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Guest post by: lucien bechard Become an Author

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There is a lot of buzz going around the network marketing industry lately about online vs. offline marketing and which concept is better. The leaders from each industry have been strongly stating their case as to why their concept is better. Both sides have strong and valid points which makes it tough to decide which one is better. But what if you didn't have to choose a side? What if you could become involved with both concepts?

Offline marketing & Direct Selling companies have been around for years. Companies such as Amway, and Mary Kay created a massive boom in the industry using the concepts of direct selling. People learned about the powerful concept of residual income and became excited about the possibilities. There were a select few that made a lot of money from the direct selling craze, but most people ended up with nothing.

Over the years people started having a negative taste in their mouth about the direct selling industry. Terms such as "pyramid scheme" and "scam" began to surface.

Here's the key thing to remember. The concept of residual income still stayed strong. Residual income wasn't a "pyramid scheme" and it wasn't a "scam." Despite what people thought about the direct selling industry, no one could ever say anything negative about residual income.

Flash forward to Internet boom. Ever since the Internet craze has hit the industry people have become inundated with business opportunities.

The social media craze has caused a stir throughout the industry. Sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube are taking over the Internet.

Everywhere people go on these sites they are being sold to "work from home," "no meetings involved," "no bothering friends and family," and "no lotions or pills to sell. Terms like "pre-launch," "get rich quick," 'join now," 'reserve your spot" have taken the industry by storm.

Here's where the crazy cycle has begun. Offline Marketers vs. Online Marketers.

Offline marketers believe in the old school network marketing principles of "making a list of friends and family," "contacting them," "showing them their opportunity," and then "following through." They believe in the human touch approach. They still hold motivational seminars, dream building sessions, and strategy meetings.

They do network a little on the social media sites but most people don't know what they are doing. They aren't receiving training from their up lines on how to brand themselves and market their businesses online. Also, most offline companies have restrictions about their distributors using online marketing methods to promote their business.

Most of these companies are on the verge of being wiped out because they are still stuck in the olden days of running a business. Internet marketers are stealing these companies distributors away in droves and the people that are left are stunned when their down lines are wiped out.

Online marketers have a laser targeted focus on playing to the emotions of offline marketers. Their goal is to target offline marketers and play off of the negative emotions they are facing with their current businesses.

With online marketing everything is automated with very little human touch. Online marketers want people to enter their information into their "capture" page and then proceed to blast peoples email addresses with auto-responder messages.

"The money is in the list!" That holds true in both online marketing and offline marketing.

After reading this and seeing both sides of the fence, neither side seems appealing does it?

That's because they aren't working together! There is no "Synergy" working against each other.

Human contact is still the key to having long term and lasting success in the network marketing industry. People want to do business with other people, not with a computer.

Offline marketers need to start learning how to brand themselves and their businesses on the Internet if they want to succeed. If offline marketers don't learn how to market their businesses and brand themselves using the major social media outlets, they are going to get eaten alive.

There's a tremendous amount of opportunity that's come with the social media boom, but there's a very limited amount of time people have left to learn how to capitalize on it.

If people learn to combine the personal human touch, strong moral principles and philosophies of offline marketing, along with the momentum of the social media giants and the power of online marketing, they will become a part of network marketing history.

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Referred by: http://jaykubassek.com

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