My point was just that it could be a liability for a prospective employee at some companies.

Affiliate marting certainly has it’s detractors, due to the behavior of some bad actors, but I don’t think it’s in the same league as MLM.

I think MLM, and I could be wrong for sure, is seen as something of a pejorative by plenty in the mainstream.

So much of it is semantic – many affiliate programs with 2 tiers probably don’t consider themselves to be engaged in MLM, but I would say they’re wrong.

While there are many in the world who do have negative connotations attached to MLM, unfortunately, the same can be said of affiliate marketers. There are many in the world of advertising (and outside) who consider “affiliate marketing” to be a dirty business filled with spammers and criminals. However, as both you and I know, affiliate marketing is clean or dirty based upon the marketer, not the business model. MLM and direct sales are no different.

MLM is a legitimate and proven successful business model over the long term. Globally, MLM and other forms of “direct selling,” were responsible for the sale of $109,180,000,000.00 ($109 Billion !!!) world wide in 2006. That’s up almost 10% since 2004, and it’s continuing to grow (http://www.dsa.org/pubs/numbers/#RETAILCOMPARE ). In 2006 alone, over 58,000,000.00 people were participating as sales people in direct sales.

In the 1950’s when companies like Midas Mufflers and McDonald’s realized they could grow ten times faster than conventional companies by offering “franchises,” it seemed like a great idea. Many companies jumped on the bandwagon, and there was phenomenal growth. Unfortunately, there were also definitely abuses of franchisees. The media jumped all over the stories of destitute families who lost their life savings through franchising “schemes.” Attorneys General from many states got involved, and at one point some U.S. Congressmen even tried to outlaw franchising. Yet the clean companies prevailed, and today, franchises are responsible for over 40% of the retail volume in the U.S. economy on an annual basis.

MLM and direct sales are looked down upon by some, but why would anyone want to ignore that market or pretend it doesn’t exist? As an agency and a network, we certainly don’t. We work with legitimate, mutli-million and in some cases billion dollar companies in the industry. They are members in good standing of the DMA, the DSA, the Better Business Bureau, etc., and they have been valuable clients of ours for many years.

To your commenter who was quoted at the beginning of this thread, we put out an invitation: give us a call. We understand and value your skills and experience, and we’d like to talk with you. We’re the leading provider of marketing services to the MLM industry, and we might have a home for you.

Best Regards,

Mark Meckler
General Counsel, COO
UniqueLeads.com, Inc.
561-491-2826 ext. 210

Why do you consider such experience to be an asset?