Is your Marketing Passive or Active?
 
As a business owner you are probably most familiar with Passive Marketing. It`s been the standard for 75 years or so and while it`s not going away, it is undergoing a dramatic shift.
 
The online world (where most of your future customers are) tends to lean toward active marketing. Most local businesses however focus almost exclusively on passive marketing.
 
So what`s the difference?
 
Passive- Businesses finds customers.
Active- Customers find businesses.
 
Passive Marketing
Think of passive marketing as a flash of information distributed to a large group. It could be a TV commercial, radio ad, magazine ad, website banner, printed materials, etc… Terms like branding, color theory, getting your name out, presentation, etc… are all forms of Passive Marketing. Even such activities often thought of as active, like sales calls and emails are passive. Passive marketing is almost always an interruption
In short, Passive marketing is any marketing that involves YOU finding customers.
 
Active Marketing
True active marketing is any marketing that involves your customers finding YOU. The catch is this. Active marketing only works on active customers. The good news is that more customers become active everyday.
Anyone using a search engine is an Active customer. Anyone calling information services, doing a local search, using their GPS system, using their mobile device (cell phone) or researching products or services are active.
 
Active marketing simply involves being there when a client is looking for your product or service. The challenge for most businesses is that they do not know where to be or how to get there.

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Steve Gibson
Skyabove
http://www.skyabovelocal.com
http://www.boxoutsidethethink.com
http://www.promoyou.com

H

Hello this is Brianna visiting first time to this guest book and find it very interesting.My marketing is active.

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brianna

Hello this is Brianna visiting first time to this guest book and find it very interesting.

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BRIANNA

<a href="http://mls.fastrealstate.net" rel="dofollow">MLS</a>

Good info...other than the internet and becoming more relevant on searches, where to you put your self for active marketing?


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Brandon
De Novo Pittsburgh Chiropractic & Health
Treating Pittsburgh`s Athletes
www.denovopittsburgh.com

So the "active" and the "passive" apply to the customer, basically. (Otherwise the terms are counter-intuitive.)

The more we work with our own business, the more it reminds me of fishing. The fish in a body of water are that big "group" of something we want. But there are a tremendous number of variables that affect each individual fish within the group.

What it ultimately comes down to is to understand the overall dynamics of the group. Why do fish hang out in some places, not others. What effects do temperature, time, season, and environment have.

So too with customers in the open market. Starting with an assumption that the conditions are favorable for fish to hunt or customers to buy, it ultimately comes down to whether or not the "bait" is interesting to the target group.

Too many business owners, in my opinion, don`t offer anything unusual or interesting. They`re selling (not offering) commodities. If you sell flour, for example, that`s a commodity. It`s readily available everywhere, online or off. So why should a customer go after your particular flour?

I`ve stood right next to people fishing, and I`ve caught nothing while they`ve caught fish after fish. Everything was the same except the bait. So active or passive marketing is all well and good as a buzz phrase, but without a product (or the illusion of a product) that`s interesting to people, not much will happen.


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Craig Landes
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Defining the undefinable. "There are 10 kinds of people in the world---those who understand binary numbers and those who don`t." - Unknown

International Society of Curmudgeons

...or the guy next to you found the starving fish.


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Aurora Anderson

Government Grants - Personal & Business Grant Funding Resource
Follow Aurora on Twitter

Hah! That`s it!! Why didn`t I think of that!? :-D

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Craig Landes
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Defining the undefinable. "There are 10 kinds of people in the world---those who understand binary numbers and those who don`t." - Unknown

International Society of Curmudgeons

Your "Active Marketing" sounds like "Directional Advertising" to me ... billboards, yellow pages, SEO, etc. (a contextual trigger doesn`t warrant the elevation to "marketing").

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Chris Miller, a simple taco maker:
The Tiger Taco home in the U.S.A.
Tiger Tacos in Australia
Tiger Tacos in the United Kingdom

TigerTaco, boom you nailed it. SkyAbove is using different names for the Ad Industry Buzz Words of Creative Advertising and Directional Advertising.

Creative aka Push advertising: Defined as Sellers seeking buyers. Radio, tv, magazine ads, banner ads, direct mail, are all Push Ads. You are Pushing your message to everyone hoping to hit someone who wants to buy or to create awareness of your product / brand so when they do buy, boom, they call you.

Directional aka Pull aka Active: Buyers are seeking sellers. There is an established need and this form of advertising directs buyers to the sellers at that point. Think about Yellow Pages, Search Engines, Classified Ads..You`ve know you need an Attorney so you open the Attorney section in the Yellow Book, or you google Divorce Lawyers, or you open the Classified Ads looking for that new puppy. Now all the Ad needs to do is PULL you into your business because you are ready to buy from someone and need to be Pulled in the right direction.

Great feedback on this post.

Consider the title "Is your marketing Active or Passive" but remove the "marketing" and substitute a word of your choice. Here are a few to consider.

Is your "Fitness" Active or Passive"
Do you own some workout equipment but never use it? - Passive
Do you go to the gym and workout? - Active
Do you have a personal trainer? - Active
Do you have a Gym membership but never go? - Passive

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Is your "Volunteering" Active or Passive?
Do you write a check - Passive
Do you deliver groceries to the poor - Active

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Is your "Job Search" Active or Passive
Do you view popular job boards for openings - Passive
Do you participate in groups and forums about open positions - Active


Passive means being involved at the surface level.
Active means diving in head first and probing the depths.

Passive is "Us and Them"
Active looks for what we have in common.

Passive is "Giving Directions"
Active is a Co-Pilot

If your marketing is active, you will know every plus and minus about your product or service.

If your marketing is active, it won`t be defined as directional, creative, interactive, pushed, pulled, contextual or any other industry buzzwords.

If your marketing is active, you will have a hard time distinguishing your ad copy from a customer review.

Active marketing means enrolling everyone into your vision.
It means creating Fans, evangelist, enthusiast and supporters.

Of course all of this assumes you truly believe in your product or service.


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Steve Gibson
Skyabove
http://www.skyabovelocal.com
http://www.boxoutsidethethink.com
http://www.promoyou.com