Using Craigslist for Network Marketing Leads
Getting leads is always an item of interest to network marketing home businesses. Network marketers are always pursing new ways to get quality leads. Craigslist is THE online classified site, of course. I have had at least some success with using CraigsList to get leads but there are a few things to be aware of when using this service for network marketing leads.
Local - First of all, everything in CraigsList starts with a local or geographical area. So with each ad, you'll only reach people in your area. For this reason, many network marketers overlook it because they want to reach a wider audience. But consider that you can make a more trusted approach to the prospect. At the very least, they can have a local number to call and they can know they are dealing with someone local, adding a slight edge to the 'trust issue'. Also, a local person who may be interested could present an opportunity to meet in person. You may live close enough to meet them at a Starbucks or someplace similar. Such a meeting could help tear down trust barriers.
Job Mentality - To list something in CraigsList, you also need to choose a category. There is no "opportunity" category. The closest thing are the jobs categories and I often have some good response using the "Sales / Biz Dev" category. Even with that, however, the people will tend to have a 'job' mentality. The ad should very clearly state that it's a business opportunity and not an offer of employment.
30 Day Run - CraigsList job ads have a 30 day run. In most places, you have to pay to run them, but it's usually very cheap compared to other classified advertising. For example, here in Seattle it's $25 for a 30 day run. The ads are listed in reverse chronological order - in other words, the newest ones are always listed at the top. As more ads are placed, your ad will move down the page. What this means is that you will get most of your responses in the first few days or first week of the ad. After it rolls off the main page, it will still be keyword searchable so remember to include those keywords in your ad title!
If you have a network marketing home based business and are looking for new, inexpensive ways to reach leads, give CraigsList a try!
