Wikipedia has defined Multi-level marketing (MLM) as a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of the other salespeople that they recruit. This recruited sales force is referred to as the participant’s “down-line”, and can provide multiple levels of compensation.
Network marketing to me is an opportunity to any and all open-minded individuals who want to have the ability to develop self and residual income, leveraged income, and pay for performance, while ending up with FREEDOM. The most interesting dynamic about network marketing is that not a single person could find any of the aforementioned results unattractive. Those results in their lives may not be unattractive however the messengers of network marketing can and do often turn many off.
DIRECTED
The Biggest Mistake When Prospecting
As a network marketer when you have complete confidence and buy-in into your primary business which you should because you got involved. Typically you are excited and you want to tell everyone. However, that excitement is fine but talking too much is not. Far too often people are turned away and disgusted because they may take what is excitement on your part due to you over communicating information and feel that you are only about YOU and your agenda (on some occasions they may be right). They may feel that you are on a mission to only sign them up with something and pressure them into buying with what they may refer to by using double talk.
This approach tends to be the most fatal of approaches when it comes to prospecting in network marketing. It is extremely difficult to convey the message of “I’m only doing this to save you from your predicament” aka the savior message when you are being compensated. I do not want you to feel that you should not think of your network marketing company as the best and greatest. Not at all, you should feel that way and want to convey that to others when recruiting. However, there is a point that you may cross when you are not really caring and that you are only in it to get paid. Trust me people know the difference. There is a way of prospecting and recruiting that you will not turn away your family and your friends and you wind up actually helping them and not harming your relationships which is truly what you really want.
Avoid This in Your Network Marketing Recruiting!
There are too many similarities between why some people do not like network marketers and very religious people. Being a pastor I understand this dislike. This is why the Bible says, “Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col 3:2). Contrary to popular opinion, being heavenly minded always inspires us to be more earthly good. Thus, our goal as Christians must be to set our minds on things above and faithfully serve the Lord. Even God knew that we could present things in such a way that would send people running away from instead of toward Him.
There are many individuals when they get in network marketing may not realize that they are being overbearing, pushy, and selfish. Because of these traits, people tend to not want to deal with individuals who possess them. Would you blame them? There are some individuals who when speaking about God they are more about religion than the spiritual side and this comes across in their presentation. Just like believers, network marketers may have the best message in the world but if their heart isn’t right the road block goes up immediately. People will run away because they sense the lack of humility and honest care from you.
As a believer my model is Jesus Christ and what he did was give the gospel away freely. He didn’t infringe on people’s right to not want it. We as powerful, influential, good network marketers should realize that we too should do the same in our businesses. We should give away our information freely without trespassing on other’s rights. We should NEVER cross the line in any way. This simply means if someone says they are not interested we are not to spend another hour telling them that they should be because it is a great thing for them. If someone does not answer the phone or are not available even when they say that they are going to be available do not leave messages or make references to them about being awful people because of it.
We as professional network marketers MUST learn how to run our businesses properly. One of the ways in doing that is genuinely caring about people. Again, people know when you really care, they can sense it. You must not be more interested in sharing your opportunity than the people you are sharing it with.
SUCCESS
Get Your Priorities in Order
Last, I had a person who I was prospecting tell me that they were ready to get started after they heard the presentation. They received a phone call regarding a tragic occurrence in their family. When they informed me of this I did not continue to pitch them and say “hey we need to finish this transaction before you run off to the hospital”. I decided as a Pastor not only was it my job to go with them, it was my moral obligation to see if their entire family was o.k. Remember this business is about people helping people. I have been in network marketing for over 20 years and I LOVE network marketing and network marketers and the passion we ALL possess for our companies but we MUST treat our businesses like businesses at the very least be professional. I hope that this does not offend you and that you are able to see that I only want the best for you and that I want to help. Have PURPOSE DIRECTED SUCCESS today!
El arte de la fotografía de bodas va más allá de simplemente tomar fotos. Se trata de contar una historia, de capturar la esencia de dos personas comprometiéndose a compartir su vida juntas. Medellín, con su rica tradición y atmósfera vibrante. Fotógrafo de Bodas en Medellín. Cuando inicies la búsqueda de tu fotógrafo ideal, ten en mente lo que realmente quieres. ¿Prefieres un enfoque documental, donde se capturen momentos naturales y espontáneos? ¿O tal vez algo más dirigido y artístico?
Over the last decade there has been a change in the mindset of people wanting to increase their income. Originally the options were few, you either found a new, better paying job or you started your own brick and mortar business. Thanks to the internet, a whole new world of possibilities has opened up for those who are willing to try something new. Among the vast opportunities out there, there is no question that affiliate marketing is proving to be the most popular. There are a number of reasons as to why this is the case, but the primary ones are that there is very little investment to get started, you do not need to be a technical expert and it is really not that complicated. Therefore, it is the perfect business opportunity for someone who doesn’t have any background or experience.
So what is affiliate marketing anyway? Simply put, affiliate marketing is where you, as an affiliate, promote a vendor’s products or services to the public. When someone clicks on your link and is directed to the vendor’s website and buys from them, you get a commission on the sale. From an affiliate marketers perspective there are many advantages, such as, no storing merchandise or stock, no dealing with customers and invoices and no responsibility in regard to the sale other than directing the prospective customer in the right direction.
If this sounds like something you would like to explore, it is fairly easy to get started. There are several different affiliate programs you can choose from. There are a few other options as well, you can sign up with several affiliate programs that manage vendors looking for affiliates to promote their products or you can find a private program and work with a vendor one on one. You can do a Google search for affiliate programs and have a look through the results. Several affiliate companies pay once a month using PayPal or direct deposit. This will depend on the size of the company and its location.
As soon as you have registered as an affiliate, you will need to consider what you want to promote and start doing some research. Find out the best keywords around the products you have chosen. A good device to use for this process is the free Google keywords tool. This will give you an idea as to how many times your keyword is searched and how competitive the niche is. This will give you an indication as to whether it will be worthwhile or too hard to go after that particular niche. Once you have your product names and keywords, you will need to register a domain, purchase hosting and setup your website to promote your niche. Many of the larger vendors will provide you with most of what you need to get started, such as, banners, images and your affiliate link.
Once your website is set up, you will want to start adding content. The content you write should be unique and original when promoting your product as Google will give more credibility to valuable content as opposed to regurgitated articles.
The next step is getting some backlinks to get yourself on the front page of Google. This is the best place to be to maximize traffic for your keywords. We won’t get into building backlinks in this article as that is a whole other subject, but there are many free tutorials and videos on the internet to walk you through the process.
Affiliate marketing is an excellent online business. You need to remember that it is a business and needs to be treated as one. You will definitely need to put in a bit of work to get started. Don’t give up if things don’t happen right away. You need to be consistent and persistent. Take action every day and you will start seeing results.
Building and maintaining a list of potential customers is one of the most effective things a business can do to generate sales and improve profit margins especially when launching new products and services in a competitive marketplace.
To put it into perspective, if you are for example a new online retailer that is selling a new range of fashionable scarves there are many mediums for you to start marketing and selling your products. An online retailer can choose between search engine marketing with Google or Bing or direct advertising through social media channels such as Facebook. These online mediums offer the ability to go direct to your target market to generate interest to complement any SEO and in all likelihood and if done correctly with relevant ad copy should start seeing regular sales.
Many sales departments would ordinarily jump for joy if automated sales started occurring with the people at the top wondering why they hadn’t used this method before but before we get to excited lets actually break this down and see where the flaws are. Selling through Search engine marketing such as Google, Bing and social media such as Facebook can be expensive and kill your margins especially in a competitive marketplace. Just one solitary click on a search campaign can cost well in excess of $1 and with an average of 2% of visitors to an online store actually making a purchase this example would mean a $50 up front cost before a sale is made.
By no means does the above bleak example of search and social media marketing mean you have to ditch this method and go straight back to conventional methods of marketing but it does mean that you have to work smarter to turn the figures back in your favour.
It is reasonably obvious to assume that before embarking on any marketing campaign or for that matter any business you should always have calculated your profit margins I.e what do you need to sell to break even and how much of one sale is profit. If you are selling a big-ticket item like a fine swiss watch or large- scale electrical goods then if we use the example above $50 isn’t a great deal to spend to make a sale (certainly cheaper than employing staff on a shop floor). But if we use our original example of scarves and they are of a reasonably low value item then $50 clearly can’t make sense so how can we make use of this type of marketing to grow our business.
To take advantage of search and social marketing when selling low value and low profit margin items the key is to work smarter. One method would be to unleash the power of the up-sell. Think about the chocolate bar and magazine counter when you are going through the tills at the supermarket. Many e-commerce stores adopt up-selling by suggesting products that complement your existing choice. Another great method is to send email communication thanking them for their purchase but including a list of new products or items they just might like, in fact lets throw in a discount coupon to get them buying. These methods can work very well but again they can be short-lived hits hence our favourite method is to grow your list!
Rather than specifically directing your search and social marketing campaigns to entice a purchase why not try advertising a discount code or a free trial offer of your products or services. A simple “Register for a free 10% off discount code” “Code expires tomorrow” campaign could dramatically reduce your cost per click as your aren’t competing for the actual product in a competitive market plus it is a great call to action to increase your click through rate. However the main draw and more important than the other areas discussed is that you have managed to add a potential ‘opt in’ customer to your list so when you are promoting your new lines or an end of season sale you have another potential customer to market.
Facebook and other social media marketing works especially well with this method and you can hopefully build your targeted list in a much more cost- effective way than going for that one-off sale.
You will be surprised at how many new subscribers you obtain and equally surprised at how it is much easier to turn these prospects into long-term customers. This method is time and time again being used to get more ‘bang for your buck’ per marketing dollar spent thus increasing a businesses overall profit margin.
The Internet is chock full of affiliate marketing training that promises overnight success. Many claim to have the one secret method to making money online. New article marketing methods and techniques abound throughout the internet that promises your financial freedom.
Searching for Affiliate Marketing Training
Before I decided to jump into Affiliate Marketing, I searched for and participated in various ways of making money and occupying my time. I tried direct sales, Multi-Level Marketing, retail sales, owned a retail store. They all required some level of knowledge. Knowledge that I didn’t have.
The same is true of affiliate marketing. There are many training courses that claim to offer unique material; but they all teach the same stuff. There are affiliate marketing training courses for identifying niches, search engine optimization, article writing, and list building, to name a few.
It is as if you are in the middle of the ocean with no compass or sextant. You have too many directions to choose from. You know that somewhere there is land, but you don’t know in which direction to steer.
So many training courses are out there that claim to be able to teach you how to make money online by using their approach. It frustrates and confuses you to the point of indecision.
Affiliate Marketing Training Options
Of course there many options available to you the internet marketer. There are many reputable experts and some not so reputable.
Just as there is no one magic bullet to making money online there is no one method of learning affiliate marketing. The following options may seem obvious to the experienced affiliate marketer. Nevertheless, new marketers are often overwhelmed by the many marketing training options available.
Free training – Article directories often offer free training videos and courses. Some professional training sites also provide access to free training. The internet is another source. It is overflowing with free content. Forums are an excellent source of free training. Ask a question on a forum and you will get a myriad of responses.
Professional training – If your budget allows, scour the internet and find a multitude of training programs and courses from one time purchase courses to monthly paid pay as you go subscriptions.
Experience – Nothing, I repeat nothing, replaces experience as a learning tool. Do not be afraid to try something even though it may not work. You will learn what not to do. Too often, beginners freeze into inactivity because they do not want to make a mistake. Mistakes are the best teachers. As is often said, “Just do it.”
Due Diligence
Regardless of which option or options you choose, do your due diligence. As I said earlier, there are many experts that claim to have the answer to making money online. But, remember that they too were once beginners and that what they have to offer is most likely a spin on the same basic information about list building, article writing, search engine optimization, etc.
For myself, I do and did all three options. In the beginning, with a limited budget, I started with free training and was quickly overwhelmed by the variety of subjects to choose from: how to choose a niche, how to build a list, how to attract customers, on and on and on. I focused on one topic, article writing, and learned enough to begin doing it. Then, plunged into it and started making mistakes which were my greatest teachers – experience.
Do not become overwhelmed by your choices of affiliated market training courses. Choose one topic and go for it.