TeacherTalkNV.org

I was introduced to the world of MLM before I knew anything about Affiliate Marketing. Along my MLM journey I came across marketers who where and still are making considerable money both in the MLM world and in the affiliate marketing world. I was intrigued by this as it opened my eyes up to other business systems and other ways of making money from a home based business. These new possibilities lead me to review the new options I now have in front of me and here are my findings.

Pros and Cons – Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate Marketing is where a company or person allows a marketer to sell their product or service on behalf of them. The marketer does all the marketing of the product or service and is paid a commission based on the value of the sale by the company or person who owns the product / service.

Pros

An affiliate marketer does not require a downline for their business to be successful. There is no stock to store, the affiliate marketer is simply the middleman for the sale. The company ship the goods and deal with all the customer services. There are many affiliate products to choose from. As an affiliate marketer, your success and failure is completely in your hands as you are the only person in your business.

Cons

An affiliate marketer can not make growing residual income. Affiliate marketers do not have a team to assist them in their business. As an affiliate marketer you only make money on what you produce. Affiliate marketers are in direct competition with every other affiliate marketer who is also trying to sell the same products.

Pros and Cons – MLM

MLM is a marketing structure used by companies as one of their marketing strategies. The structure is designed to create a marketing and sales force by compensating promoters of company products (reps) not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of other promoters (reps) they enrol to the company, creating a downline of distributors and multiple levels of compensation.

Pros

As an MLM rep you get paid for your direct efforts and the direct efforts of the people in your downline (some companies allow you to have an infinite downline). MLM reps can generate residual income which when your reach a certain level will continue to gradually increase every month. MLM is a team business. The more active reps in you have in your business the more successful you will be. As MLM has a hierarchy structure there is a lot of support throughout all the levels, you are not alone. MLMers get to leverage their time.

Cons

MLMers have to build a team to be successful. Learning how to sell and recruit are the core skills required to be successful in MLM. The strength of your business is largely dependent upon other people. It generally takes longer to make money in MLM.

By no means are you limited to doing one or the other. You can do both. What I would suggest is that you master one method first before you venture into the other.

Affiliate marketing is a quicker way of making instant money. You get a product, promote it, a person buys it and you are paid a commission from it. Once the sale is made that’s it. Your customers have no loyalty to you so they will very easily go to someone else to get the product the next time (affiliate marketers very rarely brand themselves).

MLM is known as ‘Marathon Money’. It’s not instant, but if you consistently work at it you will slowly start to see good results. Due the structure of MLM you eventually get paid more for doing less as you leverage your business. Not only do you make money, you also get your precious time back.

My summary to the debate of MLM Vs Affiliate Marketing.

Affiliate marketing will provide you with instant Get Paid Today (GPT) money but it involves your direct time to make it happen.

MLM will provide you with growing residual income and you get to leverage your time. Both require the art of selling and more importantly marketing. Both can provide you with a great home based business which can fulfill your dreams.

Master one first then attack the other if that’s your choice. I am currently an MLMer, but there are elements of affiliate marketing which appeals to me. Either way I wish you the best of luck in what you are doing or decide to do.

To your MLM and Affiliate Marketing Success.

Dwayne