With that said, it’s recently been realized that online marketing has more than its share of industry terms for the newbie to learn. Since marketing in any form is all about getting and keeping new customers, it’s obvious that online marketers have a bit of an image problem. This was pointed out very plainly by a colleague who was interested in working online, and seeking an explanation. He stopped me mid sentence with the words “speak English geek” that was a wakeup call.

Here is a short guide to online marketing terms. These terms will help anyone on the outside of the internet marketing circle get on the inside much quicker.

• Ebook – although very popular this still causes some confusion. A ebook is just an electronic book that you read on your pc. It can be a .pdf file, plain text file or an executable file (one which is actually a self contained program to run on your computer). Ebooks sell really well online because no shipping charges are involved and delivery is instant.
• Joint Venture – a partnership. Simply two or more people work together to increase their sales, or to complete a product or service. Often shortened to JV, joint ventures can be very profitable.
• MLM – the initials of one of the least understood of business models, Multi Level Marketing. Also known as network marketing or referral marketing, MLM is the ideal business model for online marketers. It’s easy to get the message out about a new business, and it’s extremely low cost to advertise online. The problem with MLM is that it’s also easy to mistake a pyramid scheme (also called a ponzi scheme) for an MLM opportunity. There are many unscrupulous people who will sell pyramid schemes as an MLM opportunity. The biggest difference is that a genuine Mutli Level Marketing plan has a worthwhile product to sell, and money is also made by referring other sellers of the product, whose sales in turn generate a commission for you. Pyramid schemes often have a worthless product, or no product at all, and usually pays people mainly from new members joining.
• Niche Marketing –act of selling to a particular group of people. There are many untapped niches, which are small groups of people interested in a specific subject. These people are willing to pay for information. It’s pretty easy to target these niche markets online by monitoring search engine results. You want to find a specific word or phrase which is being searched for, but not near the top of the list of popular searches. An example of a niche market is poodle owners. They’re dog owners, but are specifically searching for information about poodles. These markets can be very profitable because they’re not directly targeted by many other businesses. If you offer products tailored to a niche market, you’ll have little or no competition.
• Online Marketing – selling any product or service on the internet. Marketing is merely the act of selling something. Selling on the world wide web costs less than having a real world, brick and mortar business. The low cost of entry is an attractive reason for starting your own online business.
• Subscriber List – sometimes known as an email list, newsletter list, or an ezine list (ezine is short for electronic magazine). This is a list of people who have given permission for the marketer (you) to send them emails which may contain advertisements. It’s also known as an opt-in list, because subscribers ‘opt in’ to receive the emails. This prevents people from claiming an email is spam because there will be a record of them signing up and agreeing to receive them. In relation to this term, another popular snippet of jargon is double opt-in, which simply means after filling in a form, the potential subscriber then receives an email asking them to verify that they agree to accept future emails. They must agree and confirm before they’re added to the email list they wish to receive.
• Viral Marketing – used to describe a way of increasing your business, or websites reach, by using a “viral technique”. In real life, a virus spreads out by people contacting one another, and computer viruses are spread by contacting other computers. Some clever marketers realized they could use the power of people sending each other information, and watched information about their own business being spread in the same way as a virus. If you give away a free gift, which includes a link to your business, and then you allow others to give it away, it works like a virus spreading the word to others as people send it on to their friends. This technique works extremely well, providing your freebie is something of worth that people would give away in the first place.

I hope if you’re a newbie that these brief explanations of online marketing terms will help you to more clearly understand some of the things the experienced online marketers say and write about. If you’re a seasoned marketer, I hope you’ll try to use less of the jargon we take for granted with your newbie colleagues and friends.

Photo by greeblie

What is pampering?  Well, direct sales businesses in the pampering realm provide products that help people de-stress and relax from work and life.  Products can be equipment including facial spa machines, paraffin wax, massagers, and tub Jacuzzis.

There are also clothes for pampering like terry cloth robes, massaging shoes, head wraps, gloves, and socks.  Then of course, the pampering products:  oils, creams, body scrubs, candles, and music.  There are a lot of products.

A direct sales business can either include all of the above or just focus on one area of pampering.  For you, it’s a finding a way to get people to believe they can’t live without your products. This means, you know what — you have to try them for yourself.  Unless you do this, your sales pitch is going to sound forced.

Everyone wants pampered but they don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it. It’s good to know your clientele. If they’re not willing to pay $100 for a massager, you’ll either have to change your target audience or change the products you’re offering them.

The first and easiest step when you start any direct sales business is to host an open house. Open houses are a great way to introduce your business and your products at the same time.  Unless you bribe your family and friends into hosting a party for you, no one else is going to want to do it without at least knowing something about you.  That’s the main purpose of your open house.

Many open houses have food, a product table with catalogs or brochures, maybe samples of products, and you there to answer questions. These are just the basics. In the pampering business, you can do so much more. You could hire pampering professionals to demonstrate your products on guests for a small fee. For five dollars they’ll get a professional fifteen minute massage. Offer them a choice of two or three products for their massage.

The massage professional can share product information and let them know it’s for sale. Others can win a chance at a massage or facial when they sign up to be on your mailing list. If they buy products, that’s another chance. You can do this at hostess parties on a smaller scale.

You can give products away as door prizes, free gifts for booking a show or buying a certain dollar amount of product. One thing you never want to happen is to run out of “freebies” at a party. Always bring more than the number of guests to make sure there’s one for everyone in the event that they all buy something.

Pampering is about making people feel good. You can give your potential customers that extra special feel-good vibe by offering unique product demonstrations and added incentives for signing up and booking shows.

Photo by dan taylor

Wellness includes the whole body.  A direct sales business that specializes in wellness products most likely sells vitamins and minerals like any health business.  In addition, they’ll have products that belong in the realm of natural healing.  This can be herbs, supplements, flower extracts, and other natural ingredients that alleviate aches and pains with minimal side effects.

Wellness businesses are huge money earners.  You can do the same with your business with just a few useful marketing tips.  Since your competition is steep, finding a niche within your business attracts the type of customer base you’re trying to build.

Ways To Swell Your Wellness Business

1.  Know your customers. While you have a catalog full of products, your circle of influence may be the geriatric set or even the younger generation.  Give them the products that they’re likely to use instead of trying to sell them your entire catalog.

2.  Set up your own website. If your company allows for online selling, they probably give you with a website.  Their website will showcase all of the products for sale. They’ll also provide a storefront so customers don’t have to order from you in person.  But, there’s only so much you can do with such a cookie-cutter website.

For instance, the search engines won’t pick it out of the thousands of other similar websites that are associated with the company.  To bring in website traffic, you’ll need to create one of your own. Have a catchy domain name and you’ll also gain more control over how the site looks.

3.  Add engaging content to the website in the form of a blog. People will need something to see when they visit your website, and most likely they’re looking for something specific.  Since you’re into healing the mind, body, and spirit of a person, short articles talking about these three can be posted on your blog easily. Updating is a snap.

Sometimes it’s your articles that hook visitors and get them to buy, and not just the way the product is displayed.  Helpful, informative content will be search engine optimized (SEO) so it will be ranked by the major search engines.  Always include links back to your business website so your blog visitors can become customers and purchase your products.

4.  Offer your customers discounts. Everyone loves to save money.  Buying direct from you doesn’t change that fact.  With every purchase made, you can include a professional-looking coupon for a certain percentage off of the price of their next purchase.  Your customers are deserving of a few perks now and then, especially if they buy lots of products or bring in a lot of people to view your product. They will appreciate the savings and ultimately come back when they need more.

Wellness is, naturally, based on the premise of helping people to live longer, healthier, more enjoyable lives.  Use your products and then be sure to always give your honest feedback to customers.

Photo by House of Sims

What types of child products are out there?  There are several to choose from. You can sell books, educational video games, clothing, and toys – just to name a few.  Of course, each of these products can be found in other places, so your work is definitely cut for you with product sales.  Don’t despair, it can be done.

A website of your own is a very useful marketing tool if you sell kid’s products. Almost all direct sales companies offer a website for their sales representatives. They’re cut from the same one or two layouts, and feature the associate’s information plus the products that they are selling.  It’s pretty basic and just like all the other websites that all your company reps have.

It’s highly recommended that you consider setting up a separate website. On your own website you can have a blog, start your own newsletter and do SEO to bring in organic traffic. As far as getting customer website traffic to your company site, you’ll need to come up with interesting ways to do this since the search engines will likely not rank you.  One reason is because your group has too many sites in the same group and search engines don’t like that.

Here are a few more great reasons for setting up a website of your own:

• Can be creative with layouts and colors
• Opportunity to offer discounts, coupons or other incentives
• Interactive displays
• Interesting content for parents
• Other media like videos and audio links

Adults like to test products, so it only makes sense that kids like to test them also.  For parents, offer content and detailed information about the products.  If your products offer some new technology for toys or an extra durable fabric composite for their clothing, talk about that in a few short articles that link to the clothing page on your company website.  If you give parents a good reason to choose your products over any other, they will try the products.

Now for kids, giving demos of some of the videos you’re selling or videos similar to yours gets them engaged very quickly.  Kids have the opportunity to play and judge for themselves if they want the game.  Show them an interesting part of the game, this will make them want to see more.  You can also include printable coloring pages for younger kids and puzzles for the slightly older.

On your website, navigation is as important as the incentives you have there.  Don’t make it difficult for people to get from your website to your company website, the one with products for sale and their descriptions.

Offer kids fun and parents solid proof that your products are dependable and worth the money. You can offer free merchandise, drawings, and coupons for referrals. These will help parents and kids decide to at least purchase an item and experience what it’s like.

Photo by JuJups Studio

As a marketer how can you use forums to promote your business to new people? The first thing you want to do is find forums that relate to the topic of what you want to promote and your target market. An example would be, a rep with a home decor company looking to sell more products, would look for decorating forums or home improvement forums.

Once you locate forums within your topic or niche, join them and start to become a regular contributor to the community. Answer questions from others, ask questions that can draw attention to your signature, contribute valuable information without promoting your website. If you join a forum just to out right promote your business, you will be banned. You will also have no luck if you only use the forums for advertisments as people will over look your posts.

Most forums will allow you to have a signature file where you can put your name, website url and maybe a special or a catchy phrase to grab attention. You want your signature to work as your advertisement instead of you posting ad’s all over the forums. People look at those ad spam and pay them no attention at all.

Asyou start making regular posts in forums your signature will get indexed in the search engines with the keywords that are used in the posts.  If you are offering tips or ideas that actual help people, they will pay attention to what you have to say, and will be attracted to you. This is an example of attraction marketing.

There are also forums called free advertising forums. Even though these types of forums allow you to post all the ad’s your heart desires, no one will ever seem them. Most people just go on these forums to post ads and pay no attention to any other ad’s. Instead of these types of forums, look for ones that actually engage into conversation.

‘Tis the season for graduations, weddings, high school and college reunions, and family reunions. At all of these events, everyone knows why you’re there, and you can take advantage of the connection.

How do they know you? Maybe they don’t actually, but they know you’re connected to the bridal couple at the reception, the young graduate at the grad party, your class year at the reunion, or they know who is your family at the family reunion. Now have you laid your foundation so broad that everyone knows what you do, the business you’re in, and who exactly your market is?

We don’t see these people very often, so sometimes it’s hard to keep up with them. Parties and celebrations are an excellent relaxing time to spread the word in a low key way and have some fun while you do it. If networking isn’t usually your thing then this is a pretty safe environment to practice and get better at it.

Okay, so you don’t want to be known as the MLM crazy person scouting the room to rope in everyone within three feet. However, you do want them to know what it is you do. They may become a great referral source for you if they meet someone who is the perfect prospect. No one will be able to help you if they don’t know what you do.

When you talk about your work at a social gathering, follow these basic guidelines:

• Don’t ask for names – instead leave the door open so you can followup with a phone call.
• Don’t be a salesperson – you don’t want to become the persona non-grata.
• Don’t pull out your datebook or book parties or set up appointments  – just followup with a phone call and do it during business hours.
• Don’t be a conversation hog – if you find that you’ve been with one person more than 30 minutes, it’s time to end the conversation and move on. This poor person didn’t come to the event to try to be sold something from you.
• Don’t corner people – I know it’s tempting when you feel someone may be the ideal customer or partner but, don’t do it. This is a fast and easy way to burn a lot of bridges.
• Do be specific about who your ideal prospect is. Things such as type of person, title, company size, industry, niche, etc. – Your listener will know that you’re not targeting them, and they’ll relax around you.
• Do clarify what problem your product solves – they’ll be interested in hearing the benefits of your products.
• Don’t be shy! Do brag on a couple of more recent successes, achievements or opportunities – at celebratory events, most people are already in high spirits, so more good news is always welcome.
• Do network. Move around, meet lots of people – if they don’t know who you are or what you do, how will they be able to tell their friends or family about you or your business.

When they think of you after the party, you want them to still like you. You want them to enjoy being in your company. To make yourself memorable, it’s vital to spend more time asking about them and their life than it is talking about you. Follow these simple guidelines and you’ll find it really is that easy to gain some free advertising just by socializing with people you already know at all the season’s celebrations.

Photo by Corey Ann

Tips For Using Marketing Materials

Catalogs. Often the most common marketing tool your direct sales company will provide.  These are essential to pass around during parties and shows. They also make great direct mail pieces to send to people on your lead list, past and present hostesses, and past and present customers. Go ahead and include an extra flyer occasionally for people to pass along to their friends, family and co-workers.

Brochures. Another common resource your company may provide.  Pass them out at parties and send home with people who’ve shown an interest in your products.

Business cards. Some companies supply these while others give you the resources to make your own.  If your company does provide business cards, take advantage of them.  Be sure to include your website url on your cards so you can hand them out whenever you run into someone who may be interested.

Other Resources

Scripts. Great for calling people to host a party and also for contacting people who’ve been invited to a party.  Make sure to make them your own.  People are able to tell if you’re just reading from a piece of paper or notecard.

Hosting supplies. Some direct sales companies provide a full A-Z hostess package including invitations, thank you cards, order forms, incentives and goal setting charts. Others provide slightly less.  Use these materials.  They’ll not only save you time and money, they provide consistent company branding to everyone you’re in contact with.

Email marketing resources. If you’re allowed to have an online presence, including a website and autoresponders, your company may also provide scripts, templates and articles for email marketing.  Again, you’ll save time and money by taking advantage of these resources provided.

Instead of spending numerous hours and money creating marketing materials, I recommend that you use the marketing tools provided by your direct sales company.  It’s a fast and effective way to get your business up and running in no time flat.

The very first way to give your business an advantage over other companies is to choose your makeup business carefully. There are several makeup lines out there and not all of them have the same brand name status. Teaming up with Mary Kay cosmetics or Avon cosmetics is different from joining a direct sales makeup seller that no one’s very familiar with. We choose our businesses for many different reasons, but this is one that you want to keep in mind.

Use your makeup and use your face as a walking advertisement. With makeup, one doesn’t know what it will actually look like until it’s on your face. Some colors show up lighter or brighter, depending on your personal skin tone.

A very important aspect of the makeup business is training in the art of using color. Your clients will come from all walks of life and certainly one color won’t do for all. Take advantage of those training classes. This adds another component to your product line that will boost your sales.

Now you can use your new found skills as a color consultant to offer free color consultations with every makeup purchase. So if you’re able to get clients to purchase products, ,do their consultation on the spot. Everyone knows what colors they think look great on them but not necessarily the colors that are right for them.

Create a file to record color and product profiles for each customer. This information will come in handy later on when you’re following up with them. Here are some possible incentives:

* Offer free products for referring new customers
* Send emails or mail notices when new products featuring their colors are coming out
* Give discounts for hosting a party
* Put together all occasion gift baskets for sale

Much of the time it’s difficult to get to everyone when you have a makeup party. You teach your attendees a lot about skin care and makeup in a short time. Sometimes they simply need more time with you. An easy way to remedy this is to involve the entire group. Have people pair up and make up each others’ faces using the makeup techniques that you demonstrate. This way, everyone gets to sample a taste of both being the demonstrator and the model. Some of your guest’s may like it enough to join as a direct seller with your company.

You can also show off your products in school recitals, community activities, church plays and private organizations. Volunteer to do the makeup for everyone in the production. This type of marketing strategy will drastically expand your client base. If your business is already doing pretty well and you want to branch out, this is a wonderful way to interest more people. Usually too, as a program sponsor, your business name appears in the program and on commemorative items and apparel.

So if you’ve been looking for ways to add some pizzazz to your cosmetics business, add one of the above tactics to your current strategies. You’re sure to create more beautiful faces with your makeup products.

Photo by Moonez

Natural products, sometimes called organic, cover a vast category. Some direct sales companies offer vitamin product lines, which includes vitamins and minerals for all sorts of conditions. Other natural product lines focuses on all natural makeup, soaps, body cleansers, and things of that nature. Taking things further, you can find natural cleaning products to make your home squeaky clean without all of the harsh and toxic chemicals.

But, with all these companies pushing natural products, what can you do to stand head and shoulders above the rest? First of all, do a survey of your surroundings. What would be the best product line to get behind in your area?

A smart option is to create your own website if the company isn’t opposed to online selling. Having a more personalized website allows you to do many things that you may not be able to do offline. For one, you can offer instant information to your customers when they are searching for it.

People love knowledge and it’s vital that you’re able to keep your customers well informed about the products they’re using. This includes how to handle them and any contraindications that may result. You can do this easily by offering well-written content on your website. People will keep coming back to learn of any news on the products.

Create a useful table or glossary. This can be just a page of common organic or “natural product” terms. You want everyone to know what you mean when you refer to ingredients in the products in your content. A list of terms will do that easily.

Consider attaching a blog to your website. A blog can be used for customer polls, feedback, surveys, newsletter signups, referrals, and forums in regards to customer issues. Post your experiences or customer experiences (with permission of course) with the products as a first-hand user. Offer helpful hints for proper use or some other benefit. Customers and visitors are able to respond to your posts and this will give you valuable insight into their needs for future marketing strategies.

Though many companies already have packaging for their products, you can add your own style by grouping products together in gift packs, gift baskets, and small giveaways. Create baskets with oily skin products, household cleansers, or a men’s health pack. With basket sales, you’ll sell more product together and make more money than with straight product selling.

There are so many ideas you can try. Just add your own creativity to your product line. Since we’ve been talking about getting back to a natural state, put some products in cloth shopping bags so customer’s can re-use them. When you eliminate the need for plastic shopping bags, you’re also helping the environment get back to natural.

Natural products have built up a loyal following. When you add your personal touch, you make your product line stand out among others. For even more personalized ideas, use customer feedback to further your offerings. Give your customers what they want and they’ll keep coming back for more.

Photo by keira-anne

To market a scrapbook business, there’s a number of things you can do.  You could create scrapbooks for the customer using a variety of stencils and pages of adornments.  Or maybe in your business you sell scrapbooking packages to people who want to learn more about or continue with the art of scrapbooking.

Most scrapbooking sales businesses are naturally geared to focus on the people who want to create their own scrapbooks.  Whether they happen to be a beginner or an expert, they can purchase all of their supplies and materials from you.  One benefit of owning a scrapbooking business is that your products are well-organized.  When you walk into a retail store to shop for scrapbooking items, they’re hanging on numerous hooks in aisles, or stuffed in bins. People pick up what they think they need or want but usually don’t have a clue.  You can help them make better buying decisions by giving them the basics and empowering them to know exactly which supplies they’d like to use.

There is a unique opportunity here to attract young and old who want to get into scrapbooking but maybe never knew how before.  When you host a party or a show, be sure to allow yourself enough time to have a demonstration.  Obviously, the best way to show your stuff is to use products from your own line for all demonstration needs.

At most shows, you’d decide on what type of demonstration to do. This is the time to try something new.  Give your guests a choice of which techniques to demonstrate to make the demonstration interractive.  Practice beforehand of course, but let the guests choose what they’d like to see from a list.  You’ll have to have a variety of products readily available for the demo, but your starter kit will provide most things.  If not, purchase a few supplies and consider it an investment on your part to build your business.

Another fun way to attract customers is to let attendees bring their own pictures and offer a chance to have their own scrapbook page made for them.  An easy way to do this is to have a drawing. Each person signs in, writes their name and contact information on a piece of paper, and this also gives you permission to use their information for your contact list.  If you choose their name, their pictures will be used in the demonstration and they get to keep the final project.

Some companies have set prices for their products and some don’t.  They may have a range and in this way give sales consultants more control over the price.  Either way, use the products to create gift packages and theme sets. Set the price of your package sets based on the basic price of each item included.

Another awesome marketing tool is special reports.  These reports can vary from a short five pages to more advanced information at fifty pages.  Use special reports on your website as free gifts with newsletter signup or purchases.  When you host shows, you can put together shorter reports as little leaflets to give away. Topics can include:

• Introduction to scrapbooking
• Scrapbooking crafts for kids
• Scrapbooking tools
• Ideas for scrapbooking
• Scrapbooks as gifts

The list of ideas to write special reports about is endless.  Always include a business card inside the report.  After reading the information, they may want more products or will be enticed to make a first purchase.

Scrapbooking is a fun and relaxing hobby for many people.  Add your personal approach to your scrapbooking direct sales business and bring some joy into your customer’s life.

Photo by karine*imagine