While marketing is important, excellent products that provide remarkable experiences for users can often spread through word-of-mouth without much external promotion. This is known as "pull marketing", where customers actively seek out and demand a product, causing retailers to stock it due to direct consumer demand. Companies like Zappos have leveraged pull marketing through exceptional customer service and prioritizing customer delight, gaining loyalty and resulting in a $1.2 billion acquisition by Amazon. While new companies still need some push marketing, the most successful strategies incorporate elements of both push and pull promotions by satisfying customers and building the brand.

1. DO EXCELLENT PRODUCTS NEED TO BE MARKETED
OR DO THEY SELL THEMSELVES ON THEIR OWN?
By: Pritha
Vatsa
MBA-IB

2. BLUEPRINT
 Introduction
 To attract Customers – Pull Marketing
 Excellent products leverage Pull Marketing
 Essence of marketing strategy

3. INTRODUCTION
To sell products in a networked world, you need to differentiate yourself by
more than just brand attributes and a check-list of features. You need to
create remarkable products that rise above the competition and get noticed.
Products that your users will rate, recommend and tweet about. In fact, what
you need to create isn’t a product at all, but an experience.
The concept of ‘Pull Marketing’ is all the rage at the moment. Ultimately, if
you spend time creating something that people want, they will do the job of
marketing it for you

4. Pull Marketing
Pull strategy' refers to the customer actively seeking out your product and
retailers placing orders for stock due to direct consumer demand. A pull
strategy requires a highly visible brand which can be developed through
mass media advertising or similar tactics. If customers want a product, the
retailers will stock it - supply and demand in its purest form, and this is the
basis of a pull strategy. Create the demand, and the supply channels will
almost look after themselves.
EXAMPLES OF PULL TACTICS
Advertising and mass media promotion
Word of mouth referrals
Customer relationship management
Sales promotions and discounts

5. EXCELLENT PRODUCTS
LEVERAGE
Companies like Zappos understand the power of delight only too well.
Things like complimentary overnight shipping and personalized notes are
just the tip of the iceberg for this online shoe retailer from Las Vegas.
Zappos have done away with the call-waiting lights and encourage their
staff to bond with their customers. They even train their staff to order
out-of-stock shoes for their customers on competitor’s sites. The
competitors get the sale but Zappos gets the goodwill. I even heard tell of
one of their call center staff helping a clients to order pizza, although this
is apocryphal.
No wonder they recently got acquired by Amazon for US$1.2 billion.

6. Essence of Marketing Strategy
A successful strategy will usually have elements of both the push and
pull promotional methods. If you are starting a new business and intend
to sell a product through retailers, you'll almost certainly need to
persuade outlets to purchase and stock your product. You'll also need to
raise brand awareness and start building valuable word of mouth
referrals. If you have designed a product around the customer and have
considered all elements of the marketing mix, both of these aspects
should be achievable.

7. Thank you