If you need a plumber, electrician or decorator today, what are you likely to do?
You will probably pick up your phone, search Google and choose from the businesses you find.
That is exactly why SEO is so valuable. It puts a business in front of potential customers at the point when they are actively looking for its products or services.
But what about all the people who aren’t searching today?
They may still need a new kitchen, a gardener, an accountant, a mortgage adviser or someone to decorate the spare bedroom. They simply haven’t reached the point of searching for one yet.
Put the right advertisement in front of them, however, and something interesting can happen:
“You know what, we’ve been meaning to get that done.”
That is the difference between capturing demand and generating demand, and successful local marketing should ideally do both.
Pull Marketing: Being Found When Someone Is Looking
SEO is a classic example of what marketers call pull marketing.
The customer already has a need. They go looking for a solution and your marketing helps to pull them towards your business.
Someone might search for:
- Painter and decorator in Brentwood
- Emergency plumber near me
- Mortgage adviser in Essex
- Local accountant
- Kitchen fitter in Shenfield
At this point there is already intent. The customer has decided they want the service, and the job of SEO is to make sure your business is visible when they search.
This is also described as demand capture. The demand already exists, and your business is trying to capture its share of it.
For local businesses, good search visibility can be extremely valuable. If you want to improve how your business appears when local customers are actively searching, Green Tornado’s local SEO services are specifically designed to improve local search visibility.
But search marketing has one unavoidable limitation: the customer has to search in the first place.
Push Marketing: Reaching Customers Before They Search
This is where advertising works differently.
An advert in The Network Magazine doesn’t wait for somebody to type something into Google. It puts your business directly in front of local households.
This is known as push marketing, because you are proactively putting your message in front of potential customers rather than waiting for them to come looking.
More importantly, it can generate demand.
Imagine a homeowner sitting down with a cup of tea and flicking through The Network. They see an advert from a local painter and decorator showing a beautifully finished room.
They weren’t looking for a decorator five minutes ago.
But the advert reminds them of the hallway that needs repainting, the spare bedroom they have been meaning to sort out or the tired-looking living room they keep putting off.
Suddenly there is a potential enquiry that might never have existed from search marketing alone.
Google Captures People Who Are Looking. The Network Reaches People Before They Look.
That, in one sentence, is the real difference.
Search marketing is exceptionally good at reaching someone at the moment of intent. Magazine advertising can get your business noticed before that intent has fully formed.
The Network Magazine is delivered to more than 11,000 local homes. That means a business isn’t limited to the relatively small percentage of people who happen to search for its particular service that month.
It can also reach thousands of households who could become customers after seeing the right message at the right time.
For some businesses, that reminder effect can be particularly powerful.
Home improvements, gardening, kitchens, bathrooms, financial services, estate agency, beauty treatments and vehicle services can all sit on somebody’s mental to-do list for weeks or months before they finally take action.
A well-timed advertisement can be the nudge that turns “we ought to do that sometime” into “let’s get a quote”.
Familiarity Matters Too
Not everybody responds to an advert immediately.
Someone might see your business in The Network this month, see it again next month and encounter your name for a third time a few weeks later.
Then, three months later, they suddenly need exactly what you provide.
When they search online, your name is already familiar.
Instead of being one unknown business among a page of Google results, you are the company they recognise from their local magazine.
So push and pull marketing don’t simply generate two separate groups of customers. They reinforce each other.
The Best Marketing Strategy Isn’t One or the Other
It is tempting to ask whether SEO is better than local advertising, or whether magazine advertising is better than Google.
That’s really the wrong question.
They do different jobs.
SEO helps you get found by people who already know they need you.
The Network helps introduce your business to people who may need you next week, next month or after your advert reminds them about something they have been putting off.
One captures existing demand. The other can create new demand.
For a strong local marketing strategy, having both working together makes a great deal of sense.
Don’t Just Wait for Customers to Look for You
There will always be enormous value in appearing on Google when somebody searches for your service.
But there is a much bigger local audience beyond the people searching today.
The Network Magazine gives businesses the opportunity to put their name, service and message in front of 11,000+ local households, including potential customers who may not yet have thought about searching for them.
Because sometimes the best customer isn’t the person already looking for you.
It’s the person who sees your advert and thinks:
“Actually, that’s exactly what I need.”
If you’d like to put your business in front of more than 11,000 local homes through The Network Magazine, get in touch to discuss advertising opportunities.
