Seth Godin recently posted about products that are bought versus those that are sold. For some products, the buyers come to you, for others you go find the buyer.  We often call the former “pull” products and the latter “push” products.

In the insurance business we have both types of products. Whole life insurance is generally sold – people may go out and look for term life, but they need to be convinced that “owning” a policy is better than renting it. Auto insurance is typically a product consumers will search out – after all, it’s a requirement to get your car registered in most states.

Seth’s post reminded me how important this distinction is in online marketing.

If your product is sold rather than bought, you may have trouble getting volume in search. You may need to turn to display ads, contextual marketing, or other channels to generate interest for your product.  We have had a number of people approach us for search campaigns that we had to turn down because there was no search volume available for their product.

If your product is bought rather than sold, you have to think about whether it is an impulse buy or a consideration purchase. Impulse products are great for very low cost run-of-network display advertising (like flowers just before Mother’s Day). Consideration purchases (like insurance) usually require more expensive search campaigns or other highly relevant placements.  In other words, to sell a consideration product, it’s better to find people who are already in the process of considering it.

Knowing whether your product is bought or sold and whether it is an impulse or consideration buy is essential in considering your online marketing strategy.