Did you know that the Internet has done more to change network marketing than any other technology in the history of mankind?
This might make you think that if you want to succeed you have to put your business online and become an expert in...
- Building Websites
- Search Marketing
- Site Optimization (SEO)
- Social Marketing (Facebook)
- PPC Ads
- Blogging
- Email Campaigns
- Copywriting
- and a whole lot more.
Which begs the question: Whatever happened to the concept of the ‘simple, duplicatable business’ like this one?
Do you really have to be a marketing expert to start earning a real profit in your network marketing business or are you being sold a basic fallacy?
In a previous article I talked about why a network marketing company would pay you.
In this article, I want to address the question I most often get in response to that revelation and that is...
“Do I have to be a marketing expert to make my business work?”
Well in short, NO.
But you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.
If you look at the courses on building a network marketing business that have come out in recent years or listen to all the chatter you might believe that you might have to learn how to run a website, do search marketing, site optimization, social marketing, PPC ads and more.
And sadly I’m guilty for contributing to this myself. I’m on record in my publications, courses and campaigns in the late 90’s and early 2000’s for saying that marketing skill is a vital component for success.
and it is...but the devil is in the details.
The reality is that network marketing has changed an awful lot in the internet age. I’ve watched business boom and bust almost overnight as result of this revolution in communication.
It’s easier than ever to get your message out... but it’s also easier than ever to make mistakes, step on the gas, spend a lot of time and money before you realize that you’ve blown your tires but are still in the parking lot!
Which get’s us to the basic fundamental fallacy of needing to be a direct marketing expert in order to build a network marketing business...
The power of network marketing as we mentioned in the 1st article in this series is in relationships and genuine human connections. But if we stop there we are not really capitalizing on what makes network marketing network marketing - duplication.
Without duplication in your business you have a sales business at best. And it may be a good sales business and you might like doing it but it’s not network marketing. You have to be an expert at more than just marketing to get rich this way!
Yet with duplication, you can take what would otherwise be viewed as modest or even insignificant sales and exponentially multiply them to something extra ordinary.
But to get true duplication you need a system and education process that's simple enough to learn quickly - one that let’s you learn as you grow AND without stepping on each others toes by competing in the same venues for clicks and responses.
This is where being a direct marketing starts to break down for network marketing.
In order to be successful in direct marketing you not only have to be able to creatively apply consumer psychology or use triggers and motivating factors to connect with the prospects primary wants... you have to test your ads and approaches to find the right mix. And your have to continually test not just to look for improvements but to adapt to changes in the economy, politics or your competitors.
And while you might be able to learn concepts and theory from a course or even a mentor it’s not something that can be done without a significant budget and the patience to stick it out while you test.
Everyone would be spending a lot of time, effort and money reinventing the wheel... which makes sense if you have created or your own exclusive product but not if you are a distributor for a network marketing company. |
Which is my biggest issue with making direct marketing such a large component in a network marketing organization - most people don’t have the time or budget to make this a duplicatable option - not to mention that there is a limited venue for advertising or promoting your offer - so if you did duplicate you would quickly be competing with others in your same company, downline and upline.
Everyone would be spending a lot of time, effort and money reinventing the wheel... which makes sense if you have created or your own exclusive product but not if you are a distributor for a network marketing company.
The good news is that you don’t need to focus on being a direct marketer to make network marketing work.
When you focus on learning how to connect with prospects both cold and warm - focus on building relationships and solving problems you learn some of the most essential elements of direct marketing in the process!
Why? Because creating successful relationships has a lot to do with understanding how people think.
In the group of Certified Home Based Business Consultants & Coaches I work with , mentoring ordinary people like us to achieve extraordinary success, we focus on teaching marketers how to ask the kind of questions that allow the prospect to relax and reveal their true motivations.
Yeah, we teach about benefits and trigger. We even talk about how to build a website and use email in follow-up. But nothing teaches you how to be a better network marketer than personal contact and interaction.
You can earn $20 for completing a 20 minute survey!
ReplyDeleteGuess what? This is exactly what big companies are paying me for. They need to know what their average customer needs and wants. So large companies pay millions of dollars every month to the average person. In return, the average person, myself included, participates in surveys and gives them their opinion.