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Consultants Can Fix Affiliate Marketing

June 20th, 2008 · Comments

Thanks for visiting the Affiliate Tip blog. Subscribe to my RSS feed or enter your e-mail on the top right to get updates by e-mail.

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 Rimm-Kaufman Group on Affiliate Marketing

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.

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Tags: Affiliate News · Affiliate Opinions

Viewing 4 Comments

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    THANK YOU SHAWN! Georges position has no objectivity and looks like he is taking advantage of his panel position to bring up the issue of the PPC marketing channel vs. affiliate marketing channel (go figure he has a ppc marketing firm) He also makes statements that have ZERO objectivity or any facts and data to back up his rant. which came out of both side of his mouth!

    HERE IS MY COMMENT BACK TO HIM:

    7.

    George
    We at MediaTrust are very familiar with and understand the issue at hand. Yes the affiliate industry has had issues with a percentage of affiliates who do not practice or adhere to ethical standards. But there is also the very large very legitimate side of affiliate marketing which has been referenced to in this interview with Patrick Byrne where he says how large and valuable Overstocks affiliate program is to there marketing and growth strategy http://www.relevantlyspeaking.com/2008/06/05/in...

    Its a shame that the panel discussion turned into a affiliate bashing and that the panel was not rounded out with affiliate marketing representation. It does not sound like it was a very objective panel. As is your post here where you apologize and then summarily bash and belittle the substantial $3billion in affiliate commissions as being mostly fraudulently created revenue with out any back up data to prove your statement. Especially when you say it provides no value. Please read the Overstock post and lets also ask why they and Amazon are spending money defending their affiliate program and affiliate partners.

    There are many more good people in this marketing vertical than bad. The industry has now formed the PMA http://www.performancemarketingalliance.com to set standards and govern the industry.It is important that all sides of the business participate in the PMA so that we can learn from their insights and provide better accountable service and standards. Aff marketing is not going away. So lets all work together to bring it to a level of excellence. negativity breeds negativity and it seems that everyone wants to create a better affiliate marketing channel.

    There are other companies like ours who work extremely hard to ensure quality and empower of advertising and affiliate partners with the best tools and information to achieve success by collaborating and creating long term partnerships.

    It is important that thought leaders be responsible in giving well rounded and objective sides of the 3billion plus story and work together with the community to find solutions.That 3 billion number is only commission. So we are talking about enormous gross transactional number that is driving much value to many of the world largest retailers.

    I hope you will help create proactive solutions by participating in the PMA. Please excuse me for the length of this post.It is a very important subject for us and our performance marketing industry.

    all the best

    Peter Bordes
    CEO
    MediaTrust
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    Awesome article!

    Its crazy how people automatically trash and talk bad on the whole affiliate marketing community. After they have a bad experience, we are all considered bad. hmph!
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    There is a conflict of interest when the bad mouthing comes from a PPC consulting group that uses this to promote their PPC services vs. affiliate marketing . Its very transparent when you read thru all his comments. VERY TRANSPARENT!. I don't think Amazon or Overstock would be spending money fighting the affiliate tax issue if they felt the same way. There is also zero data to back up his claims. Its unfortunate because both are very viable and valuable channels that coexist with each other and work together on behalf of their partner.

    leaders of panels need to maintain objectivity and present all side of the issue so solutions can be created thru a dialog.I find this behavior unethical and irresponsible towards the entire industry.
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    Great posting, Shawn. This is exactly the type of misinformation we need to combat.

    Peter hit the nail right on the head with his comment "There is a conflict of interest when the bad mouthing comes from a PPC consulting group that uses this to promote their PPC services vs. affiliate marketing ."
 

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