New Affiliate Marketing Industry Organization

You may have wondered why there is no major industry organization to support affiliate marketing. I can tell you that many have tried this in the past and they have all failed for one reason or another. I have personally been involved in several attempts to build an Affiliate Industry Organization.

One or two recent attempts even had the backing of Performics, LinkShare, CJ, Affiliate Summit, and several large agencies and advertisers. Unfortunately, they all fizzled out before they had a chance to take off. Hopefully that will all change with the formation of a new group called the Performance Marketing Alliance or PMA.

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The group defines itself in these words:

The Performance Marketing Alliance is a new industry association for performance marketing professionals. The goal of the Performance Marketing Alliance is to raise the visibility and credibility of performance marketing.

Performance marketing is a comprehensive term that refers to online marketing programs where marketing partners are paid on the performance of their marketing programs. Stated another way, online merchants (also known as advertisers) pay their performance marketing partners (also known as affiliates or publishers) only when an action is completed, such as a sale or completion of a lead.

Performance marketing includes affiliate marketing, CPA (cost per action) marketing, search marketing, lead generation, and other types of performance based programs. Performance Marketing is one of the most effective and measurable forms of online marketing because merchants only pay marketing partners when a transaction is completed.

The intent is to officially launch the Performance Marketing Alliance in January 2009 as a self-sustaining non-profit organization supported by membership dues, managed by a full-time professional staff and directed by volunteer industry leaders voted on to a board of directors

It is important to note that this group is trying to go beyond the normal “Affiliate Marketing” classification in order to address larger issues facing pay-for-performance advertising.

I have had several conversations with the folks creating this group and I think they are on the right track to avoid the mistakes of past groups. Lets wish them luck.

The performance marketing industry desperately needs an organization to educate the online marketing community, promote best practices, condemn unscrupulous behavior, and promote performance marketing.

Some suggestions to help the PMA avoid the mistakes of the past:

Have a clear and well defined vision - know where you are going so that members can all strive towards a common goal

Focus on integrity and transparency - this should not be a secret order of performance marketers…transparency is the key to trust building

Avoid being too pro-affiliate - affiliate marketing has many benefits but it is not the right answer for all advertisers…recognize the pros AND the cons of affiliate marketing so that everyone can make informed decisions. If the group is viewed as being affiliate evangelists then their statements will be less value than if they are viewed to have a balanced outlook on the industry.

Quality vs Quantity - do not go out looking for tons of members by offering free membership because most of those folks will never add any value to the group. Focus on quality in order to ensure an active and committed membership base.

Two ways to do this are to have a formal membership application and review process as well as requiring membership dues. Anyone who doesn’t meet set criteria or who is not willing to pay a membership fee is probably not qualified or committed to the group.

Dedicate resources - many groups fail because they are run by volunteers only and not dedicated staff. we are all buys executives who may have good intentions but get pulled in many directions…

without a dedicated staff who will focus on this group it will almost certainly take the back seat to other pressing responsibilities and the group will suffer. Use member dues to fund this where appropriate.

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