• by Ron Callari , August 29, 2012

From the days of "Mad Men" up through the beginning of the 21st Century, the marketing paradigms of 'push and pull' existed in the supply chain management as the exchange of a product between two parties. On the supply side, the brand traditionally 'pushed' the message out to the consumer, while on the market side, those same consumers 'pulled' the goods or information when they have a need.

If TV, Newspapers and Billboards are Push Marketing - and Web 2.0 and user-generated content produces Pull Marketing, what's prompting 'Magnetic Marketing?' Magnetic marketing is when the consumer and brand are drawn together at the right time and the right place, without the need for either side to take an aggressive action. Like a magnet, the customer and brand come together naturally because the mutual attraction is that strong. 

Based on this paradigm, magnetic marketing allows the brand to come together with its customer at the one point in time when both are traversing the "same wave length.” For instance, in travel, this occurs when a guest books a hotel room utilizing the property’s online booking engine. During the confirmation process, if they received a branded message, along with an update about their hotel visit, they would be more inclined to share this info with their social connections on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

As geolocation apps, such as Foursquare, roll out mobile advertising apps, magnetic marketing will be signaled by a "location" versus "time of booking" trigger. Here, the "same wavelength" will be based on one's proximity to a hotel, and the offers that would appeal to Foursquare users who are within easy walking or driving distances. The same idea holds true across all travel verticals including airlines, airports, tour operators and restaurants. But for the highly competitive hotel market, magnetic marketing is a particularly powerful new construct that can make major contributions to online and mobile marketing.

Ron Callari @roncallari, VP of Business Development, Flip.to