustained growth and success over time.

Both push and pull marketing tactics can work for different goals for retailers, whether it is to build brand awareness, engage customers, drive sales, or all three. Incorporating retail media further enhances marketing efficiency by targeting customers at the right moment. Experimentation and continuous analysis are key to refining strategies and ensuring success.