Call it wasteful spending or marketing partnerships gone bad ("how was I supposed to know our affiliates were cheating?!") you’d better look out, Mr. Marketer.

Increasingly, CFOs are poking noses into Web marketing.  Why?  With all the buzz generated by Elliot Spitzer, adware, spyware, P2P downloads, affiliate cookie-stuffing and such bean counters have taken notice… and everyone from affiliate managers to CMOs are on the front lines of defending their practices.  As marketers continue to struggle with e-commerce fraud (to the tune of $2.8 billion this year, says Internet Retailer) they’re realizing that fraud comes in a variety of flavors… some more controllable than others.  Specifically, CFOs are finding that fraud emanating from their marketing department is an easy target given today’s hot-button issue: Trademark usage. 

As the “traditional” affiliate networks slowly open up (own up) to confessing what the true composition of their network really looks like, marketing departments find themselves in treacherous waters.  As Connie Berg, owner of Flamingoworld.com and Revenews blogger recently pointed out, marketers that have habitually approached affiliate marketing without paying much attention to how affiliates generate sales are in for rough times ahead.

Indeed, Berg is not the only one suggesting that affiliate marketing is in need of some very basic attention.  She is, however, one of a few affiliates who are taking her bold message to the streets… in fact, to lackadaisical marketers themselves.  She joins Anycoupons.com and Cashbaq.com’s David Lewis in preaching the benefits of working more intimately with a handful of trusted affiliates.  Of course, this is something that affiliate networks have not been able to execute well at… given that their original design (based on partnering with the teaming millions) conflicts with today’s reality (the 80/20 rule looks more like 98/2 wherein a minority of affiliates churn out the majority of results).

Says Berg in her comments at Revenews, “... when I come across blatant violations by affiliates that have already been known to be doing other things, I turn them in. Funny how some merchants won’t dump someone because of what I consider a major issue but will do something when their company trademark is involved.”

So it seems affiliates themselves hold interest in tidying up an increasingly tarnished industry.  I’ll be returning to the theme of CFOs interest in Web marketing again soon as it’s an increasing phenomenon.