As some of you industry veterans know, this is not the first time a performance marketing industry association was attempted. There have actually been many attempts over the years, and despite the best intentions and a lot of effort, they have failed for various reasons. We have taken many of these experiences to heart and have learned some things that we’re applying to this effort.

All-volunteer efforts haven’t worked

Several early attempts were led by part-time volunteer efforts. As most of you have probably experienced, when you volunteer for something that isn’t saving lives, it drops to bottom of the priority list when other pressing, income-related issues fill your time. When things start to get heated, like when there’s disagreement on plans or issues, volunteers often tend to give up rather than fight. So while there may be a lot of interest in the beginning, it can fizzle out fast.

The ability for an association to make an impact in areas like lobbying for legislation changes or getting visibility through press, often requires skills outside the membership community. It therefore requires the contracting of professionals in these areas, which thus requires funding to support. An all-volunteer organization can’t generally support all needed areas.

Individual attempts haven’t worked

In the past, some individuals within the industry attempted to form associations on their own. While this is a fantastic demonstration of dedication and fondness of the industry, there are many types of professions involved in this industry, and focusing on too small a group can make other groups feel left out. Despite well intentioned efforts, these earlier attempts didn’t gain enough broad-based support and involvement for them to succeed.

Piggy-backing hasn’t worked

A few years ago Performics and Commission Junction partnered up to propose to the Interactive Advertising Board (IAB) that an affiliate marketing arm be formed. There was one little problem: minimum dues required by the IAB was $5,000 per year per person. We are an industry made up of thousands and thousands of professionals who wouldn’t be interested or able to pay that kind of membership due.

‘Just because it seems like a good idea’ hasn’t worked

In the past there hasn’t been much agreement on what a performance marketing industry association should be about. Should it set policy? Should it set standards? Should it be for networking? Then there’s been the problem of the wide variety of business models and sizes of organizations in this industry. Could the very large multi-billion dollar merchant come to an agreement with an entrepreneurial affiliate? Would all the people in this industry who compete with each other fear that any involvement might reduce their competitive positions?

This industry has faced a number of issues lately where it became clear that we all suffer from the lack of a clear, united voice. Tax legislation passed in New York state and a derogatory article in a mainstream business magazine are two recent examples where the lack of unity and information can have dire consequences for performance marketing.

Corporate sponsorship doesn’t work

We have learned this from other types of industry associations. There are a couple of problems when relying solely on large corporate sponsors to fund an industry association. First, this puts all the decision making power into the hands of the corporate sponsors, so the best interests of the entire community may not be adequately represented. Second, if a corporate sponsor decides to leave, it is highly likely that a very large percentage of the association income leaves along with it. Overnight an association could lose 20% of its income, which would put the whole organization at risk.

Applying these lessons

Because so many have tried before, we have learned some tremendous things. Here is how we’ve applied these lessons to make this attempt different:

• The PMA will be professionally managed by a full-time paid staff who is dedicated to building the association, locating and providing specific expertise, finding compromise from member disagreements, and making sure members continue to get value from the association.
• The PMA strategic and organizational decision making will be conducted by an elected cross section of performance marketing professionals, covering a broad spectrum of perspectives in the industry.
• The PMA will focus on issues that affect the entire industry as well as individual members. In addition to legislation support and PR activities, other benefits might include being a source of education and consistent information on the industry, publication of positions on various industry topics, providing comparisons on the value of performance marketing to other marketing channels, and additional benefits that active PMA members will champion.
• The PMA will be funded by its entire membership base, from small individuals to larger organizations, on up to large sponsors. Members will then each be entitled to equal voice and not be controlled by a few special interests.
• The PMA will be designed to be a non-profit organization that is self-sustaining and funded by membership dues, as well as other potential revenue generating opportunities (to be determined by advisory boards made up of members).

The working groups being formed to provide recommendations to the formation advisory board, will elaborate on these lessons, which greatly increases our chance of success.