Strategic Choice Partners is thrilled to add Brooke Hawkins as a new associate where she will bring marketing and graphic design expertise to the team. Brooke is the owner of Hawkins Design Co, a boutique design agency that specializes in marketing and graphic design, catered to direct sales companies. Brooke has worked with numerous companies using omnichannel marketing to help businesses develop a consistent and memorable brand across all platforms from social media to web design to print … [Read more...]
How to Create a Marketing Roadmap That Gets Results
Marketing and communications have never been more important within the direct sales industry than they are right now. While good marketing always has been a common thread among successful companies, it’s often been overlooked as a recognized driver, playing second fiddle to compensation plan design, product development, field training and the like. Today’s direct sales marketing leader has a lot on his or her plate. In a new way, the industry is recognizing the need to deliberately … [Read more...]
5 Key Strategies to Improve Your Company’s Online Reputation
When customers perform a search for your company, what do they see on the first page of the Google results? Chances are a search might include websites with negative content about your company. Negative websites can hurt your brand and decrease your company’s revenue. You can either let your reputation and sales suffer, or you can manage your online reputation just as you manage everything else in your company—by taking steps to get the results you want and keep your company on track for … [Read more...]
The Right Way to Create a Sales Forecast in Direct Selling
Every year, usually after convention season is over and most direct selling companies kick into their high-selling season, another important task begins (or at least it should): the formulation of the sales forecast for the balance of the year, and the plan for the entire following year. This is a good time to appraise how well your initiatives and tactics are working in the current year. Are we ahead or behind our plan? What worked and what didn’t work? Honest and clear answers to … [Read more...]
Alan Luce’s Top 8 Reminders for Direct Selling Companies
Decades of experience has led me to much success, but more importantly, some failures. These failures have taught me more than I could have learned through only succeeding, which is why I want to offer my most valuable eight tips to help you succeed even faster. We believe the direct selling industry flourishes because its foundation is based on people helping other people succeed. That's really why we share useful articles like this one, and so many others, in simple, bite-sized … [Read more...]
The Seismic Shifts in Marketing’s Role in Direct Selling
"Marketing doesn’t matter for a direct selling company.” Have you ever heard this one before? If you’ve been working in direct selling for more than ten years, there’s a good chance you’ve heard someone say this outright, or at least imply it. In fact, that person may have even been you. Brett Duncan, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Strategic Choice Partners, explores a few of the most obvious shifts we’ve seen in marketing over the last ten years in his guest article on The World of … [Read more...]
What Are Your Company’s Plans for Marketing Automation?
How can we automate as many components of our marketing as possible? And do it in a way that is effective? Brett Duncan, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Strategic Choice Partners, discusses why Marketing Automation is so important for any industry, especially direct selling, in his guest article on The SourceDS titled, “What is the biggest area of technology that direct selling companies are overlooking today?” Be sure to check out the full vlog. First off, you might be asking, what … [Read more...]
How To Step Up Your Brand with Story-Telling
Facts tell. Stories sell. This applies to every industry, including direct selling. Purchasing is driven by emotions, not logic or facts. When someone has an emotional response or connection to a company or product, this feeling will last longer than simply listing off the facts. This is why Clark Diemer and Tony Moran from Diemer Marketing Group share their thoughts on how story-telling through video can be used effectively for your marketing. Related Content About … [Read more...]
Custom Animations Vs. Generic Templates
Today it is incredibly easy to find someone or a company to help you make videos to explain your products and services, but how do you know you've made the right decision when it comes to your company and effectively reaching your target audience? Clark Diemer and Tony Moran from Diemer Marketing Group talk about the differences between custom animations and quick turnaround services, as well as how it can affect your brand image and, more importantly, your bottom … [Read more...]
Charting Your Digital Roadmap
Trying to decide what direction to go in the digital world can be overwhelming, which is why Brett Duncan walks you through 7 vital questions to help you chart your digital roadmap. In this training, Brett uses his creativity to help you get clear on what you need to do in the digital space. Get Instant Access to this webinar and many others. Create your free account now! Here are two of the vital questions you need to ask yourself: Question #1 So what do you want? These … [Read more...]
The Real Benefit of Social Media
I finally experienced the real, most fundamental benefit of social media for direct sales companies. It’s not prospecting. It’s not retention. It’s not recruiting. It’s brand awareness, in its simplest form. Brand Awareness in Action A while back, while scrolling through Facebook updates, I noticed one of my high school friends touting their love for a certain direct sales company. A day later, another high school friend posted a similar message for the same company. … [Read more...]
What’s Your Hell or High Water Statement?
Let me blunt. Your problem isn’t ideas. It’s not social media or your website. It’s not even customers. Your problem is commitment. Your problem is you confuse business with busy-ness. You think success is measured by the size of your to-do list. You think the best option is lots of options. And you’re confused when it comes to commitment. Don’t worry; you’re not alone. This isn’t just a “business thing.” It’s a human thing. People logically know that focus and commitment are effective, but … [Read more...]
What is Your Onliness Statement?
If you haven’t read Marty Neumier’s book ZAG, the best advice I can give you is to leave this page and immediately go find one of Neumier’s books. Both ZAG and The Brand Gap represent milestone moments in my own understanding of how marketing works best. In ZAG, Neumier suggests creating an “onliness statement” for your product or company. Here’s how it works: Our brand is the only _______ that _______. That’s it. Fill in the blanks however you see fit. For example: We are the … [Read more...]
Why SEO Matters for Direct Sales Companies
At the corporate office, one question you have to be constantly asking yourself is, “How can we help our individual reps in ways that they can’t help themselves?” Answers to this question typically hover in the more logistical area of the business. Shipping product. Mailing checks. Creating products. These are all things that a sizeable corporate entity, not an individual sales rep, should focus on streamlining. It ultimately helps facilitate evangelism, which is what we’re all … [Read more...]
Direct Sales Marketing: Unusually the Same
Marketing for a direct sales company is a funny thing. Countless are the stories of companies within our fair industry who have welcomed an executive of the highest marketing pedigree with vast experience outside of direct sales, only to escort them out in short order, noting, most often, their lack of experience within direct sales. The very promises that allured us to them in the beginning (e.g. establishing a brand, updating our packaging, increasing awareness, incorporating true market … [Read more...]