What is Network Marketing or Multi-Level Marketing?

First off, let’s define Network Marketing (also known as Multi-Level Marketing – MLM). There are thousands of people joining MLM companies everyday to market a product or service and I am finding that some, which is surprising to me, do not understand that the industry that they are really in is that of Network Marketing or MLM.

Wikepedia defines Network Marketing as, “is a business-distribution model that allows a parent company to market its products directly to consumers by means of relationship referrals and direct selling.”

There are many resources, blogs, forums on this subject available on the internet, click here for one example. My advice would be not to rely on one source, do your research, there is good and bad information on this topic, so it’s up to you to do your due diligence prior to joining any network marketing venture. Also follow your gut instinct, if you are going to market a product or service make sure it’s one you believe in, will use yourself, and one that you will enjoy sharing with others!

Network Marketing’s Bad Reputation

Network Marketers or MLMer’s, sometimes get a bad rap because of the ‘untraditional’ marketing techniques that people peruse. I’m sure you heard of them, flyers posted on anything that can hold tape or push-pins, flyers on cars, handing business cards out to anyone with a pulse without regard to timing, you name it. I know I’ve been guilty of some myself!

Also, some people get involved in MLM’s to make a quick buck, not treating their opportunity as a real business, not realizing, it takes, time, money, perseverance and discipline to make it work, which is the case with any business. So when they quit, they say nothing but negative things, like, “it doesn’t work”, “it’s a scam”, “it’s a pyramid scheme”, “nobody makes money”, and on and on with endless excuses. We all know negative news spreads faster than positive news; hence the bad reputation of MLM’ers spreads like wild-fire.

There are some that may be dedicated at first, but the disconnect between their dream and their involvement with the opportunity gets lost, and the motivation dwindles (Authors, and expert marketers Joe Rubino & John Terhune, mentions this in their book, 15 Secrets Every Network Marketer Must Know, a must read for serious MLM’ers looking to become high-earners), so onlookers may see this as a not-so-good venture because they may perceive it as one that does not work.

I hate to hear people wine and complain about their financial situation, but when presenting them with an opportunity with unlimited earning potential, even if they are interested, they still come-up with every excuse in the book about why they can’t take advantage of what is being presented. Granted, MLM may not be for everyone, but if you are a true Entrepreneur or some one that is fed-up with being in the rat-race, chasing 3% raises, and not getting anywhere, yearning for a better life for yourself and/ or your family, then MLM is a great start to changing your situation!

What is the Real Potential of Network Marketing?

What I am about to explain exposes the real potential of Network Marketing. The potential is UNLIMITED! That is why I am writing this. There are many people, that just don’t get it!

MLM opportunities can generate Multiple Streams of income, if you are with a company that has a good system in place, you should at least be able to earn commissions on sales, bonuses, over-rides, and residual income streams. These forms of income combined can produce great wealth! And can lead you to financial freedom!

If you don’t understand the importance or power of having multiple income streams, I recommend you reading, Multiple Streams of Income, How to Generate A Lifetime of Unlimited Wealth, by Robert G Allen (he’s also the other of The One Minute Millionaire, another must read), and Rich Dad, Poor Dad’s Cashflow Quadrant, by Robert T. Kiyosaki (his books contain free downloadable bonus material that always proves to be helpful).

The best part of all, you can call the shots on how fast you achieve this great wealth! You don’t have to wait on yearly reviews or for job openings to post; it’s all up to you!

Also, unlike your traditional job where education, degrees, and the alphabet soup behind your names is everything to getting a promotion, in MLM you can move up as fast as you want without the educational credentials.

Sounds good, right? Well if you’re new to this concept you may ask, “What do I have to do?”, “How much time is required?”

Outside of having confidence in your company’s product, you are looking into or the company you are a part of now; hard work and ‘a don’t quit’ attitude is definitely required! You have to set-time to work at and market your business, set goals and work toward those goals. Always remember the reason why you decided to start MLM – know your dream or vision and use it to motivate you. Whether you peruse your MLM career part-time or full-time, it is up to you!

The First year in Network Marketing is said to be the hardest; in fact, MLM has a 97% attrition rate. Why so high? First, it’s for the reasons I said before people get involved to make a quick buck, not realizing that it is a real business that takes time, money, perseverance and self-discipline to make it a success. Second, people get overcome by fear, fear of doing something different or stepping out of their comfort zone. And third, they don’t possess the right attitude. Attitude is key! If you think negatively and surround your self with negative people, you will have negative results; if you think positive and surround yourself with positive people, it will show and you will yield positive results! It is that simple.

What are You Going to do with This Information?

Now that you have an overview of what MLM is, why it has a bad reputation, what the potential is, it is time to act on this information.

If you are with a company, you should feel great that you are in an industry that has unlimited potential. The choice is yours; do you what to be a part of the 97% or do you want to part of the 3%? If the latter is true, find ways to motivate yourself to action and propel your business forward. If you are not satisfied with the results your current product or service is generating for you, research other companies and find one that is more suited for you. Reach out to your upline or other successful leaders in your organization. Get involved in team meetings, company events conventions, etc.

In addition to your company’s system, find alternative marketing techniques to market your business, which I am ALWAYS doing. I have found Mike Dillards, 7 video Boot Camp series and building on a budget series about attraction and internet marketing techniques, to be a real asset to my team.

If you are motivated by what I said and deciding whether to join a MLM company, I invite you to visit our [http://www.1stStateTravel.info] to learn more about us and research information about our company. We are committed to mentoring and teaching prospective business owners how to market their business and make it successful. We welcome all who are 1) serious about owning their own home-based business; 2) acknowledges that it takes time, money, and dedication to grow their business; and 3) who are willing to do what it takes to make their business a success!

They are out there, your customers, you know who they are. You just need to track them down. You know you are offering exactly what they want, you just need to get them to visit your website. And to do that, you need to employ some proven target marketing strategies.

Traffic means nothing if it is not targeted, and your job is to find the community of buyers in your niche that want your product or service. To get some targeted traffic to your site, find your market and invite them to visit.

The following methods are some of the best target marketing strategies to ensure that you are getting the right people over to your site.

Target Marketing Strategy # 1: Article Marketing

This is perhaps the easiest way to get a slew of targeted visitors over to your site. Just think – everyone that reads through your article is interested in your subject, and the ones that click your link are ones that take action.

There are thousands of people that may read your articles in the years to come, and many won’t click on your link. The ones that do took a step towards finding out more about the niche – these are the types of people you want to have at your site. You have narrowed down the field somewhat.

Article marketing has its place for finding highly targeted traffic in any niche. It is worth the time and effort to get some articles out there, whether you write them yourself or have someone do it for you. It is valuable and should be used.

Target Marketing Strategy # 2: Forum Marketing

Forums make like-minded people congregate at one website, and this is where some of your potential customers are hanging out. Your job is to approach them the right way so that they will go to your site and see what you have to offer. Be helpful on the forum and turn off the sales pitch, and you will definitely get members to your site.

Not all of the members of a particular forum are buyers, but many will be and you have a set of people that have already qualified themselves as being interested in your niche. To weed out the buyers, start making a list and giving them quality offers.

Target Marketing Strategy # 3: Facebook

Facebook has thousands of different groups already set up for different topics. You can join a group, or more if there are more available, and let others see that you are an expert in the field. You can also take this opportunity to let people know more about you and become real to them.

You will start to get friend requests this way, and others will go to your Facebook page to find out more about you. Your landing page on Facebook should direct them over to your site.

Target Marketing Strategy # 4: Yahoo Answers

This is a great place to go because quite often, you will have people wanting to buy a product, and not knowing where to go or who to trust. Sometimes the questions are as blatantly obvious as “Where can I buy (blank)?

There are other question and answer sites on the Internet that you can visit. Remember, there are a lot of people that are not used to the Internet and need some direction. They quite often pose their questions at these sites, and will be grateful for any help you can give them.

Target Marketing Strategy # 5: Google AdWords

Running a ppc campaign can give you the kind of visitors you want, as long as you have a very structured campaign and enough money to do some initial testing. This type of marketing is not to be taken lightly, for it can be a very lucrative way to get visitors that want to buy.

It is best to start slowly with a ppc campaign and stick to a tight budget. It is easy to lose money at the beginning while you are testing your campaigns; in fact it is to be expected. If you begin with this attitude and stick with it, you can get thousands of visitors to your site with one tested campaign.

Target Marketing Strategy # 6: Offline Activities

There are a lot of people that congregate in groups off the Internet that would be interested in visiting a site on the niche. Some may have never even thought there was information available on the Internet about the topic.

You can track down these groups by looking for places they would hang out in the Yellow Pages. If you have a site about horses, then you can look up equestrian organizations. Visit these places of interest and ask to put up a flyer about your site. You will get visitors this way, guaranteed.

These are a few different ways to get some targeted traffic, and you should make use of every one of them to get the kind of visitors to your site that want your product or service. You need a lot of targeted traffic to make your site profitable, and to build a strong list, and these suggestions will get you started in the right direction.

This article is part 4 of 5 in a short series, which has been put together to show you how build massive amounts of leverage into your Network Marketing campaign, regardless of whether you are building your Network Marketing business Online, or using traditional techniques. As any successful Entrepreneur will tell you, the key to achieving financial freedom in any business is by leveraging your personal time and efforts, putting systems or people to work for you.

In this fourth article you will begin to learn how to take your Network Marketing business global using nothing but the Internet! You have probably heard the hype about using the Internet to build your Network Marketing business, but maybe you are unsure where to begin. If so, keep reading:

In 2007 more than 475, 000 people joined the direct sales industry each and every month, resulting in almost 6 million people becoming involved in the industry in that year alone. Current Internet usage statistics suggest that more than 70% of North Americans and 25% of the world’s total population now have access to the Internet. This means 2 things: Firstly, Network Marketing is becoming a massive trend in industry today and secondly, a huge proportion of people around the world are turning to the Internet to simplify everyday activities such as shopping, conducting research, as well as networking and socialising. This is all good news for Internet Network Marketers!

Knowing this, what better place to build your Network Marketing business than on the Internet? Also, Network Marketing is primarily a business of sharing information, both about products and home business opportunities, and the Internet was created for the purpose of sharing information (The Information Super-highway!).

An additional benefit of harnessing the Internet to build your Network Marketing business is that you can leverage your own personal time and efforts. Websites and blogs can be accessed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week by anyone around the world and auto responders can be used to stay in regular contact with your site visitors via email.

With this in mind, I recommend setting up a website or blog where you can post generic information about your company’s line of products, or alternatively to discuss the benefits of owning a home business. As long as you keep your website or blog generic, you will not be infringing any of your company’s compliance regulations. You can then direct your visitors to your company website to learn specifics about your products and opportunity.

The next development that I recommend is to incorporate an opt-in page, where your visitors can register to receive an information pack. Again, keep the information pack fairly generic and use it to direct your subscribers to areas of interest on your own site and your company’s site. This enables you to drip feed information to your prospects and gradually creates intrigue and interest, as well as building trust.

There are a number of strategies that you can employ to generate your own free leads and there are also methods that will enable you to earn an income stream from leads who do not decide to join you in your business. One approach used by many successful Network Marketers is the funded proposal system, which is definitely worth researching if you are looking to build a successful business online.

The best part about learning how to build your Network Marketing business Online is that you will not need to start from scratch. Learn from others who have already been where you are now. Aim to follow people who have already made the mistakes and, as a result, have been able to find what really works!

Marketing is vital to building a successful dental practice. By clearly defining its services and reaching out to the community in targeted ways, a dental practice can create and keep a stable customer base and ensure long-term profitability.

Like all business marketing, dental marketing requires a coherent strategy that will communicate the practice’s mission and services to potential clients. A strategy provides the framework within which the practice can carry out its marketing plan. A goal-oriented plan provides the specific action steps that connect customers and services.

For example: A dental practice sets the goal of increasing its customer base by 20 percent in one year. The marketing strategy is to contact potential clients through referrals, the Internet and direct-mailing. The plan involves establishing incentives for referrals, building a website and creating an effective postcard for mailings. Having goals and a plan to reach them allows the practice to measure its results and respond effectively to a changing marketplace.

The overall marketing mission can be divided into five stages:

Define your goals.
Do your research.
Develop your strategy.
Implement your plan.
Measure your results.
This process allows a dental practice to use its time and money in the most effective ways possible.
SMART principles are useful tools for building a marketing plan. This easy-to-remember acronym refers to goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based. Applying these principles throughout the five-stage process can keep a plan on track and increase its probability for success.

o Be specific in all aspects of your planning and execution. For example: Your goal is to increase the total customer base by 20 percent in one year. Your overall marketing budget is $50,000 and will be spent in three distinct ways: improving referrals, a website upgrade and direct mail.

o Establish measurable goals and measure your results. Vague goals and loose plans can sink your marketing efforts. Being specific when goal-setting allows you to measure your progress. The goal to build the customer base means little without knowing how much you want to build it. A starting point and a goal allow you to assess the effectiveness of your marketing plan and make meaningful adjustments along the way.

o Your goals should be achievable. Market research will assist you in establishing objectives you can reasonably hope to meet. By understanding the competitive landscape and the best methods for reaching out to your community you can establish reasonable expectations for growth. Shooting for goals that cannot be met – doubling your client base in two months, for example – can waste your money and your time.

o Be realistic. An effective dental marketing plan begins with the honest assessment of your services, skills, budget and competition. A dental practice must fit with the needs and demographics of its community; a marketing plan must operate within a budget; and the marketing methods you choose must have the potential to succeed.

o A time-based plan keeps you on track. Specific, achievable and realistic marketing goals should be laid out in a time frame that allows you to measure their effectiveness. Some marketing methods may produce results faster than others. You want to give an approach enough time to produce results, but not so much time that you waste resources on a dead end. For example, a direct-mailing may yield a surge of business, while building a website may build business slowly over a period of time.

These basic principles can set the foundation for a profitable dental marketing strategy and allow the practice to respond quickly and effectively to changing market conditions.