How to choose from Affiliate Marketing and Network Marketing? Which one would suit me better? Which one would take more time to develop? Which one should I do to get a long-term income?   

Many persons tend to think it is the same and that might put the confusion about strategy, marketing plan and how to advertise.

Affiliate Marketing  is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliates’ own marketing efforts

Network Marketing is a type of business opportunity that is very popular with people looking for part-time, flexible businesses. Some of the best-known companies in America, including Avon, Mary Kay Cosmetics and Tupperware, fall under the network marketing umbrella.

While Network Marketing seems more appealing because you think you can make more money, it is also much more work and commitment and also you need to be very patient and consistent.

I am going to show you some difference and you’ll be able to see what suits you better

Difference of sale and auto-ship:

• Affiliate Marketing use a service or a product that you have to sell and get rewarded with immediate cash. There is no autoship and no commissions with building team or if you recruit affiliate. A great example is Amazon affiliate, all you do is refer people to your Affiliate account, and you get a percentage of the price once you sell something. That is it!! It is a single level commission, you make money each time you make a sale. If you make $1000 in December, you have to start again to sell in January to get money. Each month you start at 0. There is no residual income.
• Network Marketing use a service or a product that you have to sell as an autoship and get rewarded by commissions on multi-level. You need to build a team and coach your distributors to become leaders and duplicate your work to make more money. You can have a binary model or matrix model. You have an autoship each month in order to qualify to  commissions and you obtain residual income if you work hard and build a team. Example of MLM Amway founded in 1959 and still growing – I am not with Amway by the way!

Difference of membership and price:

• Affiliate Marketing usually has a small membership fee and no autoship. You get rewarded for each sale. No need of inventory or stock.
• Network Marketing has usually a package you have to purchase on autoship each month and some MLM also have a membership fee for your backoffice. You can stock up the product for your own customer or personal use. If you sell the product to a customer you can have a margin for yourself and make a profit.

Difference in advertising and marketing:

• Affiliate Marketing: You never sell product directly to your customers, you refer a website where they can buy the goods or get some training. For example, MLSP is an affiliate program because we refer people to our community and get commission when they buy a service, a product training. You need to advertise in large-scale to get visitors to your affiliate marketing offers. You know that usually your customers are not going to buy from you each month so you need to get a lot of customers if you want to make money. Once you get your list of customers, use your blog, website to advertise and send email when you get new product or a discount…
• Network Marketing: It is a direct sales and you might have to do weekly house parties to make more money, so then your customers from word of mouth can talk about your products to their friends and family. That is how you start getting downline while recruiting your family and friend first. It is harder work as you need to get focus and creative so your parties don’t get boring, however when you get enthusiast distributors that want to build their downline, that is where the money is! It is based on personal relationship and trust.

Difference in commission:

• Affiliate Marketing: You have a set amount for each sale, it is usually a percentage of the product or service you sell. You get rewarded for each sale You are making and nobody else. You commissions only depend on your own efforts.
• Network Marketing: You are paid by commissions on multiple number of levels. The more people and leaders you have on your team, the better commissions you get. But if your downline don’t work much, you are not getting money. So you need to be consistent and talk to your team member, try to get some strategy to encourage them and make sales.

 Difference on tools and marketing:

• Affiliate Marketing: You need to use your websites, blogs, your online presence to allow you to leverage your traffic and make sales with various affiliate networks. Focus on Search Engine Optimization SEO
• Network Marketing: You need to contact your friends and family, hold webinar or meeting online to build your team, using social media to find interesting prospects. Not so focus on SEO. It is hard work and a lot of phone call and hustle to do.

Summary

You need to define your goals and see what you like to do and choose what suits you best.

Network Marketing are more for people who like helping others, training them and are not scared of rejections. Marketers like building team, coaching their distributors to duplicate. Recruiting new customers into their downline and teach, train them. It is a greater effort than affiliate and you need to be constantly available for your team. It is a full-time job if you want to make money

Affiliate is more for people who like to make a sale and be done with it. You can choose the amount of time you want to spend working and don’t have to be consistent if you have another job. You are rewarded for the effort you are making

Leave me a comment and share your point of views

Kathy