MLM Marketing Case Study - Part 1

The Media
I have divided the media opportunities into several distinct categories including print, press, online, radio and TV. Each of these marketing segments is vast and we will not do them justice in this small blog post but I hope to give you enough insight to apply your creativity and resources effectively. The secret is to identify the best media options for your business and then to provide each of your distributors with everything they could need to market your business in these areas. 

When it comes to your marketing, content needs to be exceptional. You have the opportunity to make a really good impression with each and every communication regardless of whether it is a brochure, a radio advert or a twitter post. Imagine you were personally spending $100k each month and then be meticulous about your message. 

Case Study
I think that the best way to explain the principles is to do a case study with you. 

Between 2003 and 2008 I was the CEO of a company called Acorn Kids. We produced and sold a number of bath products that were aimed at the 1 to 5-year-old market. Our products included Angel Powder that turned the bath water blue, red and yellow; there was KaleidoFoam, a coloured shaving cream that children used to wash with; bubble bath with stars suspended in the solution; and a number of other cool and fun products. 

Our distributors were mainly young mothers looking for a way to make money from home so that they could spend more time with their children. The distributors sold the products using the party plan concepts.  We called our demonstrations “Colour Workshops”.  The products sold very well, with the average colour workshop generating $200 in sales.  Our single biggest challenge was finding new distributors. The math was simple - if one distributor could hold 4 workshops per month and each workshop generated $200 in sales, then a single distributor would generate $800 per month. If we wanted to increase sales, we needed more distributors. 

We decided to focus on recruiting new distributors. We spent a great deal of time teaching our distributors to recruit and train new members. Then we created an advertising campaign aimed at grabbing the attention of potential new distributors.

Our entire campaign revolved around the slogan: "Become a full-time mom with a part-time home-based business”. Each of our distributors was armed to the teeth with advertising proclaiming this message, and they knew exactly how and where to use it. 

The most important aspect of this campaign was that our online management system provided each distributor with a personalised Acorn Kids website. Any advertising they used would drive the prospective recruit or customer back to their personal website and the software would ensure that all recruits and sales accrued to them. A distributor would give out a brochure and the client would go online and sign up, purchase products or a Starter Kit, and commission would flow. It was magical! We experienced unprecedented growth and a great many distributors generated a substantial income from their advertising efforts.

In the next post, we will take a look at each of the media categories I listed and I’ll show you what we did to make them work for our distributors.