(In)Complete List of the Many Forms of Web Marketing for 2008

Linda Buquet of 5 Star Affiliate Programs made a spot on post today about a significant error of omission by Jeremiah Owyang, a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research.

Her post, “Complete Web Marketing List Omits Affiliate Marketing,” points out how Mr. Owyang composed an exhaustive, but not exhaustive enough, list detailing “Forms of Web Marketing.”

A Complete List of the Many Forms of Web Marketing for 2008 and the 2007 version, which was one of the top viewed posts of 07, does not even feature affiliate marketing. SEO, SEM, Email Marketing, Contextual and every other type of online marketing is featured but not AM. The only time it’s mentioned, it’s lumped in with unrelated marketing methods under “branding”.

Last month, Shar VanBoskirk, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, sort of acknowledged affiliate marketing, but ultimately dismissed it.

Come to think of it, when is the last time Forrester Research really covered affiliate marketing? I remember a report from Jim Nail called New Affiliate Marketing Models back in the 20th century.

I’ve got to wonder what else Forrester folks are missing in their research if they’re blind to affiliate marketing.