Network Marketing is Like Eating Popcorn at the Movies

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A mentor of mine described how the network marketing industry is like going to the movies: company events are the film, the products are the concessions and the leaders are the celebrities. Distributors pay top dollar for all of these things expecting an experience—an entertaining escape from their normal routine.

We invite them to cruises, conventions and various other group meetings and give them a show. When they go home from the events, they give their friends a personal review and they wait in anticipation for the sequel. There is very little “selling” when people buy popcorn at the movies—it’s just what people do during the movie experience. (Why else would someone buy a $10 tub of buttered popcorn when you can do it for a lot less at home?). They also pay to listen to our scientists, executives and top earners like they are celebrities.

The idea of “experience marketing” should be on the forefront of every network marketing professional’s mind—everyone from marketing, finance, warehouse and call center. Our job is to give distributors a consistent, branded, entertaining experience at every customer touch point.

Think for a moment about the non-traditional places where distributors have an experience with your network marketing company. Is the buying experience on the web site as “experiential” as the product store at convention? Is the on-hold messaging engaging enough so that distributors actually don’t mind to wait? Is the interface in the back office environment fun and captivating?

Experience marketing is much bigger than the marketing department.  Creating a seamless distributor experience starts with senior management. Here’s an easy exercise for executives to evaluate the entertainment factor of each customer touch point in your business:

Think about going to the movies: buying tickets, posters on the wall, smell of the lobby, viewpoint of the theater seat, etc. Now list all the places within your network marketing company where distributors interact with the company.  (Stretch yourself when making this list.  Have your considered everything?)  Now rank each item based on your current strategy to engage people with the brand.  As you go forward, take a balanced approach as you consider each item and who is responsible. Expectations to “wow” distributors take time and possibly some shifted budget.

Creating a company culture like “going to the movies” is a great way to help your company thrive in a world culture that competes heavily for people’s entertainment budget. This kind of analogy can be useful in helping us to understand the challenges of network marketing.

Toby Palmer
MLM Corporate Network, Founder

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Executive Presentations Do’s and Don’ts with LifeVantage’s Andrea Ramsey

Andrea Ramsey, Public Relations Manager at LifeVantage shares the basic Do’s and Don’ts of network marketing presentations for corporate executives.

 

 
Note: Every corporate network marketing professional is invited to share industry best practices through the MLM Corporate Network.  Contact Toby Palmer at tobypalmer@mlmcorpnet.com for more information.

Interview with LifeVantage’s Prosper Magazine Creators

Last month, at LifeVantage’s October U.S. regional event, the company introduced a magazine-styled selling tool called Prosper. I had to the chance to chat with Jeanette Bennett of Bennett Communications and McKinley Oswald of Sound Concepts, the creative minds behind the publication. Click below to hear the interview:

Check out LifeVantage’s Prosper magazine below:

Expecting Better from Network Marketing Ads

Many of us received a copy of The Original Social Business Model – Why Direct Selling Works as inserted in the USA Today late last month and distributed by Direct Selling News. Below is a slide show of some of the network marketing advertisements in the publication I photographed with my cell phone.

I have a hunch that some of these ads were designed by USA Today staffers–rather poorly might I add. The drill is all too well known: A publisher has an idea for a special insert, articles are quickly written and ad reps go out in force to sell space. Ad reps promise to design the ads if the network marketing companies supply logos and content. Advertisements are designed by in-house designers who are paid to create ads quickly, and the ads are approved by people not used to creating ads for magazines and tabloids.

If the “original social business model” is to be more mainstream, network marketing companies need to design at a higher level. Our ads need to be at the caliber of Nike, Levis and Apple in an upscale magazine or newspaper. Our ads should turn heads and make people notice.

Avon, USANA, Amway, HerbaLife, Organo, DSA, Nature’s Sunshine, and IsaGenix…I expect better. Give me refreshing copy that is short and memorable. Give me compelling visuals that make me want to stop, stare and admire. Engage the readers in every brilliant advertisement. Make me have second thoughts why I’m not a distributor. Help me want to be a part of the cool club–network marketing!

Toby Palmer
MLM Corporate Network, Founder
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LifeVantage and Xango’s Similar Brand Videos

What to include on a mobile Web site?

I recently came across USANA‘s mobile beta Web site.  First let me express how glad I am to see USANA, as well as other progressive network-marketing companies, commit the necessary resources to convert their corporate sites ready for mobile devices. Although many companies like USANA, XANGO and Avon are at the forefront of using new media (especially app technology), many MLM companies are leaving their own corporate Web site as low priorities.

Now to the point: A mobile Web site is inherently scaled back so it can load quickly and be easily navigated by nubby fingers. The mobile corporate site is without frills and flash–only the most basic information is necessary. Once companies decide to move forward with a corporate mobile Web site, they are quickly confronted with an interesting dilemma: what information is necessary to communicate the corporate brand?

Now take a look at www.usana.com on your mobile device. The USANA marketing team is including four basic links: Products, Opportunity, About USANA and The USANA Difference.  Inside these links is a small bit of text explaining the gist of the USANA program. There are no athlete endorsements, no new book promos from Dr. Wentz, no manufacturing  quality boasts, no calls to social media, and no claims of being the scientific king-of-the-hill.  Only the most basic information is included.

The site is still in beta mode, so I can only assume there will be more information added–as there should be.  USANA needs to be able to differentiate itself in a sea of MLM competitors.  However, I think we would do well to pause and consider that less information may be sufficient for potential distributors to make an informed decision.

We would all do well in considering just how much information is needed our corporate identity.  If Web devices forces us to limit what information to display, should we be just as choosy on our full corporate site?

Toby Palmer
MLM Corporate Network, Founder

 

 

 

Marketing MLM to Kids

What’s your network marketing company’s appetite for creating products for chlidren?

I’m not referring to companies like BareFoot Books or Noah’s Ark Work Shop whose entire product line is for children. I mean companies whose core product line is primarily directed to adults but later decided to branch off to kid-specific SKUs.

Looking at the industry, there are quite a few examples of child products:

Consider products like Young Living’s KidScents products or USANA’s Usanimals–or even Amway‘s Brainiums.  To be blunt, these products seem a bit like orphans. No doubt product formulators like D. Gary Young and Dr. Myron Wentz saw a genuine need to deliver specific nutrients to youngsters–but is this just another case of just a  product filling an already bloated product catalog?

Don’t overlook Avon‘s latest acquisition, Tiny Tilla, which offers an array of infant bath and sleeper products for infants and toddlers. Avon purchased the established brand in one punch early in 2011 and relaunched the products to its distributor force. Of course, Avon will have its own challenges educating representatives on the value of the new products (especially with its already large number of brand offerings).  However, the company did well to secure a already-successful brand rather than slowly building the line peace by peace.

Don’t forget Tupperware–the king of targeting products for kids. The company has the luxury of slapping on the latest popular cartoon character or action hero on the plastic containers–corporate merchandising at its best.

Is it too far fetched to envision a kid-specific super-juice company with Spiderman and Batman donning the label?

In short, network-marketing companies should not develop children products just because other MLMs are doing it.  Make sure it makes good business sense, has large distributor support, and has committed long-term training and education resources.

How is your company’s child products doing?

Toby Palmer
MLM Corporate Network, Founder

MLM Facebook to Twitter Ratio

Does your company social media team have a balanced approach to Facebook and Twitter?  I did a quick analysis on some top corporate MLM companies comparing Facebook ‘likes’ and Twitter ‘followers’. Dividing followers by likes gives the Facebook to Twitter Ratio (F2T). The higher the percentage may show how well MLM corporate staff use both social mediums in tandem. The results are somewhat surprising:

Although Avon has an impressive Facebook following, their F2T ratio is relatively small.  Does Avon not place importance on Twitter in its communication strategy?  Maybe the company does see the value of Twitter but may be late in the game recruiting followers.

JAFRA doesn’t have a large following with either Facebook or Twitter, but the company is finding success recruiting distributors to both social networks. JAFRA’s F2T ratio is the highest of the sample at 31%.

The most impressive of the group are Xango and USANA.  They have both a large following on Facebook and Twitter (27% and 20 % respectively).  Kudos to Xango and USANA marketing teams for engaging both tools well.

What is your company’s F2T ratio?  Please share! And join the MLM Corporate Network on Facebook AND Twitter.

Toby Palmer
MLM Corporate Network, Organizer

I still think it is a pyramid scheme…

Corporate MLM Brand Mad Libs

If you asked every employee of an MLM company to give a 10-second pitch on the essence of the corporate brand, would they say the same thing? My experience is brand descriptions within the same company are vastly different.

Consider the positive ramifications of a strong internal brand identity to the rest of the distributor field.  Assuming the brand resonates with a large enough distributor base, a strong brand creates legions of loyal fans who gladly buy product and share the message for years to come.

Consider the corporate MLM where you work.  Would every employee communicate the same brand description?

It was this question that led a colleague of mine to suggest a brilliant plan. As we were considering ways to internally strengthen a corporate MLM brand, he suggested to use Mad Libs as a test.

You remember, of course, Mad Libs is the zany word substitution game ending with usually funny results.  The MLM Brand Mad Libs test is similar…but way not as funny (but valuable just the same). The test is a series of simple fill-in-the-blank sentences describing the company’s brand positioning. The answers measure the consistency of the brand message from one MLM employee to the next. For example:

(Company name) is the (less than five word description) company.

The collective promise for (company name) to customers is to
consistently offer (name three things).

Would your MLM company say the same things for each blank? If you don’t think they would, it’s time to get your internal brand house in order first.

Toby Palmer
Organizer, MLM Corporate Network