Re: Are there contract guerilla marketers out there???

From: Marcia Yudkin <marcia_at_clickz.com>
Date: Sat 04 Mar 2000 07:49:32 -0500

PHILIP MAK WROTE:
> One site I recommend for people who aspire to become
> internet marketers is [snip].
> The owner of this site, [snip] gets over 4 million
> visitors to his websites yearly, and does 5.2 million
> dollars in sales online each year (yes, that is
> $5,200,000). Here it is:
>
> http://www.[snip].com/t.cgi/39469/ (I'd
> appreciate anyone who's interested in that site to copy
> the entire link without chopping off the affiliate
> number. :)

The above demonstrates beautifully the problem I have
with affiliate marketing. Mak is saying, in effect,
this is a great site, and by the way I make money if
you go there and buy something. To me, this
recommendation therefore has no credibility whatsoever.
His whole message gives me the creeps.

I have taken a serious look at the economics of
affiliate marketing. It's a solid money-making method,
and there's nothing dishonest about it, in most cases.
But I have decided not to have anything to do with it.
Why?

Word-of-mouth has kept my HarperCollins book, Freelance
Writing for Magazines & Newspapers, in print
continuously since 1988, and it's still usually among
the top 6,000 books on amazon.com even though it's out
of date. People recommend it because it helped them
launch their writing career, not because they make
money by recommending it. The same goes for my
consulting services. I feel strongly that paying
anyone to recommend or refer me would poison the good
will I have built up in the world, even if such
kickbacks (as I think of them) happened quietly.

If this sounds nutty to you, put yourself in the
position of the person receiving the recommendation:
If you were looking for an auto mechanic, would you
rather go to the one recommended by someone receiving a
referral fee after you become a customer, or the one
recommended by someone motivated only by having
received honest, skilled service for several years?

Likewise, I could probably rake in twice as much as I
do currently from my Web site by recommending marketing
resources that would pay me affiliate commissions, such
as merchant credit card programs, Web hosting
companies, etc., but I feel this would mean squandering
the trust people place in me. I've gone so far as to
state on my page of recommended resources that I accept
no referral or affiliate fees and have created my list
of suggested sites solely because I find them the best.

Money isn't everything. I may be less wealthy than the
"guru" Philip Mak wants to make money by recommending,
but I've got a reputation that was earned, not bought.
I apologize if this sounds holier-than-thou, but what
I'm expressing here is not a mere opinion. It's values
I live by.

Marcia Yudkin / marcia_at_yudkin.com
Publicity & Marketing Consultant
Author, Six Steps to Free Publicity and eight other books
Publisher, The Marketing Minute, a free marketing tip
by email every Wednesday
http://www.yudkin.com




Received on Sat Mar 04 2000 - 06:49:32 CST