When you’re involved with network marketing, you’re consistently looking for ways to grow your business. One activity multi-level marketers are always involved in is generating network marketing leads.
Many network marketers rely on paid messaging to spread the word about their business. The costs of running ads can add up over time.
Luckily, there are tons of ways to find new network marketing leads for free. Some involve little effort on your part while others require you be more involved.
In this article, we’ll discuss free ways to find network marketing leads to grow your business.
1. Craigslist Marketing
Craigslist should be a go-to for lead generation, especially because the platform gets over 50 million views per month. With the right tools and procedures, you can generate quality leads through Craigslist for free and for minimal effort.
To start, you’ll need a Craigslist account, a lead capture website, and a CRM system that has lead reporting functionality.
Next, start creating your campaign. In Craigslist terms, this means you’ll pick the types of people you’re trying to target.
After defining your target, start writing ads with concise headlines that will pique a viewer’s interest and entice them to click through to your website.
Finally, post your ads in the mornings or late evenings. You’ll need to be consistent with posting to get your ads in front of as many people as possible. We suggest posting twice each day and once each weekend day.
2. Facebook Friends
With 8 in 10 Americans using Facebook on a regular basis, it’s a great platform to recruit new individuals for your organization.
To start, you need to start capturing your friend network’s attention with different posts about your opportunity.
Instead of posting your entire pitch in one post, write messages about how someone can benefit or find fulfillment through your organization. You can achieve this in a number of ways like through inspiring quotes, gifs, and memes.
Your posts should be varied and all create a desire to learn more in the people who read it. Encourage people to message you directly to learn more.
3. Facebook Groups
A tactic we’ve seen many people try to gain network marketing leads is joining Facebook groups based on similar interests. The bad news is, they only talk about themselves.
The best way to attract new network marketing leads to your business is by creating value.
You can create value by providing helpful tips when people ask questions in the group or writing content pieces like guides and blog posts to overcome typical obstacles in network marketing.
When you create value for others, you establish yourself as a go-to resource and the reputation that you know what you’re doing.
4. Business Cards on Corkboards
Have you ever scanned the bulletin board at your local Starbucks? A lot of times you’ll see flyers for events and business cards for local professionals.
Turns out, people who are looking to make money will turn to bulletin boards in local businesses to find odd jobs or business opportunities.
Next time you’re at your local coffee shop, pin a few of your business cards to the corkboard. It’s a free and low-effort way to reach people who are actively (and inactively) seeking a new business opportunity.
5. Warm Market
Your warm market is the ideal stage to start building relationships and mentally adding leads to your list.
When it comes to dealing with your warm market, always remember those network marketing leads are NOT ready to buy.
The best way to build leads in your warm market is to learn more about each persons’ hopes and desires. Remembering these can give you a great entry point when you do eventually talk about your opportunity with them.
For example, if a colleague has told you they want to find a side hustle, you can later start a conversation with “Hey, remember when you mentioned you want to earn some extra cash?”
6. Attend Events
When you attend business networking events, it’s incredibly tempting to tell everyone you can about how great your business is and go through your whole pitch.
Avoid doing this at all costs.
Chances are, if you approach the event in a more restrained manner (i.e., not pitching), you’ll stand out since everyone else will be pitching.
Instead, what you should do is make friendly connections, gather as many business cards as you can, and follow up the next day.
These will be reliable network marketing leads because these people have proven they are interested in growing their business simply by showing up to the event.
7. Warm Market Referrals
There are more opportunities in building relationships with your warm market than you might think.
If during a conversation with a friend you determine she’s not interested in your organization, but her best friend is, you have an automatic in. The best way to go about this is to kindly ask your friend if she might make an introduction to her best friend.
You can also ask for referrals even when another network marketing lead says no. Say “I understand this opportunity isn’t for you, but do you know anyone who might be interested in learning about it?”
8. Recruiting with Google Search
Google isn’t just great for supplying you with cat videos and answers to your medical questions. It’s also an excellent place to find experienced network marketing leads.
How do you do this?
By using the right keywords and boolean operators, you can find potential recruits on Google.
For example, you can run a search such as “name of popular MLM” AND “call me” or “contact me.” You can also add AND “your local area” if you like working locally.
These search operators will give you pages of results of people who are clearly successful and put together since they made a website for their business. From there, you can call through the list to evaluate your prospects.
9. Meetup.com
There’s a Meetup for everything these days, including network marketing businesses. These Meetups are a great place to make new connections, pick up some new tips, and find new network marketing leads.
You should approach a network marketing Meetup the same way you approach other events you attend. Don’t go for the hard sell. Just focus on making new connections, collecting business cards, and following up the next day.
You’ll get a good mix of people who have established their network marketing businesses and those who are looking to get involved in selling full time or on the side.
10. Linkedin
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that LinkedIn now has 500 million users globally, making it a popular place to collect new network marketing leads.
Before you get started with networking for your business on LinkedIn, make sure your profile looks professional with a nice photo and details about your company.
Next, join some LinkedIn groups for network marketers.
In these groups, always make sure you’re contributing valuable information, not selling.
When you contribute valuable information to the groups, you’ll notice people start to message you and express their interest in your business. As soon as you can, move the conversation to the phone to determine if the individual is the right fit for your organization.
11. Twitter
Twitter is a free, powerful tool for helping you collect network marketing leads.
The best way to approach using Twitter to collect leads is to draw others toward you. You’ll do this by utilizing the right hashtags as well as providing valuable information.
Your valuable information can include updates to your blog, short tips and tricks, and information about your products.
You can also engage leads by following them and answering their questions over Twitter. You can even retweet your followers’ posts to build your relationship with them.
While marketing on Twitter, you’ll want to channel those leads to your website so you can collect their information or encourage them to DM you.
12. Youtube
Images and video are really powerful. It’s so powerful that if we hear information and see a corresponding image (or video), we’re over six times more likely to remember that information three days later.
That’s what makes YouTube such a powerful channel, especially for those looking to educate others.
To get started on YouTube for your business, name your channel after yourself, creating brand consistency.
Next, start creating videos with step-by-step instructions for certain processes, ways to build your business, and updates on your business. Be sure to include thorough descriptions below the video and direct traffic back to your landing page to capture lead information.
13. Volunteer
Volunteering your time to a cause you really care about is a low-key and fulfilling way to find more network marketing leads.
When you volunteer, you work alongside people from all walks of life.
These won’t only be volunteers. They might also be support staff who manage the day to day running of the organization where you volunteer.
As you get to know the people you volunteer with, you can start to gauge if they’re interested in earning some money on the side or if they’re looking for a full-time income.
At this point, you can consider these leads to be in your warm market and proceed as such.
14. Realtor Magazines
Realtors are great for network marketing because they have an entrepreneurial mindset.
In many cases, a realtor’s income fluctuates from season to season. They’re likely candidates to want to have a side business to ensure a steady level of income at all times of the year.
One way to access these realtors is to take out an ad in a realtor magazine. In the ad, direct those who are interested to your website where they can learn more about the opportunity without committing to calling you.
15. Apparel
When you started your network marketing business, you likely created a logo and other branded materials to hand out at networking events.
But you can do so much more with branded apparel like hats, shirts, and wristbands, especially if you wear them around town.
Go beyond just putting your logo on them. Ask a question or make a statement on your shirt that will make people come up and talk to you.
16. Car Magnets or Stickers
You can take the same approach as apparel with car stickers and magnets.
Having a bumper sticker with your name and logo is a great way to get your brand out there. However, just your name won’t encourage people to call and inquire about your business.
That’s why you need a piquing question or statement to grab interest. You can even use humor to attract attention.
17. Charity Events
What can you generally assume about people who attend charity events? They like helping people.
With that tiny bit of knowledge in hand, you can easily strike up a conversation with individuals at charity events. You can ask them how they came to be interested in the charity then move into what they do for a living. From there, you can determine if they might be interested in your opportunity.
If it’s not obvious, don’t pitch at charity events. It’s tacky. Collect business cards or phone numbers and follow up the next day.
18. Parent Sporting Events
If your child is part of a sports team, start spending more time at practices and games. Chances are, you’ll find plenty of network marketing leads at Little League.
As parents, we want to spend as much time with our kids as we can. An offer to work from home while making a full-time salary is enticing to many parents.
When you start going to more practices, wear your branded apparel and form relationships with the other parents. You’ll soon be able to determine who’s in your warm market and who’s firmly in the cold market.
19. Resume Mining
Resume mining is an easy way to find people who already have experience as network marketers.
To mine resumes, head to any number of resume mining sites like JobSpider and create a free account. Next, run a search with MLM. You might find it useful to run a few searches with keywords like “multi-level marketing” and “network marketing,” as well.
When you come across a promising resume, simply send a message through the website’s contact form, paste in your message, and wait for a reply.
20. Texting
Texting is an activity you can get your whole organization behind to collect new network marketing leads. It saves you time by not needing to get on a call and also has a higher response rate.
You should not blanket text everyone. Before texting, segment your leads database into a few categories like “has enrolled in a class,” “has downloaded a guide,” and “completely new leads.”
All New Ways to Find Network Marketing Leads
We bet you didn’t realize there were so many ways to find network marketing leads for free!
These methods vary in efficacy, but all can be at least relatively successful if you do them well.
All these lead generation activities can be done by just you, but they work even better if you get your whole organization involved.