Direct selling can be a profitable venture if approached with the right marketing strategies. As in the case of any other business venture, effective advertising is crucial to your success. While you can always sell to family and friends, this is not sustainable and can only keep your business going for so long. If you want to succeed in direct sales, you have to be innovative with your direct sales marketing strategies, especially if you intend to run a full-time venture. Before you can even start building a network of customers, you have to find a way to get to them first. Now the advantage to direct selling is that you get a support system in the form of the company you join and most direct sales companies already have established methods for marketing their products, which sales consultants are given access to. Below are some useful methods of marketing your direct sales business, which are also highly utilized by some of the most successful direct sales companies in the industry:
Tupperware pioneered the party-plan method of marketing in the 1950s by introducing the first direct sales home parties in the industry—Tupperware parties. A lot of other companies have employed this system of marketing products and services, as it gives consumers the opportunity to shop in a stress-free environment fueled by fun conversation and great activities. Under this method of marketing, direct sales consultants commission hostesses to host a social event right at their own homes or in other locations to serve as a venue to introduce a company’s product base. A good number of direct sales companies use party-plan marketing although sales consultants are still given freedom over how they want to sell their products and services. Party-plan marketing is a proven strategy for promoting products in a direct sales setup so if you are intent on building a loyal network of customers, home parties are a great option.
Often confused with direct selling, direct marketing involves marketing methods that allow businesses to advertise directly to consumers rather than indirectly through third parties. Direct marketing methods are cost-efficient and more personal than traditional methods of advertising and are also a viable option for direct sellers. Direct marketing can come in the form of distributing catalogs straight to consumers, email marketing, and mobile messaging. Telemarketing is also a popular method of direct marketing, although the method can be rather tedious especially if you are doing it alone. Good options are email marketing and catalog distribution. You can send newsletters to customers and have this feature available on your distributor website to give site visitors easy access. Send weekly or monthly newsletters announcing promotions, discounts, and new items from the company.
Article marketing is also a great option for direct sellers. The Internet has made so many marketing methods available at low costs or even free if you do it yourself. However, for article marketing to work, you have to be able to come up with materials that are engaging and provide content that are relevant to consumer interest. There are so many available channels for article marketing online. You can setup a blog or have a blog section on your direct sales website where you can feature your articles or sign up for article directories where you can post useful content about the direct sales company you are representing and what their products are all about for free. Article directories are great for inbound links to your site but make sure to be particular about the quality so that you can create a lasting impression on your readers. Create simple, readable, and relevant articles that provide valuable information.
Despite having easy access to online methods of advertising, it can still be useful to go back to the basics when marketing your products and services. Employ some affordable offline marketing techniques to increase consumer awareness about you and your products. This can be anything from distributing flyers, wearing your merchandise (in the case of clothing and accessories), placing company stickers on your car, and distributing promotional items that bear the company’s logo or even merchandise related to your venture. If your direct sales company specializes in food products, then make full use of your resources by giving away small food samples to people you encounter on a daily basis. Spread the word as much as you can even by just constantly talking about your venture to everyone you encounter as you go about your daily activities.
If you have this image of direct selling being a door-to-door business only, scratch that off your head. There are many ways by which you can market your products and services and most of them don’t necessarily have to cost a lot of money or even cost any money at all. Keep in mind that the purpose of advertising is for brand awareness, that is, letting consumers know that you and your products exist so make sure to share as much about the products and services that you offer through various marketing strategies.
