Push vs. Pull Marketing and How The Web Impacts Both

From the American Express OPEN Forum by David Seigel  click to read original article

Mar 22, 2010 -

In this series of two posts, I will explain the coming shift from pushing information using the principles of the semantic web. This first post is about the business drivers and the need for businesses to react better to increasingly complex customer demands.

1. We are shifting from pushing information to pulling it. Media companies know that they will have to give their consumers full control to pull stories, news, music, television, movies, and all their content to them when they want it, where they want it, the way they want it. This shift is coming to all industries, from medicine to banking to cars and toys.

2. The shift has already begun. The financial reporting industry has already embraced the semantic web and has built the largest commercial ecosystem of online, interoperable data so far. Many other industries are gearing up to follow. Your industry is no exception.

3. Products will be pulled. As you take a product off the shelf, you’ll be pulling on the entire supply chain, causing a ripple effect back to the manufacturer. Your customers will start pulling your products from you, rather than you pushing them. Customers will be much more involved in product development; cycles will shorten dramatically.

4. Big hint: This goes for marketing, too. Push marketing will become less and less relevant. Customers will say what they are looking for and you will have to respond on their terms, not yours.

5. Services will be pulled as well. A building will order its own supplies and maintenance services. Your services may be combined with those of your competitor without you even knowing it. Customers will dictate the terms and you will have to go along.

6. Most business processes will invert. The sales-oriented or solutions-oriented culture many companies have will be much less profitable, as market and customer-driven processes rise. Customers will soon be in a position to enter their desires in a way that can fit into your manufacturing or production processes directly.

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Harold Henn
Endeavour Marketing and Media