What is push marketing?
Push marketing moves your product through the chain towards the buyer. In India it often looks like this. Dealers get a scheme for hitting a target, and retailers get a discount for stocking more. A promoter stands in the shop, sales teams call every week, and ads announce the latest offer.
There is nothing wrong with push. Most businesses need it, especially to get into new shops or cities. Good trade and channel marketing is push done well. The problem is relying on push alone.
What is pull marketing?
Pull marketing creates demand, so buyers come looking for you. A family walks into a paint shop and asks for a brand by name. A builder tells the dealer which cement he wants. A company searches for your name on Google before calling. The dealer stocks you because buyers keep asking, not only because of a scheme.
Pull comes from things that build a name over time: a clear position, consistent advertising, useful content, good reviews, a product that delivers, and service that makes people recommend you.
Why does push alone get expensive?
- Competitors copy offers. A discount wins share only until the next brand matches it.
- Dealers learn to wait. If schemes come every quarter, dealers order when the scheme comes.
- Buyers learn to wait too. Regular sales train people to buy only on discount.
- Margins shrink. Each sale needs more incentive, so you sell more and keep less.
- You own little. The dealer or platform owns the relationship with the buyer, so you start from zero every season.
Signs your business is stuck in push mode
- Sales rise only when you run a scheme, and fall when it ends.
- Dealers push competitors when they get a better margin from them.
- Very few enquiries come to you directly; most come through dealers or paid ads.
- Few people search for your brand name on Google compared with your main competitors.
- Buyers compare you only on price, and you can't raise prices without losing orders.
How do you shift from push to pull?
- Keep the push engine running. Don't cut the sales and trade support that pay the bills today.
- Decide what you want to be wanted for. One clear idea buyers can repeat, such as "lasts longer in Indian weather" or "the safest choice for children". This is positioning.
- Prove it. Back the idea with product quality, guarantees, test results you can show, and real customer stories.
- Tell it consistently, for long enough. The same idea across ads, packaging, the shop, your website and your sales team, for months, not weeks.
- Be easy to find when people look. Search, reviews, a strong website and helpful content catch the demand you create.
- Give dealers a reason beyond margin. When buyers ask for you, the dealer wins too. Show them that.
- Track pull, not just sales. Watch branded searches, direct enquiries, price premium and repeat orders every quarter.
The creative work that makes people remember you is creative campaigns. Useful articles and videos that answer buyers' questions are content marketing.
A worked example: a pipes and fittings maker
A made-up example. A pipes maker in East India grew through dealer schemes. Sales jump when a scheme runs and dip after. It decides to build pull alongside push.
| What it did | Why |
|---|---|
| Picked one idea: "no leaks for 10 years, or we replace it" | A promise plumbers and homeowners can repeat |
| Backed it with a written guarantee and pressure-test videos | Proof, not just a claim |
| Trained plumbers and gave them branded kits and reorder rewards | Plumbers influence what homeowners buy |
| Ran local radio and outdoor near hardware markets in the building season | People ask for brands they've heard of |
| Built a website with installation guides and a dealer locator | Catches people who search after hearing the name |
| Kept dealer schemes, but tied part of them to displays and plumber meets | Push that supports pull |
Every quarter it tracks searches for its brand name and calls from the dealer locator. It also tracks plumbers asking for it by name, and whether it can hold price when a competitor discounts.
How do you measure pull?
- Branded search: how many people search for your name, compared with competitors (share of search).
- Enquiries that come to you: calls, WhatsApp messages and website forms that aren't from paid ads.
- Price premium: whether you can hold or raise price without losing volume.
- Repeat and referral: how many buyers come back or recommend you.
- Dealer pull-through: how often dealers reorder without a scheme.
Building what people know, feel and believe about your brand is brand strategy. For the next step, moving up to better products and margins, read how to build a premium brand in India.
