Prince, Push and Pull marketing...

The passing of Prince has been hugely recognized by the media, even though the artist was not necessarily well-known and appreciated by a huge segment of the population. I, for one, wasn't a fan of the singer and I believe that it was more a lack of personal attraction to its material than my age, that could have pushed me into an isolated audience category.

This got me thinking that in today's crowded music market, artists have to work twice as hard on their image, if their product doesn't have what could be termed, a universal appeal. And this made me think of the dual marketing strategies that generally tell volume about a product, a style or a service: Push and Pull strategies.

Without getting into too many details, a push strategy involves taking the product directly to the customer via whatever means, ensuring the customer is aware of your brand at the point of purchase. This means working very hard on its image, its distribution and its presentation, in ways that will get maximum attention to it, regardless of its intrinsic qualities.

An example of push strategy is displayed when major studio launch a new movie through massive ad campaign and media interview.

A pull strategy on the other hand involves a more natural and organic appeal from customers to seek out the brand in an active process. This is what happens when a product has it all and creates a universal and irresistible demand.

In that category, the examples could range from the iPhone to the Beatles.

Got it?