Not An Outpouring, But ...

I performed a Saturday test (click here).

Turns out that if I talk about Affiliate Marketers scamming you, you respond. En masse. Not an outpouring, but one of the larger post-COVID outbursts I can remember.

Your responses suggest that some vendors are out to mess with you, without regard for the health of your business.

The past year has been so darn fascinating. In catalog marketing, your paper/print partners messed with you. You didn't like that. Remember that feeling.

Yesterday, the e-commerce audience responded, loudly, with stories of being ripped off by digital vendors.

When you (unscrupulous vendors) scam my clients, how does that make you feel? When you buy a new Lexus because you siphoned off a portion of client profit for your own benefit ... by lying ... how do you sleep at night?

I worked in the vendor world for one (1) year, back in 2000, at a retargeting startup. My goodness. What a train wreck. While the company generally tried to do good for clients, the employees were all about stock options, and would do what the felt was "right" to boost the stock price so they could retire as a 28 year old. I have a patent for a product that I created in response to employees choosing to not serve clients, causing me to invent a competing product within my own company so that clients could benefit. I know a little something about vendor employees and self-interest, even if that knowledge is dated.

P.S.:  What's awful is that nasty vendors get all the attention. I had a video conference a few months ago with a catalog agency that keeps things quiet ... minimal publicity, working hard to do "what is right". Really good vendors are out there, folks. They just keep their good works quiet.