This week I interviewed Lisa Picarille of the Performance Marketing Association (PMA) of which I'm an active member on their Industry Advancement Council. I love being part of a community of thought leaders and industry advocates who are trying to make a positive difference in the affiliate marketing space. Here are 5 Q&A's I sent to Lisa about why the PMA is worth joining, what they are working towards and what difference they make in the lives of those around us.

1. What are the main goals of the PMA?

The PMA has many efforts underway that promote industry education, increase the level of thoughtful conversation about the challenges facing our industry and ongoing efforts to lobby for (and against) legislation that impacts the performance marketing space. All of these efforts underscore the PMA’s single mission to grow and advance the performance marketing industry.

2. Where do you see performance marketing going in the next 2-3 years?

All research and anecdotal evidence points to nothing but continued growth for performance marketing. Advertisers of all sizes are finally catching on to the fact that performance marketing provides the most measureable marketing model.  And in an economy where ROI is crucial, performance marketing stands alone as the best way to track and measure performance. By attracting more advertisers to the space, we will see the need for all type of affiliates, new vendor services, more agencies, etc. The entire ecosystem benefits. In addition, the rapid online marketing innovations that come from super-smart affiliates and savvy developers will continue to create new exciting opportunities for performance marketers.

3. What kind of benefits would members get from being part of the PMA?

PMA Members enjoy a variety of valuable benefits. They can run for a seat on the board of directors, which gives them a meaningful way to impact the direction of the association and the overall industry. They can participate in member groups such as councils, which work on specific issues to develop output (best practices standards, whitepapers, etc.) that influence and educate those in the industry and define direction. Members also have an opportunity to raise their profile as thought leaders by participating or chairing councils, being on podcasts, contributing content and representing their particular perspective.  In addition, there are things like newsletters, unique content and legislative updates that are available only to members. They also have the unique opportunity to interact with other industry leaders that are also committed to advancement of the performance marketing space.

4. What are some of the key achievements of the PMA this year?

We made great strides this year focusing on the launch of our councils and on the legislative front.

Councils

The PMA launched five councils – Email, Compliance, Content Monetization, Agency and Industry Advancement. More are slated to launch by the end of the year. These councils focus on specific industry issues and seek to highlight benefits, overcome challenges and offer solutions in the form of educational materials, best practices and other content that promote the overall advancement of the performance marketing space.

Each of the existing councils, while still in their early stages, have already had great input from council members and their respective chairs, to move discussions forward and generate tangible output that will be shared with the community when completed.

Legislative

Our new board President Brian Littleton, CEO of ShareASale, recently sent out an email to highlight huge wins on the legislative front. I think he did a fantastic job of showcasing these accomplishments. So, I will simply reiterate what he saw as our biggest achievements.

Kept Affiliates in California In Business. The PMA was instrumental in negotiating with the California Board of Equalization (the agency that oversees sales tax collection in California) to make sure that when their new law went into effect on September 15th, 2012 – Affiliates could stay in business.  The negotiated process allows for California Affiliate Marketers to continue working with out-of-State retailers.

Defeated the State of Illinois – Affiliate Nexus Ruled Unconstitutional. The PMA filed suit in the State of Illinois claiming that the recently enacted legislation that Illinois put forth to collect sales tax was unconstitutional.   With a coalition of PMA members contributing to the fight, the judge ruled in our favor.

Defeated the Affiliate Tax in Minnesota. On May 12th of this year, the Minnesota legislature declined to include proposed Affiliate Nexus Tax language in legislation.  Without the PMA, this language likely would have gone unchallenged as two major retailers - Best Buy and Target - call Minnesota home.  The above mentioned lawsuit in Illinois had a major role in indicating to the Minnesota legislature that the PMA was an important voice.

A Federal Solution

With the PMA at the Negotiating Table. Great strides have been made in Washington D.C. this year with regards to the proposed Federal level solution to the nexus tax predicament.  Senator Dick Durbin from Illinois led this charge and was inspired to do so based on the PMA’s representation of itself during the Illinois State-level fight.

5. What makes the PMA special?

It is the only group that represents all facets of the performance marketing space. It is a single voice advocating for the industry’s growth by bring together constituents from all the performance marketing disciplines to have meaningful, impaction and useful discussions to advance and promote the value of the performance marketing business model.  Also, the PMA also offers a variety of membership levels to encourage participation from everyone that has a passion to involved regardless of the size of their business.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Rebecca Madigan, founder of the Performance Marketing Association. We had never met even though we've both been in the industry for years and seen each others' names often. After reaching out via Facebook we connected and got to chat. She's an incredible lady and has such a keen passion for affiliate marketing. I asked to interview her so we could all get to know her and her contributions to our industry a little more.

Q: Please tell us about yourself and how you got into the Performance Marketing industry.

"I started in performance marketing in 2005 when I joined Commission Junction in product management. My previous experience was in product development in the early Internet days (I was product manager for the first VoIP product on the market), telecommunications and wireless. In all those industries we embraced trade associations and standards groups, to help propel the growth of these emerging markets. It always amazed me there was no trade association for performance marketing, considering how complex this industry is. In April 2008, after raising some outside funding from Lurn, I began organizing the PMA."

Q: What would you like people to know about you?

"I take the responsibilities of the PMA and this industry very seriously and personally. I put my heart into this, particularly the fight against the Affiliate Nexus Tax, and I've been trampled and beaten back but still keep going. But this pales in comparison to the 76,000 affiliate marketers whose incomes have been devastated. We have to get those people back in business, and that keeps me going. My fight is stronger than ever!"

Q: In all the work you've done with CJ, Lurn Inc and the Performance Marketing Association, what would you say is your greatest accomplishment to date?

"I think a lot of people in this industry will understand the feeling of being an entrepreneur, taking that giant leap of faith going out on your own, and living on the bleeding edge to get it going. As a matter of fact, I'm continually inspired by all the entrepreneurs from whom I've been inspired and mentored.

But hands down, the most difficult and greatest accomplishment professionally and personally, is beating back the Affiliate Nexus Tax bills around the country, and continuing the advocacy work in DC. The only political thing I ever did was vote regularly, so this was not only an unexpected direction but completely unknown and frightening. I feel responsibility to this industry every day with this issue. Even though we've beaten this back 60 times, there are 76,000 affiliate marketers, or about 1/3 of all publishers, who have been harmed. We need to get this solved once and for all, our best chances are in DC and we have a good chance of getting those folks back in business in 2013, early I hope!"

Q: Many people are still confused about legislations around Performance Marketing. What are the main points you feel people should understand?

"Affiliate marketers are the unintended victims in a battle between big box retailers like Walmart, Best Buy and Target, and online retailers like Amazon and Overstock, who haven't had to collect sales tax in most states.

In order for a state to get a retailer to collect its sales tax, the US Constitution requires that business must have a physical presence, or 'nexus' in the state. Typically that has meant a store or warehouse. But these 'Affiliate Nexus Tax' laws, aka Amazon tax laws, state that if those retailers have advertising agreements with Affiliate Marketers in the state, that's the same as having a store, or nexus. About 1,000 online advertisers responded by terminating their affiliate agreements, to avoid having to collect sales tax. It has passed in 9 states, wiping out a huge amount of income for about 76,000 affiliates. The PMA successfully sued Illinois to block the law, but even though the judge ruled it was unconstitutional, the state is keeping the law in effect during the appeal.

There is Federal legislation in DC that would make this whole thing go away. The bills, in the House and Senate, remove that 'nexus' requirement, meaning all retailers must collect for all states, with our without physical presence. The PMA is actively lobbying in support of these bills and we see some very positive momentum. It will likely take until early 2013, after the presidential election."

Q: If you could tell new merchants something they should know about Performance Marketing, what would it be?

"Performance marketing is the most relevant kind of advertising to consumers. Our whole industry depends on consumers trusting and clicking through on performance ads and taking action. We only get paid if consumers are happy! And publishers take all the up front risk, merchants only pay for ads that perform."

It would be great if there were more people like Rebecca in our industry. However more and more people who feel the same kind of responsibility and passion are coming out of the woodworks, which is essential to the positive development of affiliate marketing locally and globally. I'm proud to now know Rebecca and thank her for her effort and contribution to the performance marketing world.