Network marketing has been around longer than most reading this article. The term “network marketing” has changed names, made folks smile and has even made folks a bit angry from time to time.

Marketing is about selling a product. Networking is about going from person to person. So it would only stand to reason that network marketing is about selling a product from person to person. Perhaps that’s why for many years the term “direct sales” was used.

I read ads daily that say “I’m looking for serious people.” What I see happen over and over again with this type of ad, is that it attracts the absolute wrong person. If you want to build a network marketing team you should be looking for product users. You don’t find more serious people than those who use and love the products.

Have you ever read that you’ll do better to collect 1% from 100 people versus 100% from one person? This is the philosophy of network marketing. If you find 10 product users, you have the start of a wonderful team. You have people that already know the product, have the product in their home and there is a good chance they’ve already spoken to others about the product.

As you look at your marketing and advertising look at whom your ads might be targeting. Are they targeting strangers of the products or are they targeted to those who already know and use the products?

Are you advertising for wholesale buyers? Remember, these are people who already know and love the product and might be interested in an ongoing product discount. As you take customer orders, are you always letting your customers know that by becoming a distributor, they can earn a product discount and possibly supplemental income?

In order to make self directed Roth IRA investments, you need a few things. First, you have to find a trustee that allows self investing. Most custodians that offer IRAs, 401Ks and Roth accounts focus on mutual funds and certificates of deposit or CDs. But, there’s a reason for that.

Banks and brokers have a vested financial interest in having you select those things as your self directed Roth IRA investments. To the banker, if your retirement funds are tied up in CDs, then that increases the money that is in their bank, which they can turn around and use to make loans to other people.

In effect, they are collecting interest on your money. And, depending on the interest rates, they are probably making a lot more than you are.

Brokers make a commission on the sale of a stock. So, if your self directed Roth IRA investments are all stocks and mutual funds, every time that you buy some stock, they are making money. Then, after all of this, they have the nerve to charge you a fee for the transaction.

You have to “shop” for a custodian, in the same manner that you would shop for anything else. Compare prices. How much do they charge? Is it a flat annual fee or are their numerous per transaction fees that typically add up to a whole lot more.

All right, now that you have found a custodian that charges a reasonable annual fee, you need education. What types of self directed Roth IRA investments are the most profitable? In which market will I earn the highest returns? How can I guarantee a flow of income into the account?

Many of us believe that the best self directed Roth IRA investments involve real estate. One experienced investor that I know was able to add $145,000 to his retirement account in a year’s time. When was the last time that your stock dividends amounted to something like that?
I’m sure the answer to that last question was never. He made that profit by finding a two bedroom fixer upper, making renovations, renting it out and reselling it. $10,000 was rental income and the rest was profit from the sale.

So, you can turn profits quickly by renovating and reselling. Or, you can guarantee a steady flow of income to the account with self directed Roth IRA investments in rental property. There really is no other way to realize those kinds of returns in other markets.

You will need to learn how to find the right deals. But, in a short while, you can begin to grow your account faster than you ever dreamed possible. Those dreams of sitting on the beach at sunset might become a reality more quickly than you had dared to hope.

But, one last thing that you will need in order to make self directed Roth IRA investments is time. You need time to get the education, find the right deals and direct your custodian. So, set aside some time and get started today.

A wise man once told “Selling any product or service is like marriage. If you can’t get him by the heart-you are DOOMED”. True as the statement is, it is also very relevant with the present scenario.

To elucidate our point, just by running the term “Branding” on the internet, we are inundated by a plethora of theories, assumptions, models, case-studies which all implicate the quintessential approach to the elusive topic. The mystification is even more enhanced when we believe that organizations relegate brand management to lower level functionaries and relies on tangibles, more directly the bottom-line, as a measure of market viability. The strategic use of branding only surfaces when the organization experiences a turbulent period in time and applies brand principles as their saviour. The fundamental problem with this view is that the company’s cursory involvement implicates a tactical view and permeation throughout the organization will not congeal. The brand exists in the murky shadows and becomes a vague reminder of the organization’s identity. On the other hand, an organization that embraces their brand as the strategic cornerstone of the business and obtains cultural acceptance will emerge with a strong identity and market position.

The intent of this paper is to understand how brands can innovate and come out of murky shadows of competition, clutter and myopic thinking by effective use of cause-related marketing. Also this view is finally linked to the social responsibility each and every organization shares with the stakeholders, or more specifically, the community.

Why do we need any innovative branding technique?

David Aaker had contended that a brand image reflects the past and is passive in nature, whereas the brand identity is active and focuses on the future. Let’s briefly view how the brand identity gets smudged.

1. Effect of intensified competition:
The essence here is that every product is keen to occupy the single bit of mind space of the customer. All competitors vie for the same space and all positioning platforms are already taken up. Now the challenge is to rise above the crowd and be heard. Can cause-related marketing be a way or process to do so, is what we’ll try to find an answer to
2. External Perspective Paradox
The common viewpoint of organizations is to maintain an external focus – how customers perceive the brand. Most organizations fail to internally communicate the vision and values of their brand. It’s not only about whether the customers are able to relate, understand and finally appreciate the company’s vision, but also whether the employees are able to pass on the company’s culture to the customers.

3. Product-Attribute Fixation Trap
The failure to distinguish between a product and a brand is the essence of a product-attribute trap. Most companies view product attributes as the basis for purchasing decisions and competitive strength in the marketplace. Ask someone what they drive? If they possess a sense of pride, they’ll quickly respond with the brand name – not horsepower or torque ratios.

Perspective linkages of CRM and CSR

Apart from external communication to the consumer and enhancing brand equity, Cause-related-marketing does have an internal perspective. Internal marketing is as important as external marketing. Internal marketing takes into account communication and relationship enhancement with the employee. Marketers must adapt an internal perspective to realize an important aspect- employees, to realize direct core brand deliverances to the customer. It helps to inform and inspire employees. We have to realize that one of the most potent influences on brand perception is the experience customers have with the company personnel.

CRM lends a holistic view point to marketing process, ensuring that everyone in the organization embraces appropriate results delivered.

It can be seen as a perfect opportunity to reinstate the point that it is a definite opportunity to enhance an organization’s corporate reputation, raise brand awareness, increase customer loyalty, build sales, and even increase press coverage. Customers will increasingly look for signs of good corporate citizenship and go beyond supplying rational and emotional benefits.

Concept of Brand Equity

Brand equity refers to “set of assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and or to that firm’s competitors”.

A brand’s value is a function of the customer’s perception, his/her attitude towards it, and the emotional value that the customer attaches to the brand.

Approaches of CRM: Benefiting communities, securing business goals

Starting as a marketing initiative in the 80′s CRM has travelled and evolved. One reason is that companies are taking a more strategic approach to their community-involvement efforts, seeking ways of benefiting community organizations while also furthering companies’ business goals. Effective cause programs can enhance a company’s reputation and brand image and increase the credibility of its marketing effort while giving customers a convenient way to contribute to nonprofit organizations through their purchasing decisions.
Originally, the principal business goal of a cause-related marketing program has been to impact a company’s bottom line through increased sales. Yet research has shown that, for companies committed to corporate social responsibility, CRM programs can offer other, often unanticipated, benefits to a company as well. Long-term impacts are increased profitability or cost savings are often attributed to the observed changes resulting from effective CRM partnerships. While the value realized by cause marketing programs will differ among companies and industries, some of the potential benefits include:
o Attracting and Retaining Customers: Long-term efforts help attract and build long-term relationships with customers. There are expectations for companies to go beyond their call of duty. Propensity of consumers to switch is far higher when they find that a company supports a social cause.
o Market Differentiation: CRM helps to create an alternative and distinctive approach to brand advertising.
o Outreach to Niche Markets: Partnering with nonprofit organizations can help a company to connect with specific demographic or geographic markets.
o Motivated and Loyal Employees: Companies can attract and retain quality employees
o Reinforced Company Mission: CRM efforts can help communicate to employees, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders a company’s commitment to corporate social responsibility.

Research findings

We, in order to quantify our beliefs ran a quick secondary research survey in our college and gathered responses from 159 candidates.
o 96.2% of the respondents were aware of at least one cause-related marketing program.
o 59% of the respondents had participated in at least one cause related program and 89% i.e. 80 respondents reported to have a positive impact on their perceptions towards the company
o 49% of the respondents out of 80 who had participated in any one CR program showed an actual change in behavior, saying that they switched brands, increased usage or tried or enquired about new products.
o 71% of the respondents believe that the present number of organizations pursuing CRM is low and would love to see more organizations following the practice.
o Out of the respondents, 71 were female and ALL of them were aware of CRM programs, 86% had participated in at least one cause-related program and again, ALL of them had a positive impact towards the company.
o Out of the female respondents, 69% told that they switched brands, increased usage or tried or inquired about new products.

Consumers have a more favorable attitude toward a Cause Related Marketing program, and are more likely to participate when there is clear affinity between the brands, the company lives and breathes the relationship, it is easy for consumers to participate in, and the program clearly communicates the company’s commitment. Also a key note is about the high affinity of females towards Cause-related affinity may be the future.
Model for CRM initiatives
Things that can be measured can be improved. Hence, we try to incorporate a model that includes metrics to measure the effectiveness of the CRM event. The model has been broken up into three phases, Pre-event i.e. before the Cause-related marketing event takes place, Event and Post Event. The metrics are developed to measure three major parameters that we believe are important and crucial for measurement. They are Human capital factors, Organizational factors and Environmental factors. The model also includes the must-do’s in the CRM campaign, that we thought were crucial for any organization.

It’s so much fun to get an email or phone call from someone saying, “I want to know about your opportunity.”

Those words are the start of the interview process. If you just sign someone up without an interview, you lose the entire relationship and network marketing is a relationship business.

There are so many things you can share and ask about during the interview. Here are a few of the things I like to ask:

1. I like to begin by asking questions about direct sales such as: What made you decide to get involved in direct sales? Have you ever been involved before? Do you know others who are involved? These questions are a great door opener with no right or wrong answers.

2. What are your expectations for this business? Once again, there is not a right or wrong answer. No two people have the same goals for their businesses. When I first began, my goal was to be able to make a car payment. I’ve actually never met anyone else over the years with that same goal. If someone has unrealistic expectations, this will be a perfect opportunity to reset some possible first goals with them.

3. How do you see yourself marketing this business? Everyone has a different vision of how they’ll sell the products and how they plan to get the word out. Depending on the answer, this is a great opportunity for you to present some additional marketing ideas.

Get personal. I don’t mean “too much information” but I always share some of my hobbies, that I’m a mom, where I live and other small things that can help make a connection between me and the person I’m talking to.

These interviews can take place over the phone, in person, via email or even via an IM chat.