How would you like to be able to grow your MLM business without talking about your products or your opportunity?
Say, Whaaat?
I know, it sounds crazy, but I promise you can do it, and it doesn’t involve learning magic.
In this post I’m going to dive into how exactly you can do this, but first, let’s back up just a second.
We frequently are instructing network marketers to NOT mention the name of their company or products on social media, for several reasons:
Obviously, such reviews would be untrue, but there are people out there who will say nasty things about your company…
And then turn around and explain why the viewer/reader should join THEIR company instead.
Diabolical!
So what is the alternative?
Build Your Own Brand
Whoooa, Nelly! That sounds hard and complicated, doesn’t it?
But hold your horses! Stop filling out those service mark papers, and fire your logo designer. Fancy photos, logos, and colors don’t make a brand.
A brand is simply what people know you for.
And the best way to build that brand is to teach on something you’re passionate about.
So what has this got to do with selling your products or opportunity without talking about them?
When many hear this advice about building their own brand, many direct sellers mistakenly believe this means they have to start talking about how to make money online (if they want to get more reps).
Or…
If they are in health and wellness, they have to start talking about how to lose weight.
Certainly, you could talk about these things to start building a brand and attracting leads to you, but you don’t have to.
Your brand can really be anything. It doesn’t have to be specifically related to your product or your opportunity.
Your brand can really be anything. It doesn’t have to be specifically related to your product or your opportunity.
Once you have your brand idea, and you start creating content, then people interested in that content will start following and reaching out to you.
You will begin to expand your network, and build what internet marketers call an “audience”.
Once you have that audience, you have a pool of people who know, like, and trust you, and that is a pool of people much more likely to buy your products, or check out your opportunity.
So what SHOULD your brand be about?
Picture a Venn diagram (or just look at the picture to the right).
(I sincerely apologize if this brings back traumatic memories from 2nd grade.)
But your brand should fall where the 3 circles of, passion, knowledge, and market overlap.
In other words, your brand should be about something:
- 1You are passionate about (i.e. Can't NOT do or talk about)
- 2You have some knowledge in this area, or are willing to invest in learning about this area (either through experience or study)
- 3There is a market for this topic, meaning, there are other people buying and selling in this niche/space
If you need some more help figuring out what your brand should be?
Grab our free workbook which will walk you through the steps of finding your winning online brand idea.
Discover Your Winning Online Brand Idea Workbook!
Uncover your hidden potential and find your GREAT business idea!
But How Do You Talk About Your Products And/Or Opportunity If Your Brand Is Unrelated?
A fellow direct seller recently said they were considering creating a second blog because their main blog is on the topics of homeschooling and encouragement, and she could see how she could use that blog to build her business.
But that’s the beauty of branding!
You don’t have to have two blogs.
You don’t need to have a blog that’s more geared towards on your network marketing products or a blog that’s more about what you’re passionate about.
Rather, you just need to have one blog that is about something your passionate about, and that other people are passionate about.
And here’s why:
So you need to become an authority in one single area, and you do that by teaching and creating content.
But how do you grow your MLM without talking about your product or opportunity?
Let’s dive into examples…
I’ll start off with the one I mentioned above, so let’s say you have a blog on homeschooling (by the way you don’t need a blog to start building your brand).
And on this blog, you give tips on homeschooling, like how to teach your children to read, and different math curriculums your audience can try.
That would be very relevant and helpful information for the homeschooling niche, therefore, that content would attract homeschooling parents to your blog/brand.
So how do you now sell them on your products or opportunity?
Well, every piece of content you create should have a “call to action”.
This a message that simply involves telling your viewer/reader/listener what to do next.
Ideally, their next action should be something that gets them to reach out to you, or puts them on your email list.
So for example, say you write a blog post or shoot a Facebook Live video that teaches…
“5 Math Curriculums That Will Make Your Children Love Math.”
In that piece of content, you teach about what those 5 curriculums are, and why they can make their children love math.
Then, once you’ve completed teaching the content, you transition into your call to action (CTA).
Want More Team Members?
If you are wanting more team members, it could look something like this:
“Hey by the way…if you’re homeschooling and you’d like to have a little extra money to be able to afford curriculums like these, I have a business, and I don’t really talk about it a lot, but if you’re interested in working closer with me, then just reach out to me and I’d love to talk to you about it.”
This is awesome because it’s very subtle, and not salesy in the slightest!
In fact, it’s even relevant to what you just talked about! You were talking about homeschooling, and your call to action is simply letting your audience know how your business could help them with their homeschooling (namely, affording curriculum).
And this strategy doesn’t just apply to homeschooling, but it can definitely work in pretty much any niche that, like I said above, is something you’re passionate about and has a market.
Want to Sell More Product?
Now let’s say you’re wanting to sell more products, what then?
If you’re wanting to sell a product, and say your product was some kind of clothing item or jewelry of some kind, you can say…
“Hey, you know if you’re a homeschooling mom like me, but you don’t have a lot of time to fix your hair in the morning, at least not in a way that leaves you feeling ‘put together’, I’ve actually found something that has revolutionized my mornings, and given me more time to cook breakfast and homeschool my kids. If you’re open to hearing more about it, just reach out to me, and I’d love to let you know about it.”
Boom! Isn’t that powerful?
Can you see how this might be effective?
Are you grasping how this might lead to more people reaching out to you?
Does this sound like a better way to build your business than simply posting, “buy my stuff” all over Facebook like so many network marketers mistakenly do?
You’re not leading with selling, but with value. You provide the valuable content that you’re delivering in Facebook live videos, blog posts, or whatever content you’re putting out, and you can have a call to action that is leading someone to your opportunity or your products.
All this takes is really caring about your audience, and a little creativity.
What Doesn't Work...
Now, what doesn’t work, and what throws people off is when you are building your own brand, separate from your company, and then you post random sales messages too.
Back to the homeschooling example, you just got done shooting a video on how to help your homeschooling children get along and not fight so much, and then later that day you post a direct link to your sales page or shop for your weight loss drink
That’s what we call “incongruent”. It does not follow…
…and can leave people feeling like you just want them for their money, and that isn't good.
However, what you could get away with is posting a link (affiliate) to a really cool science curriculum you really recommend.
Why?
Because your audience has already identified themselves as homeschoolers by following your brand. They are interested in homeschooling curriculum, and since you have built an authority brand by teaching, they trust your recommendations.
Some of them may already be looking to buy a science curriculum, and here you are, ready to help them with your helpful link. But even then, the number will probably be very small.
So What's The Difference?
The only people who are going to respond to a sales message are people who already looking to buy your specific product.
At any given time, that is like 1% of the population.
Most people need a little more education first before they know they want to buy.
Back to the science curriculum example, even for an audience of people looking to buy science curriculums, they still might not pull the trigger on your link.
Why?
Well, there are a lot of science curriculums out there.
Why should they buy THIS particular one?
IF you have a lot of authority and know, like, and trust factor, they may just buy from a link...
But what is even better is if you actually provided a link to a blog post where you are reviewing your favorite science curriculum, and then in the post are links (affiliate) to where they can buy the curriculum.
Yet this is the error so many direct sellers make.
Don't Post Links To Your Products All The Time
They just post the link to buy their product, but their audience (if they even have one) has no idea why they should buy.
And if your brand is unrelated to your network marketing products, then they are definitely going to need more education.
If you have an audience of homeschoolers, they aren’t necessarily also all health conscious and looking to lose weight.
So instead you want to sort and seek conversation over conversion.
Let other people self-identify themselves by reaching out to you after your calls to action.
Let them say, “yeah, I would like to lose a little extra weight so I can have more energy to homeschool my kids.”
Now from that point, you can have a conversation with them on Facebook messenger, or over the phone, or through a video chat, figure out what their unique pain points are, and inform them how your product can help them get past those.
And that’s how you can grow your MLM without talking about your product or opportunity!
Instead, you actually get to talk about a subject you love! How cool is that?
It sure beats prospecting strangers, or bugging friends and family over and over.
Speaking of which, if you are tired of these ‘old-school’ tactics, and you’re fed up with home meetings, cold calling, or being the mall shark, and you’d rather actually build your business from home…
Then definitely grab our free Discover Your Winning Online Brand Idea Workbook below!
This will help you discover the brilliant brand idea you have hidden inside you.
Discover Your Winning Online Brand Idea Workbook!
Uncover your hidden potential and find your GREAT business idea!
This will be especially beneficial if you feel like you aren't an expert, or don't have anything to talk about.
I hope you found this post on, How To Grow Your MLM Without Talking About Your Product or Opportunity, helpful!
Please feel free to share if you got value, and let me know in the comments below...
What other questions do you have about Building an Online Brand?
Blessings!
Hi, I'm Paula Ramm
I’m a homeschooling mom of 7, living in the sunny state of Florida. I’ve been in direct sales for over 8 years and have been blessed with a multi-million dollar revenue-generating team of over 7,000 amazing consultants.
I love to help other ladies build their own thriving businesses from home, so they can spend more time with their families and be able to focus on the truly important things in life.