Brand yourself, not your company or your widget or your ebook.

Think about how many people are promoting the same or similar things as you are.  You need to find a way to make yourself shine above all the rest of them.

Here’s a scenerio for you:

I’m looking to work from home and I’ve heard that Widgets R Us is a great MLM company.  They pay great and have great products.  I’ve researched the owners of the company and they are upstanding people who have a proven track record as distributors.  I’ve read teh policies & procedures and there are no “gotcha’s” in there.  The’ve been in business for a few years so they aren’t “ground floor” but not so long that they are a household name.  I’ve googled them and they don’t have a ton of bad press floating around about them.

So, I’ve done the research on the company itself and now I’m looking for a rep to join.  I ask around and do some searches on the internet.  I find you and a few others.

What makes you stand out? Why should I join you instead of the others? What can you bring to the table that others can’t (or don’t)?

Here’s where branding yourself comes in. People want to join a leader. What do you do to be that leader? How do you stand out from the crowd? Is there some extra support that you can provide? Maybe you’re really good at blogging or have really good phone skills. Maybe you took a class or course and can now share your knowledge with others. If you haven’t taken any classes or courses yet - take one and teach others what you learn. The cost of most courses will be easily recovered (if it’s a good course) and over time you will be able to use that knowledge to build your business.

**SHAMELESS PLUG**
Consider taking my blogging course at http://BlogYourWayToProfits.com
**END SHAMELESS PLUG**

Brand yourself - not your company!!

YOU Deserve Success!!

Roxanne

I was going to title this post “From Zero to Annoying in No Time Flat” but I decided against it.  By the end of the post you’ll know why I contemplated that title.

If you have a business and you are marketing that business online, your list is your greatest asset.  I won’t go into the mechanics of it here, but the best way to build a list is to give away a free report or other free content related to your niche.  For example, if you are selling widgets, you would give away a free report titled something like “7 Easy Ways to Use a Widget”.  The people who give you their name and email address in exchange for the report become your list.

Everyone knows that people buy from people they know, like and trust.  The best way to build trust with your list is to treat them with respect.  Just because these people have signed up for free information from you does not mean that they want you to constantly spam them with every joint venture you get pitched on.  It does not mean that they want you to constantly send them emails promoting your widgets.

Quite a while ago I signed up for list building information from a well known list building trainer.  I decided to try one of his membership sites for a month and see if I got good content or not.  Now, mind you, this guy says he can teach me to build a list of targeted people who want what I have and will be buying my products/services and making me money.   I thought he may have some content that I could learn as an addition to what I teach already.

After a month I decided not to renew my membership because the content was all geared toward basic, beginner list building and there was no real “meat” to the content.  The best idea he had was to joint venture with other people who already have a list.  They send your offer to their list and you send their offer to your list.

Now, I can see where that would work IF I were selective about my JV partners.  But, obviously, being selective about your JV partners doesn’t work because this “guru” started pitching me 2-3 times per DAY with the “next greatest deal”.   Not 2-3 times a month or even 2-3 times a week, but 2-3 times a DAY!!  He put out an offer to his membership students that he would promote their products/services to his list.  He was apparently bombarded with these JV offers that he promised to promote because the spam floodgates opened wide.

I had a terrible time trying to remove myself from his list because when I purchased month one, I got put into his customer list and his member list and his main list.   At one point, about 2 weeks in, I was added to another list because he offered a trial to a more advanced training (that was not more advanced).  When I canceled month one, I canceled the advanced training trial.  I did not, however, opt out of all 6 or 7 email lists that I now ended up in because there was not global remove or remove from all lists option.  This self proclaimed guru has no idea how to segment is list and offer a global remove option.  SAD.  What a fiasco that turned out to be!  Now I have a terrible view of this trainer and will never opt in to any of his info again for fear of being pitched constantly.  That is NOT the way to treat your list.

If you are going to build a list, you MUST treat that list with respect.  Just because someone has signed up for your free content does NOT mean that they know, like and trust you.  You have to build that with them.  Give them great free information and earn their trust by not pitching them.  You can occasionally tell them about a special you are running on your widgets or give them free content with a link at the bottom to your widgets, but do NOT email them solely for the purpose of selling them your widgets.  Just because they purchased something from you, it does not give you the right to spam them with all kinds of deals.

If you decide to do a joint venture or two, make sure that it is something your list will be interested in.  Someone who signed up to get free golfing information, for example, is not going to want to buy a book of knitting patterns.  They may, however, be interested in buying an ebook that explains how to pick the best clubs for their skill level.   You could offer this at the bottom of your free tips.  If they want it, they can click the link.

Be kind to your list!!

YOU Deserve Success!!

Roxanne Green

Many of my team members in my MLM organization ask me over and over and over which method they should use to build their business.  My upline and I offer a buffet table of ideas that our team can use to build.  My suggestion to new team members is always “Look through the archived tutorials, read the descriptions and pick one or two things that you think will work best with your personality and listen to those tutorials.  If, after hearing the tutorials, you need me to help you implement what you’ve chosen, I will be happy to do that.”   The only thing that I ask is they pick one and stick with it for at least a month.  Become good at that one thing.  Don’t add in more until you’ve given the first one at least 30 days of consistency.

If you are going to be a success in any profession marketing on the internet, you MUST become an expert at one method of traffic generation.  Once you’ve perfected one, you can add another, however, you should not attempt to learn more than one at a time.

One huge mistake that people make is running in too many different directions at the same time.  Focus.  That is how you will be successful in MLM / network marketing or any internet business for that matter.

This works the same with trainers.  If you want to learn from someone, pick ONE person and learn from them.  You can add in another trainer at a later date when you’ve gotten the methods that the first person teaches down.  But, I caution you, don’t follow more than 2 or 3 people’s training at a time - EVER!!  You will get off track.  You will lose focus and your business will suffer.

Focus in ONE direction.

YOU Deserve Success!!

Roxanne