Do you know how to build a powerful customer base?

Surprisingly there are countless want to be entrepreneurs out there who have no clue what they are doing. Truly amazing is how many people are following the guidance of people who have no clue what they are doing either.

This is the sad reality within the home business industry. Simply put the blind are leading the blind. Spending money and creating massive debt loads with reckless abandon. People are out there passing on the same misinformation they are taught from their upline with no understanding of why or how to make their home business take off. If you are new to the network marketing industry or you have been around a while you need to stay glued to this information. It could very well keep you from going back to that job with your tail between your legs.

First lets start with a few basic concepts and then we will go over some valuable resources to demonstrate how to finally build a thriving business with people flowing to you like a cool spring breeze.

You must understand and dedicate yourself to learn marketing. For the purpose of this brief article here is a sample of a few types of marketing. Active, Passive, and Automated marketing.

Active marketing

This is where most beginners should start. This involves using list builder services, posting to groups and definitely ezines. Simply put you have to take action daily posting ads drawing people to your business.

List builders are typically free or low cost services which help you market your site with low cost income producing products. These services provide a wealth of knowledge on marketing because they are developed by expert marketers. Most of all these services create multiple streams of income which pay for your marketing budget and allow you to cultivate a fan base of loyal customers.

Posting ads to groups and forums requires daily posting. Yes it’s time consuming but if you use a list builder service the training on how to do this effectively is provided. By learning how to post ads that actually work your learning curve will explode.

Then there is Ezine advertising. This alone is my personal favorite way for a beginning marketer to learn this business. By placing a simple ad in an ezine the beginning marketer can advertise to very specialized groups for a very low cost. Two points to consider when posting to an Ezine.

1. Make sure your costs are effective. As Charlie Page, owner of The Directory of Ezine’s, says “…If your ad costs you more than $4 per 1,000 viewers you should post in a different ezine.”
2. Make sure your ads are going to an audience which wants your products. You don’t want to publish an ad for “Miracle Potting Soil” in a ezine directed towards auto repair.

Passive Marketing

With passive marketing you have to sit back a think long term. Where do you want to be in six months to a year. Passive marketing will not provide instant gratification, but with persistence the long term effects will pay off. Passive marketing consists of writing articles, creating a blog where you share your beliefs, creating educational videos for others to see, writing reviews on books that provide value for people. The list is endless so get creative.

Here’s a tip. Did you know you can write a review on books at Amazon.com? If you write a quality review of books you have read people will search you out and see what else you have to offer.

Passive marketing will not happen over night, but if you commit yourself to adding content that provides value people will begin to gravitate to you. Try it and see for yourself.

Automated Marketing

Now this is where the experts win and the newbies get CRUSHED. Let me tell you if you are considering advertising using PPC you better get an education first. I promise you will be better served reading a book by Perry Marshall or anything else you can find on the subject before you consider opening an account with Google, Yahoo, MSN, Miva, Mamma or any other PPC provider. We unfortunately don’t have time to cover this topic in detail, but let me tell you this type of marketing is very powerful and very effective. Once you set it up and get it running your marketing will be set and running on auto pilot.

Let me repeat, do yourself a favor and educate yourself on this before you open an account. PPC is powerful but in the hands of an inexperience marketer it will eat your advertising budget alive and your upline won’t be able to save you.

On a final note:

Network Marketing in my personal opinion is where people discover their greatness. It takes a personal commitment to educate yourself and follow the examples of trusted leaders. If you can do this the rewards will pay off long term and your financial security will be a certainty.