Compare and contrast push and pull communication strategies

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Customer targeted marketing communications are pull communications. The objectives of a pull marketing communication are to build awareness, attraction, and loyalty and to reduce search costs. When pull marketing communications are successful, customers will seek out certain products or services and, in essence, by the interest they create, pull the product through the channel.

Push communications are directed at channel intermediaries. The objective in this case is to motivate channel intermediaries to carry a particular product or brand and, in this way, make it more available to customer. When successful, push communications result in a wider range of availability, fewer stock-outs, greater merchandising (shelf space), and a greater marketing effort than would have been achieved with little or no push communications.

It is important, however, to note that it is the combination of both push and pull marketing communications that creates the greatest impact on customer response and, therefore, market share gains.