TW (and others) Very good discussin. IMHO

TW,

Thanks for your thoughts on the Push V Pull marketing idea.

Years ago there was some good debate on this by J. Nicholas Schmidt (here's an old article he wrote http://www.talkbiz.com/digest/emt5.html and you can find some more stuff by him in his old Profit Stream newsletter by Googling his name) who has all but disappeared from online, it seems.

His main beef was with Bill Myers who was advocating a Build It And They Will Come concept. I'm sure it related to what Bill was selling at the time. As that is a technique Bill always used - talk about something (to build interest) and then offer a product about it. He was probably priming the eShowcase pump. So readers just figured all they needed to do was build an eShowcase site and Bill would sell them a copy of his eShowcase Software.

Anyway. Bill was a Built It Guy and Nicholas was not. It was good to watch.

And the thing with such Debates is...

It ignores the Underlying Reason why a person chooses one way over another. One such reason being Funds.

See. Bill's logic as he expressed in the Direct Mail Bootcamp was... it took Industry 20 years of advertising to convince people to use deodorant (back when that was). If you don't have the Funds to sustain such Bugging nor want to spend as much Time to achieve something... THEN... drum roll... sell what people are Already looking to buy - and - they will find you because They are searching.

Halbert had the same logic... provide solutions to problems people are Already concerned about and/or are trying to solve. Radon might be a problem but as no-one seems to care about it, it makes little sense to spend the Time and Money to get into the Radon Solving market.

Interestingly... a lot of those promoting Pull marketing, use Push marketing to make their sales of their Pull Marketing How To book.

Re Jiffy Mix. Down in Australia was have a brand of mustard powder and curry powder called Keen. We even have a saying... as keen as mustard (which many people use without knowing the brand association behind it).

Keen NEVER advertises. They never have ads in TV, in the Newspaper, or Radio. They NEVER have their product in a supermarket's catalog. Their product sits Passively on the shelf waiting for those who want to cook a curry to come and get it. Do they Pay the supermarket to be there (this is standard practice in supermarkets) - or - are they like Coke (the supermarket Has to stock the product)? I don't know, nor care.

One thing they are NOT doing is Bugging people or spending money on Active Advertising. Their product sits and does nothing. It waits.

Same applies to Deb Potato (instant mash potato). It's a Forever Product. It's been on shelves as long as I can remember. No Media Advertising. No catalog advertising.

There are two makers of Brown Rice. Neither advertises. One does short grain the other long grain. Different market? Maybe. But both have been around for a lo-o-o-o-o-ong time. They BUG no-one.

Isn't that the Logic of the Yellow Pages? You don't need to convince someone to use your Type of service - they already want to which is why they are looking in the Yellow Pages. You just need to convince them to use You Instead-Of Your Competitor.

Sure, a lot of those business Could increase sales by Bugging people. But that costs MONEY and TIME. And many of those businesses don't have one or both of those things. So from a Bang For Buck point of view... they get more Return on their Yellow Pages ad or their small ad in the Trade Section of the local newspaper. And in a way, those ads Are Targeted - as much as they can be.

CEOs... remember... whether the company is small, Big or HUGE, they are still people. And they exhibit Lemming Like Behavior just as a small business owner does. That they are CEOs just means they have played the office politics game better than others.

Are there those who are the type you are looking for? Sure. Just as some of those would be in the small business sector as well. Small, Big or Huge makes no difference. You'll find it just as hard (or easy) to market to them all. Nepotism, lemming behavior, indecision, etc., exists at all levels.

The problem you face is... whatever you claim you can do, is being claimed by everyone else as well - even if they are full of it. And that's where a Satisfactory Existing Economic Relationship - or nepotism - comes into play to your advantage.

Simon Latouche once posted an interesting Story about taking 10% of your profit and spending it on advertising, without moving to a larger store or office. And as business grows, keep using that 10% of sales profit as your advertising budget - even when business is flat out.

And your Advice to the CEOs might be as simple - dudes, you has gots to spend money on advertising and bug the heck out of people and profits will come. But, it's the same message they hear from all the people selling ad space.

Here's an angle... instead of trying to beat a path to the door of the mythical Wise CEO... why not call companies and ask them if they have a Rep program - yes, be a Manufactures/Whatevers Rep or Commission Seller.

Now you are in. You then apply your Technique on a small scale for Yourself. Your sales go gangbusters. It will be noticed. And it's a pretty good bet you could get a meeting then. Then again, at that point you might not care because you're making dollars at a level that satisfies you.

Michael Ross