This article will cover CO-OP Ads for network marketers. If you are serious about growing your MLM Business and you already have a downline in place, you should consider using CO-OP ads for your team.
A CO-OP Ad is when two or more network marketers pool their money together for advertising. Simply put, they leverage their money to get the most bang for their buck, rather than each person trying to do everything themselves. Each person contributes a set amount of money to the CO-OP and one person takes charge of the advertising for the group. Here is a hypothetical example.
Jim sponsored Alice and Ryan. Jim is very good at marketing and advertising while Alice and Ryan do not know what they are doing. All three individuals contribute $100 toward the CO-OP.
Jim takes his $100 plus the $200 from Alice and Ryan and publishes an ad in a national magazine. The ad generates 30 leads. Jim splits the 30 leads up equally between the three of them. In this example, each person would get 10 leads.
Some CO-OP Ads are much bigger. In fact, some CO-OP Ads have hundreds of distributors contributing money to it. This creates huge momentum in an organization when this happens.
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Ways to Run a MLM CO-OP Ad
You really have three different ways you can run a MLM Co-Op Ad. You can provide leads, rotate links, or guarantee new reps placed on their team.
For example, let’s say you sell 10 shares in your Co-Op, each for $20. Your $200 in advertising generates 100 leads. As a result, each person in the Co-Op gets 10 leads.
Another thing you can do is use a URL rotator. If ten people are in the Co-Op, their links would be input in a URL rotator. Your ads would promote the main link, the one of the rotator. Each URL entered into the rotator would be shown, one at a time. After all ten URLs were displayed one time, the URL rotator would continue through the links in chronological order.
The third and final way to do a MLM CO-OP ad, that I know of anyway, is you could guarantee each person a new distributor placed on their team. You would run the Co-Op, manage all the leads, close the leads and place the new reps on the team of each person participating in the Co-Op. This is how I normally run my own Co-Ops, although most people in our industry do not do it this way.
Places to Advertise a MLM CO-OP
Here are a few places to advertise a MLM CO-OP:
- Ezines
- Solo Ads
- Pay Per Click
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Google Adwords
- Facebook Sponsored Posts
- Direct Mail
- Voice Broadcast
- Banner Ads
- Drop Cards
- Postcards
Co-Op Ads for Network Marketers: Success Tips
Here are a few of my best tips for MLM CO-OP Ads:
# 1 Put Someone in Charge Who Knows What They Are Doing:
Make sure that the person in charge of the CO-OP knows what they are doing and has proven experience with advertising and marketing, both online and offline. The last thing you want to do is give money to someone who is clueless.
# 2 Be Honest and Share the Leads as Promised:
If you are in charge of a CO-OP do not cheat the people who contributed money to the CO-OP. Make sure that you share the leads as promised. As a distributor, don’t put money into a CO-OP if you don’t trust the person running it.
# 3 Have Checks and Balances:
It might be in your best interest to have two or more people oversee the CO-OP so there are checks and balances and there is no “perceived” notion that someone is cheating someone else.
# 4 Get Maximum Participation:
If you have a large team of distributors, try to get maximum participation in the CO-OP. If you can find 10 or more people to contribute to the CO-OP, you can do some very powerful and effective advertising online or offline.
# 5 Don’t Spend More Than You Can Afford:
Be smart about how you spend money in your business. Be a good steward of your own money. Never use your food or rent money for your MLM Business, especially for a CO-OP Ad. Never spend more than you can afford to lose.
# 6 Start Small and Test:
This might just be my best tip on this list. If you find a CO-OP you would like to try, buy the minimum amount possible the first time around. See what type of results you get and what your ROI is before you decide to fork over a lot of your hard-earned money.
# 7 Have Your Own CO-OP for Your Own Team:
If your sponsor isn’t offering any type of CO-OP then you should consider creating your own. Even if you just have a small team, and can only find two or three people to participate, you should try it.
# 8 Have Realistic Expectations:
Whatever you do, don’t think that by spending $100 to $200 on a CO-OP, you will have a bunch of people join your team. In most cases, you will lose money. Hope for the best, but be realistic. Most CO-OPs only give you leads. It’s still your job to have good phone skills and presentation skills so you can close these leads. If you are lacking in these areas you are really wasting your time and money in the first place.
# 9 The Follow Up:
The follow-up is very important. In fact, the fortune is in the follow-up. Don’t expect to just call your new leads one time and then have them join your team. Most people need seven to twenty follow ups before they make the decision to buy or join. Build a list with your new leads. Send them information by email, mail and phone. Don’t pressure or bug them, but have a good follow-up system in place that stays in touch with each lead at least once or twice a month for at least one year.
Final Thoughts
The bottom line is that CO-OP Ads can be a great way to advertise a network marketing business, especially for new distributors with no marketing or sales experience. If you have a team, it would be in your best interest to contact everyone and schedule your own CO-OP Ads. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this yourself, contact someone in your upline and see if they will help you get started.
In addition, make sure you take the time to train your team members on proper phone skills and scripts. Each team member needs to know what to say to their leads, to be able to answer questions and overcome objections. This part is normally the missing ingredient.
I should also chime in and tell you that nothing will ever beat face to face prospecting. Normally, the leads you get through a CO-OP ad are crappy compared to people you meet in everyday life. Just food for thought.
What are your thoughts? What type of results have you gotten with your MLM CO-OP ads? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Chuck Holmes
Network Marketing Professional (21+ years)
Top Recruiter & Top Rep
mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
I think the usage of co-op ads sounds like a great advertising tool for network marketing. I had no idea that it was so common either. I do agree with the previous comments about starting out and testing a few and not just going all out and quitting if it doesn’t work. I also completely agree that if you don’t do the ads yourself, someone on board, or whoever you hire to do the advertising, should most definitely know what they are dong!
Great post!
Yes, they can work, but it’s definitely not for everyone. Doing a COOP takes patience and you have to really trust the person running it not to screw anyone over.
I also wanted to mention that your tip on starting small and testing is very wise. Some network marketers go all in on one ad, and when it doesn’t get the results they were hoping for, they quit. Sometimes just having a different color, or slightly different text can make a huge difference in advertisements. It pays to run an ad for a short time and study the results. Try another version and test those results. This is how large corporations do so well with advertising…they test and test.
Yes, it definitely makes sense to split test your ads and keep it out there for multiple exposures. Doing any ad just one time won’t cut the mustard.
This is a great idea. I have seen insurance agents who have separate offices but sell for the same company do this, but did not know the term for it. Now I do. It seems like such a smart idea. Not only does it make advertising more financially manageable, but when different distributors pull together for a common advertisement, it sends a message that the company is strong, unified, and has a large workforce. Not a bad idea at all.
COOP ads are very common, especially in the real estate and insurance world.
CO-OP ads sound like a great idea. The main thing is to have a good set of checks and balances. Even if it is not happening, some people are very good at working up conspiracies in their mind. Having a trustworthy person keeping charge of giving the leads out in a fair way is very important.
I would also like to mention two other lead generation sources that may be great for CO-OP ads. Facebook is a good place to advertise, and also the tried and true Google Adwords.
You can get a lot of ad placement if several people are pooling their money.