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A portion of digital acquisitions, new career moves, market expansions, and growth – all the latest direct selling news in one place. Stay tuned and never miss a beat!

Nu Skin Buys Mavely

Nu Skin has purchased a social commerce platform that leverages social shopping to convert everyday consumers into a social salesforce.

Betterware: Mexico’s New Direct Selling Giant

Betterware de Mexico is leveraging big data and its streamlined distribution center to become one of the most recognizable brands in Mexico and beyond.

Faberlic Launches Operations In United States

Europe-based Faberlic will now expand its market reach to the US. Currently, the company operates in 44 countries with more than 10 million customers and 100,000 distributors.

The DSA and WFDSA release philanthropy statistics

US direct selling companies large and small are providing relief and support to causes around the world to improve lives as well as the environment and the planet.

Executive Team Changes Announced at ASEA

Jarom Webb, Scott Alred, Dave Wall, and Ben Tyler have expanded their roles in the company.

More good reads for you

Direct Sellers – How Much Did They Earn Last Year?

The real picture from 8 of the major direct selling companies’ income disclosures for 2020.

How Lina Khan’s FTC Does Business – What We’ve Learned So Far

Former director of the Federal Trade Commission and now legal counsel Jessica Rich on what to expect of Lina Khan at the helm of the Agency.

Most Innovative Companies 2021

This list of the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies addresses a society remade by COVID-19.

The post Direct Sales Industry Roundup: The Top 5 Stories of November appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

October brought some tech innovations for top brands, the FTC’s Notice of Penalty Offenses, new Avon prices, and a well-deserved award for Doug DeVos. Stay tuned and never miss a beat!

The FTC Warned 1,100+ Companies, Impacting Direct Sellers

As a target of the campaign, a company could incur significant civil penalties—up to almost $44,000 per violation—if they or their representatives make claims about money-making opportunities that run counter to prior FTC administrative cases.

Mary Kay is Launching Mary Kay App

Brand lovers now can connect with their Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants and shop the latest products, create shareable wish lists, receive customized recommendations, and find detailed information on skincare, makeup tips, and more.

Former FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour Joins Tupperware Brands’ Board of Directors

Ms. Harbour joins the Tupperware Board after an impressive career in competition law, consumer protection, information privacy, and data security to help the corporation offer even more protection to its sales force and consumers.

Avon Pledges Price Cap Amid Supply Chain Crisis

“We made that commitment that we’re not going to price up, but to keep a fair value for all our products, to not pass on as much as possible and to mitigate,” Chief Executive Angela Cretu said. “I’m keen not to put this global turmoil on consumer’s shoulders.”

Amway’s Doug DeVos Honored with WFDSA Lifetime Achievement Award

“What an amazing lifetime achievement for Doug! He is a guru for me, and a whole generation of leaders across Amway and across the entire direct selling industry,” said Amway CEO Milind Pant.

More good reads for you

So You Received a Notice of Penalty Offenses, Now What?

An attorney at Thompson Burton PLLC explains what it means to be on the latest FTC list. Read the legal opinion on compliance matters for direct selling companies.

Creating a Meaningful Corporate Purpose

5 considerations that are critical for defining a powerful corporate purpose and for inspiring discouraged and anxious employees.

Beauty for Good

The fascinating story of JAFRA Independent Beauty Consultant Hannah Wachter giving back to her local community and partnering with other consultants to help women in need.

The post Direct Sales Industry Roundup: The Top 5 Stories of October appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

October 31, 2021 – November 2, 2021 

New Orleans, LA

The PromoRepublic team is taking part in the upcoming DSA ENGAGE 2021: Annual Meeting that is gathering leading marketers from the most renowned direct selling companies. 

We are excited to finally meet marketing and direct sales leaders in person, give a shout out to the industry’s record growth, and, of course, present the best-in-class social selling app for the smooth distribution of on-brand content.  

We’ll also be happy to zoom into the latest trends and witness how digitalization has helped direct selling companies stay afloat and even increase sales and recruitment despite the pandemic.  We can’t wait to dig deeper into the untapped challenges that industry leaders will point to during the conference and polish our product accordingly.

Head over to DSA ENGAGE 2021 to meet our team in person and take part in the iPad giveaway!

About DSA ENGAGE 2021: Annual Meeting

DSA ENGAGE is the top priority event for direct sales marketers that aims to celebrate and enhance the achievements in the industry and help companies unlock greater potential for distributors and customers. 

This year’s focus is ‘Moving Forward Together to Better’. Speakers from industry-leading companies such as Amway, Mannatech, Mary Kay, Herbalife Nutrition, and Young Living, among others, will discuss their business opportunities during roundtable sessions and enjoy the solutions offered at the expo.

The post Join PromoRepublic at the DSA ENGAGE 2021: Annual Meeting appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

What’s Inside

Newcomer to direct selling industry, revolutionary digital platform, entrepreneurship contest, growth strategies from leading brands, and new executives with some expert analytics on top of that. Stay tuned and never miss a beat!

L’Occitane en Provence Enters Direct Selling Channel with MyL’Occitane

To expand its omnichannel brand, L’Occitane en Provence unveiled its new social selling platform, MyL’Occitane that will provide the company’s community with the opportunity to become entrepreneurs. This is the first time in the company’s history that the L’Occitane name brand will be an active member of the direct selling channel.

Pampered Chef Launches Virtual Kitchen Experience

To meet the rapidly growing demand for virtual experiences, Pampered Chef has launched Table, a wholly-owned digital platform that enables its consultants to host customized and personalized virtual cooking parties that deliver value-added content designed to improve a consumer’s mealtime journey. 

Canada DSA and DSEF Initiate Canadian Academic Entrepreneur Challenge

It is a contest that celebrates innovative thinking, with the goals of promoting entrepreneurship amongst young Canadians, providing an introduction to the direct-to-consumer and direct selling channels, and building relationships between academia and industry.

Herbalife Nutrition Shares Growth Strategies

Over the past four quarters, the U.S. generated approximately 3.4 million new customers, and Herbalife believes there is a huge opportunity to drive top-line growth by improving customer activity and retention rates by focusing on key strategies including new product innovation, nutrition club expansion, digital transformation, and efforts to enhance trust in the brand.

L’Occitane Group Welcomes New CEO

L’Occitane Group announced André J. Hoffman will succeed Reinold Geiger as Chief Executive Officer. Geiger, who has led the company for more than two decades, will now serve as chairman of the board and executive director. Hoffman will continue in his role as vice-chairman of the board and an executive director.

A more good read for you.

The Truth About Your Top Leaders

In a direct sales company that’s 15 years old or older, your current top leaders can’t be the source of your future growth. Why? Brett Duncan, who helps direct selling companies transition into the new era of direct selling – explains it thoroughly.

5 Tips to Improve Productivity and Retention

The average employee is only productive for 2 hours and 53 minutes per day. Daryl Wurzbacher, CEO of ByDesign Technologies with 20+ years of experience in the direct selling industry shares insights on how they prevent interruptions to boost productivity and increase collaboration inside the team.

The post Direct Sales Industry Roundup: The Top 5 Stories of September appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Core Mission

Our app was honored by an international jury of creative directors, strategists, and innovators for its convenient and sleek UX design. This recognition is weighty for the entire R&D team as this app interface reflects our company’s mission to empower brands on social. 

We know that design is one of the top reasons people decide whether to use an app or not. A clear and friendly layout draws users and retains them in the long run, boosting their corporate brands’ online promotion. The growing number of our app’s active users is the reason for direct selling brands’ growth on social. 

The Research

Before starting the design process, our product experts studied the field’s challenges and potential users’ day-to-day needs. It turns out, being effective on social media isn’t an easy task, especially for older demographics. More than half of direct sellers are aged 45+, with baby boomers making up 25% of them. We created this app to fit all levels of their tech-savviness, keeping in mind the specific goal of selling products and services with minimum effort. Users can automate their posting while staying on-brand for greater credibility and trust on social media. Our app is the one-stop source for all branded content, company news, training, and results.

Market Background

The steady rise of social media is giving us wings. As more than half of the world’s population is on social media in 2021, brands with distributed workforces have been among the first to go along with the new marketing rules and strategies.

To empower these brands for success on social, we developed a robust yet easy-to-use technology to arm their distributed workforces. This innovation can help companies reach even larger audiences while their representatives become skilled in social media marketing and build meaningful connections with their customers online. 

“Deep industry knowledge and market research gave our product team an understanding of what matters first to our target demographics. So our purpose was to provide a seamless and consistent brand experience for experienced distributors moving online with the latest buyer trends and direct sales newcomers. I’m happy that our concept got its recognition” – said Anastasia Shkoldina, Lead Product Designer of PromoRepublic R&D team.

About MUSE Creative Awards

MUSE Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals who inspire others to greater heights. With their concepts, ideas, or designs, these creatives light a fire in others to strive further, thus becoming a muse.

The post PromoRepublic’s Social Selling App Won the Gold at MUSE Creative Awards appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Social selling helps direct sellers be more prolific.

According to the Direct Selling Association (DSA), 89% of direct sellers use social media, while 46% of Americans would welcome contact from direct sellers regarding business opportunities on social media.

But social media, like any other marketing communication, is subject to the principles that protect consumers against fraudulent advertising and claims. So this growing sales channel has its regulators, rules, and penalties that are designed to make companies and their distributors tell the truth about their products and services.

One of the greatest challenges for direct selling companies is ensuring that all representations comply with legal and brand standards. When companies don’t have social media guidelines or a means of controlling their message they are walking on a minefield, and they may end up in federal court.

Misleading claims draw the FTC’s attention.

Leading direct sales brands have already provided their distributors with social selling tools as part of their enablement strategy. But few of them predicted the blast of misleading earnings and product claims published on social pages after the pandemic started.

Salespeople are excellent psychologists and they understood peoples’ fears about surviving the COVID infection and preserving their financial stability. The majority of misleading statements have arisen from this fertile soil.

This behavior is considered illegal and is now attracting the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) attention more than ever. A single FTC contact can shake a brand’s reputation, causing a drop in new enrollments and sales. To secure their online images and good names, direct selling brands should set up rules of conduct on social media, educate distributors, and identify high-risk claims.

Below you will find a step-by-step framework to implement at your company.

7 steps to a social selling compliance strategy.

After having been contacted by the FTC in 2020, many marketers are reinforcing or updating their company’s empowerment strategy by adding compliance components to their core framework. Where to start, what to avoid, and how to train distributors? This is what your new modern approach may look like.

1. Review the Basics for Your Distributors’ Social Selling

The mission and values of your brand form the foundation that keeps the right distributors and customers with you. For this reason before updating your content enablement strategy and compliance policy, first make sure the whole team is on the same page, aligned with your brand’s core basics.

• Brand vision, mission, values. To engage with both independent entrepreneurs and customers, it’s important for direct selling companies to be authentic, share their values, constantly foster trusting relationships, and show how their products change lives. 
• Key audience. Make sure you pay attention to both of your audiences: distributors and consumers. Revise your strategy to cover the needs of both worlds. 
• Reasons to believe. Make sure all your latest research, testimonials, and proven results are available for new and existing distributors. They’re the first circle of believers who will pass their knowledge and passion for the product on to their customers. 
• The tone of voice. Be sure your guidelines are consistent across your entire network, including all social media channels.

2. Simplify Content Enablement

Marketing teams might assume a content strategy for distributors is a nice-to-have, but not entirely necessary early on. However, producing high-quality content can help direct selling companies build trust with new audiences and ultimately gain engagement with self-service buyers.

• Build a content strategy. HQ should build a plan for field empowerment based on a constant supply of different types of content (promotional, educational, lifestyle). Ensure content is easily accessible, filtered, saved, and scheduled. 
• Set up a dedicated team. Build your own or hire an external team to be responsible for creating and distributing content. This team should also define the cadence of content updates depending on your company’s goals and resources.
• Encourage distributors to post lifestyle content. Lifestyle content is essential for your distributors’ credibility and their personal brands. It adds authenticity to their social image, making their interactions meaningful. When your salespeople are authentic, they create emotional connections that last longer.
• Track content usage and top-performing content. Measure how often certain content is used by distributors and adjust your investment and production accordingly.

3. Encourage Distributors to Be Authentic On Social

Authenticity on social media is an effective way to cut through all the endless content “noise” and have meaningful interactions with consumers. The more active and authentic your company’s distributors are, the wider your online visibility gets.

• Encourage your distributors’ authenticity. The secret of direct selling success isn’t selling. It’s all about building relationships intentionally and being real. These commandments should be burned into every distributor’s memory: care, don’t jump to a sale, wait for the right time – and get better results in the long run. 

• Educate about personal branding. Authenticity is impossible without building distributors’ personal brands. HQ should explain, motivate, and train them on developing it. 
• Provide tools. Give them user-friendly software that automates routine tasks and takes the load off so they can spend less time on administrivia. Let them focus on their passion – building relationships and selling.
• Don’t limit them more than federal law does. Allow distributors to add some personal touches to branded content. Customization options and permissions can be set up by HQ according to your brand‘s policies.

4. Set Up a Compliance Policy

Social media compliance means following the rules when engaging with the public via social media. The “rules” are a mix of industry regulations, federal and state laws, and company guidelines. The basic principle of consumer protection and compliance is to tell the truth.

• Establish clear rules of conduct. Representations – by direct selling companies and their distributors – must be non-misleading and substantiated. 

• Use compliance tracking software. The FTC has cautioned direct selling companies that they are obliged not only to instruct their participants but also to monitor their participants so their representations are truthful. Intelligent software is able to filter keywords at the pre-approval stage as well as monitor networks for illegal content to minimize future manual searches.
• Don’t tolerate violations. There must be no tolerance for improper ‘before and after’ photos, product testimonials, income, compensation, or lifestyle claims. Any such activity requires immediate compliance action. Distributors must know and comply with the product and opportunity guidelines.
• Craft a crisis plan. Acting fast is important. With a proactive and detailed strategy in place, the vast majority of your distributors’ social media posts will be distributed without compromising compliance status. If there is a violation, always communicate bad news to stakeholders so they act accordingly and don’t make things even worse with inappropriate announcements.

For More on How to Make Distributors Authentic Yet Compliant on Social Media watch the webinar with Kellye Drye lawyer John Villafranco.

5. Train Your Distributors

Companies should never expect their salespeople to be social media wizards and immediately know what to do. Training should be delivered via multiple approaches, such as newsletters, videos, live events, etc.  Solid education creates an expectation in the field and leads to a more professional sales culture.

• Be an example of social media authenticity. 86% of consumers say authenticity affects their brand support. People want open and honest communications about products and services. That means brands should focus on their values, create emotional connections, and have clear, consistent messages to attract and retain new distributors. As a result, your salespeople will recreate this pattern in their businesses. 
• Explain the value of social media marketing. Older social media users may not be tech-savvy or aware of the possibilities of social media for their businesses. Give them a hand with this learning curve and motivate them with success stories.
• Run webinars about how to succeed on social. Webinars are practical and easily digestible content regularly created by the marketing team (in-house or outsourced), covering the specific needs of all of your distributors and their teams. Schedule them with a fixed cadence and announce upcoming events across your channels of communication.
• Include compliance rules in onboarding. Provide your new distributors with marketing materials enriched with compliance checklists. Meaningful just-in-time learning has been proven to deliver better training outcomes. It’s better to prevent a crisis than to have to rescue your company’s reputation.

6. Get Feedback From the Field

Responding to feedback is an important part of your distributors’ success and scaling processes. It helps improve services and products, determines customer satisfaction, and unifies your distributors through a common idea.

• Create a community and connect distributors. Uniting distributors in a common casual environment helps you understand them better. It’s important not only to create a community but also to lead and manage it. Spark conversations by asking questions and posting comments.
• Share company news. Sharing company updates and research gives distributors more insights into brand values, initiatives, achievements, and differentiation. Altogether, this helps distributors communicate brand-approved information.  
• Encourage sharing of posts and results. Use psychological tactics and add some competition to distributors’ teams. When they see their team leaders flourishing, distributors might get motivated and want to follow in their footsteps.
• Feedback loops. Ask – collect – analyze – improve your HQ/distributor’s future operations by using positive and negative feedback from the field.

7. Use Technology to Post Securely and Lower Risks

A smart marketing platform, combined with proper compliance training, can protect direct selling companies from regulatory issues. Such a system won’t let users post text containing specific words.  It’ll analyze performance data to see which distributor does what at any given point in time, where they struggle, what they do wrong, etc.

Ensure that it is:

• Easy and fast to roll-out
• Enforced with automated compliance
• Mobile-friendly
• Backed with cross-network reporting
• Supported by onboarding and training

Book a demo to learn how PromoRepublic can secure and amplify your brand on social.

Takeaways: 

• Direct sales companies are uniquely positioned to serve more people than ever before with their remote working environments and social orientation.
• Marketing leaders should empower distributors to be authentic, but set boundaries, control social media activities, and apply sanctions.
• Be aware of the FTC’s willingness to go to court for non-compliant messaging. Distributors who are unaware of the FTC’s rules and regulations can go too far with their authentic content and may damage your brand’s reputation.
• 2022 is the year to focus on training your distributors on digital marketing and compliance while supporting their personal growth.

The post Meet the FTC – or Else Make Your Distributors’ Social Selling Compliant. Here’s how. appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Social media usage is at an all-time high, with 57% of all internet users active on at least one social platform. As social media’s influence continues to increase, American social commerce is projected to reach $79.6 billion in 2025.

Social commerce has transformed social media into a full-scale marketplace where people come for brand research, reviews, shopping, and more. Using intelligent technology in e-commerce can improve targeting, boost average order value, enhance customer experience, and build deeper trust.

Progressive direct sales companies invest in marketing and e-commerce technologies to train and enable their distributors. This amplifies distributors’ social selling and boosts their sales results.

When a direct selling company implements PromoRepublic on top of the DirectScale platform, it amplifies its intended brand voice on social media and enables it to sell more on its custom product pages. The brand’s reputation is safeguarded because each message is checked for compliance before it’s posted, which makes it one of the best MLM software.

How they work together:

PromoRepublic’s social selling app helps HQs distribute branded content and stay confident that every post is auto-monitored for compliance. At the same time, our app simplifies distributors’ social media marketing efforts, like generating buzz and joining promotional campaigns, by providing corporate-approved messages that are ready for distributors to post on any social platform.

Max Pecherskiy, CEO at PromoRepublic:

“To prosper, direct selling companies need distributors who are aware of industry ethics and equipped with the latest tools for personal online marketing. DirectScale, with its configurable management tools, allows distributors to accomplish full-cycle in marketing and sales.”

Watch how PromoRepublic’s social selling platform works:

DirectScale helps you run, know, and grow your direct selling business by providing actionable data-led insights in several areas that help you make the right decisions to increase revenue month to month. It simplifies corporate management with editable commission modeling and unmatched flexibility that allows you to customize almost every part of the platform on your own without even informing DirectScale how you’re customizing it. This includes your e-commerce stores, the distributors’ back office, promotions, product availability, even your compensation plan, and so much more. You can do all this and more without involving DirectScale. Its web portal features include training, tracking stats, data analysis, unmatched communications, prospecting tools, remarketing, shopping cart recovery, and robust reporting with more than 50 built-in reports.

Rodger Smith, CEO at DirectScale:

“We’re very excited about gaining PromoRepublic as a valued DirectScale partner because that solution gives our clients a powerful way to control what information is being shared with their customers. It brings powerful simplicity to our platform, which enables every seller to share corporate-approved collateral through social media with all their potential buyers. By implementing PromoRepublic, our clients are assured that their customers are getting the correct information.”

Implemented collectively, this marketing stack helps both direct selling brands and their distributors leverage unmatched e-commerce functionality for growing online sales and amplifying the influence delivered through corporate-approved social media interactions with customers.

Book a demo and learn more about PromoRepublic.

To learn more about DirectScale or to schedule a demo, visit directscale.com.

PromoRepublic has previously announced an updated product set for confident partner marketing on social.

The post PromoRepublic Partners With DirectScale to Ensure Distributors Remain Compliant on Social Media appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.

Amway Global Appointed a New CMO

The # 1 direct selling brand has hired François Renard for the role of Chief Marketing Officer. Renard switched from Renault Group and will be developing brands, products, and digital experiences, inspire loyalty, and empower Amway Business Owners. Excited to see Amway’s future achievements!

2020 Direct Selling Business Report from WFDSA

The World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA) published its 2020 report on direct selling’s global sales. Cosmetics and wellness products together account for more than 62% of category sales, and overall sales results totaled $179.3 billion.

Q & A with Natura & Co and Avon CEOs

J.P. Ferreira and Angela Cretu were interviewed about changes after the acquisition in 2020, addressing pandemic challenges, and managing the world’s fourth-largest beauty company. Don’t miss out!

Rodan + Fields Welcomes New Executives

As part of a “renewed commitment to double down” on its roots as a direct seller, the company hired Laura Beitler as Chief Global Sales Officer (CGSO) and Elana Gold as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Both have 20+ years of industry experience and are planning to change more lives together.

Canada’s Direct Selling Is Growing

The number of Canadians signed up as independent sales consultants rose to 1.39 million, up 20% over 2019. Discover more positive statistics from the President of the Direct Sellers Association of Canada.

Recommended Reading

1. Gordon Hester on how compensation plans correlate with culture. Read the article.
2. A research-backed approach to communicating a price increase. Read the article in Harvard Business Review.

The post Direct Sales Industry Roundup: The Top 5 Stories of August appeared first on PromoRepublic Blog | Insights for Franchise & Multi-Location Marketers.