Please Note:
This is an archived article that was posted 28th May 2003.
The information provided within it may no longer be relevant.
Setting up your own
Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM) System?
Unlocking the internet to MLM
(Click here to find out more about
MLM)
MLM has been one of the fastest growing industries in Europe
over the past decade and, surprisingly, the internet for once
has struggled to keep up. Successful MLM companies rely heavily
on the ability to share resources such as key marketing materials,
meeting dates and sales plans and yet the industry has been
slow to develop internet tools and infrastructure to support
these needs.
The problems MLM faces
Few MLM companies provide internet services to their members
and it is common for individual resellers to have to invest
in their own websites and webshops. It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to work out how inefficient this works out for the
industry as a whole, or even for a single vertical or a brand.
For many resellers an up-front cost of £500 to £3500 is enough
to not bother with a website at all. But apart from cost, when
they do go online, consider the implications for marketing integrity
when all these people create their own styles, formats and versions
of a mother company's precious brand and message.
Downwards and onwards
It was always only a matter of time until someone found a way
to, not only, unlock the internet to the MLM industry, but to
offer the means to control it as well. That someone is a market-driven
development company called ODS (Outsourced Design Solutions),
with offices in the UK and Holland. Under the name of E-net,
the company enables anybody, anywhere in the MLM value chain,
to offer their members flexible, customisable online marketing
tools. By intelligently reproducing, customising and publishing
an existing or purpose-built website to an unlimited number
of resellers, E-net promises to dramatically drive down cost
and improve marketing consistency.
Process, cost and time to market
Members/resellers simply log onto the 'Parent' website, select
the layout and content they would like for their site, add their
personalised message and contact details, purchase a domain
name (or assign a domain name they already own) and activate
their site and email with the click of a button. The mother
company pays a one-off set-up fee for the parent site's database
and backbone, and a relatively small monthly fee, depending
on what services they choose to offer their members (e.g. e-commerce
capabilities with centralised or distributed payment facilities).
Members normally pay a straightforward monthly subscription
fee, the amount of which also depends on services but is nowhere
near the 'normal' investment a personal website would require.
And that is not counting savings in time and effort when it
comes to having a website built. All in all, an average systems
setup ranges from 1,500 to 5,500 pounds and a member subscription
from 10 to 25 pounds. The set up takes between four and ten
days. Upon their online order and payment, member sites are
then created fully automatically in a matter of hours.
How it works in practice
The starting point is the Parent website, which is either your
existing or a custom-built website » the E-net database & system
(back end) are then set up for your service » an online application
form is added to the Parent website, offering the service to
your members » a member logs onto your site and applies for
the service » member customises and personalises his future
site » payment is set up » member account and login are created
» member site is created and activated in a matter of hours
» support and change access for retro-customisation and site
updates are made available through the Parent site. |
