Consultants Can Fix Affiliate Marketing

Are affiliates a bunch of scumbags? That was the characterization of affiliates during a panel at the recent Internet Retailer 2008 Conference, according to a blog post today from Linda Buquet at 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Blogs.

Around 400 merchants attended a session that was essentially “a 90 minute rant about what scum-bags affiliates are.” (See more choice quotes from the IRCE below) I haven’t seen any other AM blogs talk about this and almost decided not to share any more negativity. But sometimes we need to talk about these things if we ever hope to influence change and clean up our industry.

We all know that some rogue affiliates give our entire industry a really bad reputation and many people either misunderstand affiliate marketing or stereotype us all as “Scum-bag Cheaters.”

Scot Wingo, CEO of ChannelAdvisor, live blogged the session, “Affiliate marketing: Why you can’t set it and forget it,” where he mentions “one of the panelists likened finding your ‘good affiliates’ like trying to find the good guys in prison.”

Panelist George Michie posted to the corporate blog for Rimm-Kaufman Group posted “IRCE Affiliate Rant: Did I go too far?” last week to clarify his statements during the panel.

What started out as a contrite explanation turned into a new broadside. I’m not familiar with Mr. Michie, but I get the impression he is skilled as speaking with a forked tongue.

Finally, I implied in my talk that most affiliates were “bad guys”. That was wrong. I apologize to those I offended. However, I do believe that the vast majority of the $3 Billion in affiliate commissions that will be paid out this year will go to cheaters, and other programs that add no value for retailers.

The basis for this statement? None, he just believes it.

And what else does George Michie of the Rimm-Kaufman Group believe about affiliate marketing?

Just take a look at this earlier description of the session, which is still up on the Rimm-Kaufman Group site, when it was called, “Affiliate Marketing: Far More Dangerous Than You Think,” and Michie touts that he “has been (and remains today) highly critical of the affiliate channel”.

The title and description changed, but the soapbox remained the same.

So much for objectivity.

There is a good discussion on ABestWeb where affiliates share their thoughts on the operations of the affiliate programs represented on the panel.