Why You Are More than a Network Marketer
There is a growing trend of network marketers creating the same old content, over and over again. Here are a few tips to stay competitive in the multi-level marketing (MLM), affiliate sales, and direct selling industries.
Two Deadly MLM Career Moves
With the advent of pre-made MLM blog platforms with content already curated for you, it is easier than ever for a new network marketer to spend some money and just use one of these platforms.
Or, the new distributor doesn’t take the time to learn “Branding” at all and just slaps up their company product image on their social media bio and calls themselves “Distributor #26432 for (MLM company.)
These are the two main problems network marketers are dealing with.
The first being, using a pre-made MLM blog platform that does the Branding for you, which makes you look like every other distributor using these platforms.
And two, slapping your product image up and calling yourself a distributor means nothing to your audience and you just turned most everyone off by looking spammy or like a hard selling salesman.
No one cares that you are a distributor for so and so company. If people really wanted your products badly enough they would just Google the name and go to the first website that pops up.
I know it is hard as a new network marketing distributor. I have been there, spamming my opportunity link everywhere I could, so desperate for an order or getting a new rep.
But, I learned how to brand myself. Personal branding is very powerful and a necessity these days.
These are the things I did to stop sounding like most distributors:
- I created my own blog on a Self-Hosted Bluehost account. That means it is my own website with my own content that no one can take away from me, unlike free sites like WordPress.com, where they can literally suspend your account with no warning or display ads on your site.
- I took out “distributor” on my social media profiles and added personal things I like, like quotes, and that I am a Entrepreneur. I also added “Passionate about Network Marketing” but I didn’t say I was in MLM or a distributor.
- Reduced or stopped “Product endorsements.” I found it much easier and effective to promote the “income opportunity” of my business rather than the “benefits of the product” side of it.
- I started to write more personal stuff on my blog instead of always network marketing.
Now, I want to talk about why I don’t like pre-made blog platforms, like MLSP and Empower Network.
It is great that these platforms come already made with a solid stream of content you can share (I don’t know if Empower does this), but you are still left having to promote this blog to get traffic, and these platforms cost good money.
More distributors are promoting these types of blogs, which makes the market saturated. I instantly know when someone online is promoting a MLSP blog and not their own.
This is fine if you really don’t have time to blog, but understand that in order to become a true leader in MLM, you need to create everything from scratch!
This takes time. If you are a blogger, expect blogging solidly for a couple years. If you are a video marketer, it is a lot less time.
It is easy to upload a quick two to three minute video to Periscope or Snapchat or YouTube from your phone.
The point is, there is no free lunch anymore.
Network marketing is extremely competitive and if you are just sharing pre-made content, people are going to see this and know that you are most likely an amateur.
How to be yourself
Most MLM bloggers, if they do start off from scratch (Bravo!) write about the same things. Titles like:
“How to get Leads from Facebook.”
Blah, blah, blah.
Eventually, you want to be writing stuff about “behind the scenes.”
People love behind the scenes, even if it is relatively boring, look at the Kardashians. People are obsessed with them and they hardly do anything!
Start writing some personal stuff on your blog, this does a few awesome things:
- It makes you REAL.
- It gets you out of the competitive MLM Niche.
- People get to know, like and trust you faster, which you need buyer trust.
- It spices up your blog!
- It keeps your writing interesting.
My blog took off when I wrote about my heart attack one day.
I felt that it was time for me to reveal everything about my life and wanted to break free from the MLM Blogger model.
It was one of my most popular blog posts. That blog post changed everything for my multi-level marketing career.
It is okay to write about your life, your kids, your hobbies, your rants, anything as long as it is not just you complaining. People learn to relate to you and trust you that way when you are authentic.
Try to end every post with a lesson or a takeaway.
The point is, we are all more than network marketers. It is okay to share your life and beliefs with others.
Your blog should be of YOU, not just an MLM opportunity or MLM tips and techniques.
Of course, you want to share your expertise in network marketing to attract prospects, but it is also okay to flavor your blog with your personality.
