How do you create a good marketing plan for yourself that will lead to success in SFI?

With SFI there are endless items to market and they are handled only slightly different than the business opportunity side of things in that with products you identify your existing audience and pair products up with their interest, and with the business opportunity you know the product but need to identify who needs it and what will get the offer in front of them. 

Either way you have to understand the customer before any advertising or marketing is done. 

You need to know their interest. 

You need to know their needs. 

You need to know their willingness to take action. 

You need to know what kind of messages are getting results with them. 

You need to know demographics like Age, Location, Sex, and Current Income. 

This data allows you to target your advertising so it generates the maximum number of leads for your marketing efforts. 

Now you need a place for the prospective customer or member to land. I recommend a blog based website hosted on your own domain because the URLs look more professional, they don't get the scam reputation of free host, and you have more freedom in the content you make public. You can easily use Wordpress to add a lot of cool functions to your site to help keep the visitor's attention and get them to opt into your mailing list. 

You need a mailing list and to generate a free report of obtain a software or other gift that will help you convert traffic into leads and then leads into customers or members. On average a person must see an offer 7-9 times before they decide to take action or write it off as uninteresting. They only way you can increase your odds of being the 7th to 9th person showing them SFI when they join is by sending them messages with more information to make a informed choice about SFI with and a fresh Link so they always have your cookie in their browser when visiting SFI. 

Once you have Marketed SFI to the prospect you need to have a follow up plan. 

With TripleClicks they handle the re-marketing and promotions to your Personally Referred Members and ECA who are not SFI Affiliates. PSA however often join to get more in depth information and first hand experience with the site and while your sales funnel will have increased their odds of being active and successful you still need to guide them on how to get started and how to maximize their time for the greatest results. 

You will need to continually through your team mail send them updates, and more information about the features in SFI and TripleClicks, and motivational or inspirational content to keep them moving forward during those tough times at the beginning of their home business. 

Above all when choosing the members you wish to promote the SFI Affiliate Program to, don't limit yourself to people just like you unless you are college educated, experienced in marketing or marketing online, and have an income over $35,000 a year already and are just looking for added income or to put your skills to work for you. 

In short, aim for the affiliate you would like to have as a referral instead of aiming for the largest group of people which are the ones flat broke with poor education, and little to no experience that would apply to starting a business. You will thank me later when you see more Fast Track members setting up a standing order in their first month and building mega teams using co-ops and paid advertising. 

How important is it to have a good sponsor and co-sponsor?

I think it is an advantage to have a good sponsor and co-sponsor, but it is not a must-have for anyone who is determined to succeed. 

In my opinion, having a good sponsor and/or co-sponsor is mostly important in the beginning, when the affiliate has just joined SFI and is being confused, not knowing what to do or where to start. This is where good guidance has the biggest importance. However, if for any reason the affiliate cannot establish contact with their sponsor/co-sponsor they should try to contact other members of their upline. You can find your upline members by visiting this link: https://www.sfimg.com/MyAccount/upline free to join 

Other than seeking support from your upline, you can also visit the Forum and find what you are looking for by browsing Categories and Threads. If you cannot find what you are searching for you can always start your own thread and other SFI affiliates will do their best to help you. You can even post a question to SFI Founder and President, Mr Gery Carson by starting a thread in the "Ask Gery" category in the Forum. If you are not very comfortable with using English, you can also browse posts, or post your own question using your mother tongue in your country and/or your region category, also located in the Forum. 

Another enormous knowledge database is also right here; in the ASK SC. Browse the questions asked by other affiliates and see the top rated answers. You can also bookmark the answers you particularly like or see as useful, so you can find them and review them easily later. If you can't find the question you need an answer too, you can post it here and have other affiliates answer it. 

If it still doesn't feel enough to replace the support of a sponsor/co-sponsor you can also find tons of useful information by visiting Training Center: https://www.sfimg.com/Training/ 

and checking and reading all the valuable resources we have there. 

So, my point is that is nice to have a good sponsor and co-sponsor. It can be very useful for your business and help you advance faster. But it is not such a big deal if you don't have a support from your sponsor or co-sponsor. You can be very successful even without that support. SFI has provided us with so many sources of information and so many learning materials, that the only things you need to succeed are your own will and determination. It might be harder to go forward without a sponsor and your progress might be slower, but eventually you might realize that you have gone farther than many affiliates that had all the support and help from their sponsor or co-sponsor. Having a good sponsor/co-sponsor is not a guarantee for success, just like not having them is not a guarantee you will fail. Your sponsor's and co-sponsors attitude towards you and their business does matter and does make a difference, but what matters the most is your own attitude. Stay focused, stay determined, work hard and be persistent. If your sponsor and co-sponsor are not there to appreciate that, it's their own loss.