"To grow a large organization in network marketing, you musthave a strong Internet presence." Myth or true? There have beenthree types of distributors when it comes to the Internet, the"guru's", the "newbies" and the "ostriches".
In the past, as the Internet grew in popularity, there is noquestion that those who were talented profited from marketing onthe Internet. Born were "Internet Guru's", those that had thattalent understood the capabilities of reaching millions ofpeople at pennies of a cost. They saw their volume bolster,customers pouring in, but their success wasn't necessarilymeasured in organizational volume, but rather hits and visits ontheir webpages. They became instantly popular within their owncompany as others clamored to find out what they knew, theirsecrets to their Internet success. Superstars were bornovernight.
Newbies are those distributors that knew a little about theInternet, knew a little about marketing and knew a little aboutthis industry. They jumped on the bandwagon and started devotingtheir time and energy to Internet marketing and they failed,some miserably. Desperate distributors began paying hundreds andthousands of dollars to "experts" of web marketing only to findthemselves in a pool of countless others trying to do the sameand competition became fierce. Frustration took over whereconfidence once was home. Those that did manage to market feeblyon the Internet, learned how harsh the cyber world was, wordslike "spam" no longer was meat in a can, and "flaming" was nolonger just about Banana's Foster.
The Ostriches are the distributors that tried to stick theirhead in the sand. Those rebellious distributors refused tobelieve the Internet was here to stay, didn't go near it, andlaughed at anyone who thought they could make a nickel from it.They believed it was just a phase, there was no place for theInternet in their business, and condemned anyone in their groupfrom using it. Ever try to tell someone that they couldn't dosomething?
What later became a realization is that the Internet should notbe used as a sole means to marketing your business, gatheringleads, and prospecting, but rather in conjunction with offlinetechniques. Whether you are a Guru who remains faceless behindwebsites and posts, or a Newbie that is frustrated with lack ofresults, or even those Ostriches who hesitate to logon and wouldrather get sand in their ears, each group must realize how theyhave short changed their own business and themselves. Aftercoming to terms with this realization, next work on thesolution. If you recognize your strengths, you can work on yourweaknesses. Master those and you will be a powerful networkmarketer. If you go to any top leader and ask them what they doto grow a business, it will be a balanced combination of offlineand online marketing. If you are unbalanced, either only doingoffline or only doing online, you are missing out on so muchpotential growth. If you are a Guru, you already know you canbuild your business online. Now challenge yourself to pick upyour phone and call prospects, do a three-way, build rapportwith a voice, not an email. If you are a Newbie, you are morelikely to understand you need to be balanced, you started there.Just go back to what you know works. Don't abandon offline oronline, just work both in balance. For Ostriches, start byseeing what others are out there doing in your company. Go towww.google.com, or www.yahoo.com or even www.msn.com and type inyour Company's name. See what pops up. Go explore. Getcomfortable.
Those that enjoy solid success in Network Marketing will bemasters at offline and online marketing. The bottom line is inorder to take your business to the next level, become teachableto learn new techniques. Caution however against goingunbalanced yet again. Remain humble. If you are a Guru, thenseek the advice and help of some Ostriches in your group. Helpeach other. That is the beauty of our business. When you work asa team, together you can accomplish more.
© TeamValco 2005
About the author:
Donna Valdes has been in the industry of Network Marketing forover 10 years, becoming a top Mentor and Coach. Her seminarswere attended by thousands who sought help in building theirbusiness successfully using the Internet and various onlinetechniques. She has written many articles about NetworkMarketing, and today devotes her energy to building WaioraInternational. She is a mother of two children, and works fromher home in Largo, Florida
