Do professional service firms need both push and pull marketing? The answer is yes.
There is a concept of pushing and pulling in marketing strategy, which most good marketers have in their DNA. These two doorways into a business are equally important.
At times of stress in the economy I see firms putting more emphasis and budget towards one or the other though both are equally vital to the growth of a firm.
Think about growing tomato plant, do you need sun or water?
The pull part of attracting new business is drawing clients to an organization.
It’s that special magnet that gains power by using positive name recognition in the markets the company serves.
Press coverage, social media, speaking engagements and webinars each play a role in building this magnetic field. Great word of mouth and referrals are also essential to pull strategy. “The investment banker referred us to this law firm.” Those pull elements of marketing are crucial in professional services marketing.
The push part, what most organizations consider business development and sales, is equally important.
These efforts should send the same message as those communicated through the pull side of marketing, but the difference is that these are more closely directed toward clients and prospects.
They are the outgoing activities of your organization, reaching clients for additional business or approaching prospects with messaging of a USP (Unique Sales Proposition, or what makes us unique and better).
The essential thing about a push-pull strategy is that it is necessary to have both. It’s one of the signs of a well-balanced organization.
But how do you do it? Leaders should ask themselves:
1. Does my business development department know the key messages of my PR department, and are both teams promoting the same messaging in all our materials?
2. Do our heads of PR, any agencies we use, and BD work hand in glove to support each other in their mutual assignments?
3. Is our PR department closely aligned in learning about the conversations between our business development department and the partners, and vice versa?
4. Is our PR department adequately staffed with internal resources, and are they able, through staff or PR firms, to support the efforts of multiple geographies?
The push-pull strategy should be considered even if you look at how individuals market themselves. Writing on LinkedIn supports our pull strategy, but if we were to make a direct pitch for your business, that would be a push.
