When it comes to gaining clients for your small enterprise, there are two approaches from which to choose. You can “push” your message at your potential buyer with traditional marketing methods, or provide helpful information to assist with their buying decisions and “pull” them your way. Which approach is best for you? Well, that depends…
Does Your Small Business Push or Pull?
The “push” approach to marketing your services thrusts your offerings before your potential clients. In a word – it’s risky! (IMHO)
The drawback with “push” is that your buyer is likely not in the market for your service at the moment you have your “push on.” You gamble that potential new clients won’t be irritated by the interruption that “push” marketing creates, and ignore all future offerings. Opportunity missed!
“Pull” technology, on the other hand, is based on the principles of attraction. It works like a magnet by attracting potential clients to your business. What’s even more compelling is that it taps into how the consumer of today wants to buy.
Why We Recommend “Pull” – The Numbers Never Lie
With the emergence of mobile devices and social media, consumers rule! In fact, 73% of consumers say positive customer reviews make them trust a business even more (and increase from 58% in 2012)
In a study conducted by Quirk’s Marketing Research Media, 79% of study respondents report checking an online review before making a purchase.
57% of a typical purchase decision is made before a client ever talks to a provider. (Corporate Executive Board) Information rules!
In 5 years, Target Marketing tells us that clients will manage 85 percent of their relationship with a service provider without ever interacting with a human. (Yikes. I may be unemployed!)
Each month, 329 million people read blogs. (Is your blog one of them?) In fact, according to NewsCred, 70% of buyers today prefer to get to know a business through (blogs) articles rather than ads. (Click to Tweet)
Long Live Small Business Blogs!
Research conducted by Hubspot on the State of Inbound 2014-2015 revealed that those who blog are 13X more likely to net a positive return on investment. Isn’t that what we’re all after? In fact, 84% of inbound (i.e. pull) marketers – compared to 9% of outbound (i.e. push) marketers – suggest that blogs and social media are rising in importance. (Click to Tweet)
Why?
That’s where leads – your future clients – are found! Or, more accurately, that’s where your future clients will find you!
Plus, leads acquired by “pull,” or inbound strategies are less costly than those acquired from “push,” or outbound practices. Anyone who has every attended a face-to-face networking event, or joined a chamber knows how costly it can be…especially when you include your soft costs (i.e. your time).
Leverage Your Blogging Efforts
Now that you’re wholeheartedly on board with blogging, you want to leverage your time and energy. According to MarketingProfs.com, adding sound scientific data to your blogging efforts elevates the return-on-investment. Here’s what they have to say:
- 87% of blog articles are posted during the week with the primary days being Tuesday and Wednesday with the peak posting time between 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET (Eastern Time)
- 13% of blogs posted on weekend actually had more social shares with the peak social sharing time of 9 p.m. – 12 midnight ET. The greatest engagement on social media, however, occurs between 10 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET with spikes between 4-6 a.m., 7-8 p.m., and 1-2 a.m. ET.
- Blog titles with 60 characters receive the most social shares
- Blog posts with a question mark in the title had many more social shares
Now that you know the kind of return gained from your blogging prowess, are you ready to “pull” a few clients your way?
