What Is Network Marketing?
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
What Is Network Marketing?
The question has been asked before, but it bears repeating until people really get a feel for it and understand the answer that is given to them. That question of course is “Are network marketing and multi-level marketing the same thing?” These terms are often being used interchangeably these days, but there is a distinction between the two. To answer this question one must understand what multi-level marketing is first and then move on to the concept of network marketing.
Companies throughout the world create products and then market them to the consumers who are likely to buy them, while at the same time doing everything they can to keep the cost as low as possible in order to generate more sales.
What we see sometimes is that multi-level marketing is often perceived in a negative light. That is due to a lot of different factors, but one reason is the perception that marketers are going to hit everybody they know up to join their programs, and sometimes there is no follow up to help their new recruits become successful. Because of that, some people engaged in the practice that utilize this type of marketing have begun to use the term network marketing in self defense.
Even though you will find that sometimes multi-level marketing is often used in conjunction with network marketing, you have to remember that they are two completely different concepts. The company image that often comes to mind when people mention multi-level marketing is Amway because it was the first big multi-level marketing company and is still going strong.
The way multi-level marketers earn an income is that they bring other people into their organization as distributors just like they are. They are paid a commission off of the revenue generated by the person they have introduced to the program. The opportunity to make even more money grows with the addition of new people into their downline.
The successful multi-level marketers continue to make money off all the people they bring into the company unless there is a cap placed on this at some point. As the individual continues to recruit more people into their organization they are moved up to management positions where they are charged with helping others attain success which increases their own bottom line.
At this point, marketers no longer have to sell products but instead are focused on continuing to grow their downline by recruiting and training as well as providing motivation to all of their team.
Network marketing is a bit different from the above model and has a much broader scope. While this type of marketing can include multi-level marketing, there are many facets to it. Network marketing uses relationships for selling products and services.
The truth is that just about everyone uses a bit of network marketing in our daily lives anyway. The big difference is that we don’t usually get paid for it. People are always telling others about new services or products that they have tried books they have read or movies they have watched. The result is that some of those people go out and purchase that product or service or read the book and watch the movie. This is the substance of what network marketing is all about.
Network marketers who make a living with what they do simply take this concept to a whole new level and market those products or services which pays them a portion of the revenue generated from a sale recommended by them. Most successful network marketing executives work primarily through the Internet.
Affiliate programs such as Amazon.com provide the opportunity for network marketers to display their products and sell them on their own websites. This was first set up to offer an additional source of income for webmasters, but it has grown exponentially in the last several years to the point that selling products is the primary reason for these sites. Truly successful network marketing entrepreneurs are paid quite well for what they do.
If you want to learn more about network marketing, please click on the following links: