I remember the winter of 1980. Our family, consisting of my mom, dad, my sister and me, were living in Ann Arbor Michigan. Man, was it ever cold!
My mom had bought me a really cool light blue winter jacket and the coolest moon boots.
I remember making snowmen and snow angels with my friends.
We would play G.I. Joe and pretend we were fighting the enemy, Cobra, in faraway mountains somewhere in the Himalayas.
We would play outside until we couldn’t feel our cheeks, fingers, or toes.
On Saturday afternoons, after a delicious lunch and hot cocoa, my parents would take us to the mall, Briarwood mall. My sister and I would each get five dollars to buy whatever our hearts desired, within the five dollar limit of course.
Man, I’d walk around for what seemed like hours as if I was a special forces reconnaissance specialist scouting a bunch of different stores to see what new treasures I could get.
Most of the time I would end up getting pretty much the same stuff. Two or three packets of Topps baseball cards, which came with a sheet of bubblegum. They went for $.25 apiece.
With my leftover money, I would buy an action figure. Either a G.I. Joe, masters of the universe, or my all-time favorite, Star Wars!
After my toy adventure, I would go with my mom to get my other essentials. She’d buy me my very own and cool Superman Underoos. And I remember when my dad got me and Aladdin tin lunchbox with its thermos. I was the most excited kid at the mall!
Well, there were only a few limited items I could buy with five dollars. So, for the things I wanted but couldn’t buy, I would collect the free catalogs the stores gave away.
I’d go to JCPenney or Macy’s. But the one I really wanted to get was the big fat Sears catalog.
I couldn’t wait to get home, get milk, cookies, and sit at the recliner and open that big book of wonders and go straight to the section which any kid would go to. The toy section!
I’d look at these kids modeling bikes, RC vehicles of all types. I would see the newest Star Wars action figures and spaceships added to the collection. I would read all the descriptions of the features of each toy I wanted. They would describe in detail all the great qualities of these amazing, priceless treasures made of plastic.
After a while, I would close the Sears catalog and turn on the TV. Our very own huge 13 inch TV set. I would get up from the warm comfort of the recliner, turn the state of the art channel knob to one of the three stations available and stare at more advertising about sweet toy cars, light sabers, more Underoos, cool tin lunch boxes, all being pushed by cool looking kids and cute girls. Again, I would hear all the description of the great attributes of all these wonderful products, which I just couldn’t live without.
I’m sure you’ve had your own similar experience with product advertising. In the past, communication with the consumer was done through TV, radio, newspapers, and billboards. Marketing communication was a one-way street. Brands would communicate the attributes of their product or services and we, the consumers would just watch or listen and that was it.
The digital age has changed everything.
The consumer is no longer a passive spectator. People are now more informed than ever.
Have you ever gone to a store, saw something you needed and pulled out your trusty phone and researched the price?
Well, in today’s market, the consumer has the power. Buyers are much more in control of the purchasing process.
Did you know that over 70% of people begin their buying process going online to research? Or that close to 50% rely on social media and review websites like Yelp for what they perceive as accurate information about a product or service?
I’m here to tell you that the days of the seller pushing products on the consumer are over. There has been a paradigm shift in the relationship between brands and consumers. People today want a positive experience along with products or services. Buyers are no longer happy with hearing how great your service or product is. They want a relationship, they want to hear your brand story, and they want that story told in multiple ways and through multiple platforms. The buyer is no longer just interested in products being pushed on them. They want to be nurtured and gently attracted to the seller. That’s what is known as “pull marketing.“
Building that relationship with today’s consumers takes time. The buying process has a longer life cycle. You have to have patience, think long term, a marathon, not a 100-yard dash.
In this brave new world of community marketing, we have to think in terms of building a community around a brand ambassador which will represent a brand. We have to patiently cultivate, grow the relationship with prospects, giving them an overwhelming amount of added value before they’re willing to make a purchase.
We have to begin by attracting the consumer to our brand. Once they’ve been attracted, we capture them with more added value. The relationship has then to be nurtured so that we can get to the conversion phase. When the consumer has converted from a prospect to a buyer, it’s because you’ve earned their trust by giving them plenty of value proposition, and once they’ve become your customer or client you must expand the relationship, and the cycle then repeats itself.
In this new market, very rarely are sales people going to close a sale at first try no matter how good the product or the salesperson.
The quicker we understand this new way of doing business, the better our businesses will perform.
Remember, the consumer has outgrown the Underoos, tin lunch boxes, action figure phase. It’s the era of building trust through relationships.
Welcome to the brave new world of pull marketing!
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