I was clearing out some old books to give away yesterday when I came across “No Bad Dogs” by Barbara Woodhouse. The premise of the book is that there are no difficult dogs, only inexperienced owners.
I think the same theses could be applied to affiliate marketing.
There are no bad affiliate programs, but rather merchants and affiliate managers that go about things the wrong way.
In the years I have consulted on affiliate marketing and managed affiliate programs, I’ve spoken with countless companies that wanted all of the benefits without the costs from affiliate marketing.
The result with these sorts of merchants and their affiliate managers is a cycle of affiliate programs that are poorly managed and/or under staffed, and they often have non-competitive compensation, one-sided T&Cs, and insufficient resources.
Affiliate marketing isn’t for all companies. It’s for companies that are willing to invest in a long-term channel and the affiliates that power it.