A recent McKinsey & Company report provides a very good indication of what the answer to that question is.

“A new class of company is emerging—one that uses collaborative Web 2.0 technologies intensively to connect the internal efforts of employees and to extend the organization’s reach to customers, partners, and suppliers… [The] networked enterprises are not only more likely to be market leaders or to be gaining market share but also use management practices that lead to margins higher than those of companies using the Web in more limited ways.”

This report implies that companies can gain a competitive advantage by leveraging the use of social media.

As a result, it is reasonable to conclude that these companies will want to do it right  - and do it fast!

The demand for experts in Web 2.0 technologies will therefore increase substantially as more and more companies realize the benefits of social media and make the decision to leverage it.

However, this is a multidimensional undertaking.  The networked enterprise will use social technologies both internally and externally for efficiency gains but also for social media marketing.  Consequently, firms specializing in social media marketing services will be ideally suited to fill this need.

The problem is that social media marketing can be a very time consuming and labor intensive undertaking.  Providers of social media marketing services must be positioned to leverage technologies to the greatest extent.

Answering The Need for

Social Media Marketing Services

One way to quickly tap into this market for social media marketing services is to set up a consulting business, but this comes with some challenges:

• Start up costs
• Establishing credibility with prospective customers
• Proving Processes, Tools, and Systems

So what are the options?  Starting from scratch and building a business from the ground up, or buying into an established business model.

The first scenario of setting up a social media marketing services firm has it’s obvious drawbacks and risks so we won’t get into them here.  Suffice to say that this option will require a significant investment of time, money and resources to overcome the aforementioned challenges.  As a result, there is a risk of missing out on the leading edge of demand, which can become, in an of itself, a competitive advantage.

The second option can be a costly one depending on the choices made but can also be accomplished rather reasonably with a business-in-a-box approach.  One such solution offers a complete package including tools, systems for automation, training, business forms and templates, and even support services.  All at a reasonable price of less than $3000, and backed by an established company.

The Best Way to Provide Social Media Marketing Services

Compared to the cost of purchasing a consulting franchise or building a business from the ground up, this alternative to setting up social media marketing services company offers a cost advantage but more importantly, the advantages of speed and credibility.

For more information on this social media marketing services business-in-a-box, we invite you to watch the promotional videos here, but be advised that this edition is only available until midnight December 18th, 2010.

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for more information on the Renegade System and attraction marketing, here are the books Didi was referring to…

The Renegade Network Marketer

FREE Report – The Attraction Marketers Manifesto

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successful people are developing a personal brand that they can take with them wherever they go. the problem we are facing now is that there are fewer and fewer places to go so something else has to be done. we can’t expect companies to miraculously create new jobs. au contraire, we are witnessing a tendency that is gaining traction extremely rapidly – those who have indeed developed their personal brand, have discovered that they don’t need a company at all! You inc. has taken over microniches and is profiting from the internet at such a rate that they are literally dominating sectors that brick and mortar companies have been either neglecting or not bothering to compete in.

our prediction is that this trend will continue and that small businesses will thrive in these sectors fueled by low overhead, marketing savvy, and the emergence of a global entrepreneurial movement that actually encourages success among the small players (to the detriment of large corporations). sure there will always be big players, but we foresee a world where the ratio of small business to large business will be so disproportioned that among your circle of friends, you will probably have very few who are still employed by a large company by 2020. check out what Mike Klingler from Marketing Merge had to say about this movement at a recent Renegade Professional Event last month.

if you have a small business or are considering starting one, you are making the right move to be on the leading edge of this movement. Obama’s new jobs bill may be just the thing you need to kickstart your business, but it will not guarantee success. The key to success is doing it right by making sure you attract your clients to you because it is a catastrophic error for small businesses to invest all their time and effort in finding and convincing clients to buy their products or services. With attraction marketing (and the use of the internet) as a cornerstone to their marketing strategy, small businesses can passively funnel prospects through the process as they become pre-sold and then when they are ready, seek their services. This effectively frees up small business owners to focus their efforts on revenue generation rather than sales.

so while the global entrepreneurial movement becomes more prevalent, the question becomes; will your small business be in a position to capitalize and thrive in this new reality?

if you would like to learn more about attraction marketing and position yourself for success in this new paradigm, we encourage you to subscribe to our free newletter on the right sidebar.

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there have been many articles and reviews written about which are the best MLMs and what are the characteristics of good network marketing home based business opportunities, but when it comes to decide which to choose, I am of the opinion that each individual opportunity has to be evaluated on it’s own merit but also on how well it fits with the person considering the MLM opportunity. since we are not all the same, and we do not have the same needs, wants and aspirations, the definition of a good opportunity will undoubtedly vary from one person to the next. that said, there are three basic dimensions that should be considered when choosing a network marketing business opportunity which will help determine the best fit.

product alignment – the first thing to consider is what type of product are you looking for? there are network marketing, and direct selling business opportunities for just about any product imaginable. is your intention to just sell the product or do you intend on also promoting the business opportunity as well? the answer to this question may significantly influence the choices of companies that are looked at because in the case of the latter, the business opportunity has to also be evaluated as a product in and of itself. so when considering the product, ask yourself what would make someone want to buy it rather than a substitute. is it competing on quality, or price, or both. what is your perception of how well this product sells? would you use it yourself? do you see yourself promoting it? would you use it if it wasn’t tied to the business opportunity? is the product in line with your values and belief system? for example, is it manufactured overseas or at home. is it an ethical or green product? are you comfortable with where and how the product was manufactured. these questions all require personal preference judgements, from which you can determine which products to evaluate and also assess how well the product is in alignment with you.

company alignment – your personal values and beliefs also need to be compared to the company values. depending on your plans and your own needs, some companies may offer services you value more. for example, some offer training in prospecting and lead generation? do you have your own marketing plans and systems, if so, does the company let you use them or are you bound and limited in action by restrictions. how important is it to you to have back office support? what services do you need? are you risk tolerant or risk averse? if you are risk tolerant, is a new opportunity something you would consider? on the other hand, if you are risk averse, you may want to choose among more established companies that have been in operation for a long time. along those same lines, the companies indebtedness should be considered as well. in terms of how the business operates, are you required to maintain product inventories? what will be you implication in the logistics involved with managing sales, ordering, shipment, fulfillment billing and payment. are you involved? do you want to be involved? will you be dependent on your up-line for training and support? if so, your evaluation may consider who the sponsor is, their experience, and what they have to offer. these questions all help to establish whether or not a company is in alignment with you.

compensation plan effectiveness – the final piece has to do with how well the policies and procedures surrounding the reward system are in line with your value system and how well they reinforce the desired behaviors you need to be a successful network marketer. for starters, are you required to spend money to buy product for yourself? do you have product sales minimums to maintain in order to retain your affiliate status or to be eligible for bonuses and/or payouts. do you have to maintain quotas for new signups? does the compensation plan reinforce teamwork by providing incentives for team-building? does it allow teams to grow and develop over time, or does it systematically split out teams as they cycle through the matrices or boards? does the plan allow for new prospects to be inserted further down in the matrix where they are most needed. does it recognize top performers for their individual efforts? the answers to these questions will help paint a picture of what behaviors the compensation plan rewards and consequently how aligned those behaviors are with you own value system.

so to summarize, it is very difficult to come up with generic assessments of what the best network marketing opportunities are as each one is different in its own right and each person assessing an opportunity has a different set of needs and values to which they compare in order to make that assessment. consequently, by considering an opportunity along the three basic dimensions of product alignment, company alignment, and compensation plan effectiveness, it becomes more apparent to the assessor which opportunities are indeed the most promising, for them.

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when considering a web-based venture, the first step is to determine what type of internet business is being sought. there are many to choose from. some require complimentary skills like creative writing – copywriting and blogging, for example. others are based on specific aspects of web-based businesses such as list-building, membership sites, marketing tools and techniques, and affiliate sales. depending on what your intentions are, you can assemble one or more of these building blocks to create a custom program suited to the particular needs of your own business. for example, one of our clients found that their online sales were surpassing their in-store sales, we recommended that they exploit their web clientele by developing a membership list in combination with online targeted marketing to boost returning sales and attract new sales to their cleaner and updated site. we also recommended they consider establishing an affiliate partner program and increase their product mix by including other complimentary affiliate products on their site. this provided them with more diverse revenue streams without increasing their overhead cost structure and at the same time, provided a complementary product mix suited to their target market demographic.

after sifting through several scams and non-value added web-based business products, we did uncover some that actually help neophytes get up and running quickly to make money online. we have concluded that features of good products include; money-back guarantees (trial periods), credible earnings forecasts, step-by-step startup instructions, templates, and an elaborate support system comprised of both online and offline support – if you can’t get in touch with someone to ask a question or for help, this is a big red flag!

let’s face it, there are no get rich quick schemes. there are, on the other hand, many successful businesses with internet-based revenue. the key is finding what’s right for your chosen niche.

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there is a proliferation of products, literature, and courses out there related to affiliate marketing.  unless you have a basic knowledge of what affiliate marketing and an affiliate business is, it might be difficult to discern the bunk from the legit, and the junk from the jewels.  so here is a little primer for those of you who might be interested in learning more about this growing business model.

the affiliate segment is estimated to be a more than a 7 billion dollar (US) per year industry, and it continues to grow each and every year. the concept is rather simple; companies pay a commission to “affiliates” for sales of their products generated from leads coming from those affiliates.  many companies have adopted this formula to complement their regular sales and marketing strategies and in the last few years, there has been a literal boom in small and medium-sized companies that have turned to affiliates to boost their sales to touch customers they would not otherwise be able to reach.  affiliate marketing is a cheap and effective way to increase exposure for companies that don’t have the means to manage elaborate sales campaigns.  but it is not the exclusive domain of SMEs either as many of the worlds largest companies and brands have also turned to affiliates to boost their ecommerce sales.

so how does it work? well, basically, affiliates refer potential clients to an online or offline merchant. if these leads result in sales, the merchant then pays the affiliate a commission for the lead.  of course, the commission is pre-established between the merchant and the affiliate. the mechanism by which this is done varies but generally, for online referrals, the affiliates usually have a pre-designated and unique identifier in the link to the merchant’s website.  that way, referred sales coming from the unique link can easily be tracked back to the affiliate.

there are some obvious advantages to becoming an affiliate marketer; it has relatively little startup costs, it can be done part time or full time, you don’t need to carry or manage inventory and you don’t have to close sales – that is the merchant’s job!

there are also some less-obvious benefits to becoming an affiliate marketer; it can complement your existing business if you already have one.  for example, one of our clients has a veterinary clinic, she has a website portal for her clinic that also contains her affiliate links for related pet products.  this formula drives targeted traffic to her partner merchants, supplements and diversifies her revenue, and at the same time, provides a convenient service to her clients.  there are so many merchants who have affiliate programs that marketers can literally pick and choose the products and services to promote that make the most sense for them. there are even services available to facilitate the marriage between merchants and affiliates. 

in addition, for affiliates, the cost of sales is extremely low as there is no, or very little customer service involved, and the shipping and payment process is handled entirely by the merchant.

finally, for those considering starting a business, affiliate marketing is very flexible, it can be done part time at first, and then progress to fulltime as the business grows, so it is a very good fit for someone seeking to transition out of the rat race.  since you need very little to start and run an affiliate business, it can be done from virtually anywhere.  it is the ultimate virtual office type of business.  in addition, it is a particularly appealing springboard to self-employment because there is no pressure to meet quotas or sales minimums and you don’t have the pressure normally associated with network marketing ventures so you could put however much time into developing your business as you want or can afford to spare (we’ll discuss network marketing-type businesses in another article).

so with all these advantages, what are the disadvantages to being an affiliate marketer?  firstly, affiliate marketing success is dependant on your ability to reach prospects and direct them to the desired merchants.  in order to be successful, there are many factors at play; you have to target the right segment, they have to be willing to purchase, and they have to purchase what the merchant is offering.  while there are many techniques and strategies to make this chain of events happen, an affiliate marketer has to develop the skills to channel their efforts in the right place. there is a huge benefit to economy of effort and in making wise investments, as it is very easy to lose focus.  also, effective affiliates can reach out to significant numbers of potential customers.  this is accomplished either through established lists or by attracting traffic to their own website.  this is not easily accomplished and must be a focus of developing an affiliate business.  one cannot expect overnight success; it has to be worked on just like building any other legitimate business.  any “secret formula” or “proven plan” that claims otherwise is pure fabrication and should be a huge red flag.  on the other hand, once the traffic or the customer base is established, the possibility of leveraging the affiliate business is exponentially bigger.

so to conclude, affiliate marketing is a growing and legitimate business model and has enormous potential.  it is not a get-rich-quick scheme and it requires an investment in time to set up and grow the business.  success as an affiliate marketer is entirely dependant on the ability to attract and drive pre-sold traffic to the merchant. anyone who is considering affiliate marketing should therefore make an effort to develop the skills and means to ensure these two conditions are met.

to learn more about affiliate marketing we suggest you view this free video series offered by Steve Peirce of Clone Cash System.  it gives a great overview and excelent tips on how to get started.

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