So you think you've covered off your web marketing strategy by building a great website and placing a few ads online? Think again.

The leaders in online marketing are starting to take advantage of online sponsorship as an effective strategy to increasingly generate more leads for their business.

Online sponsorship simply involves your business sponsoring the web or email presence of another organisation (profit or non-profit). It can be a powerful way to tap into a whole new segment of customers. Furthermore, it can increase your company's exposure, subtly promote your products/services, and gain the off-flows of goodwill that people have for the organisation you are sponsoring, simply by associating your business with it. Of course, if you are sponsoring a non-profit organisation, you also have the great benefit of contributing to the community and demonstrating corporate social responsibility!

Online sponsorship can take three different forms:

1. E-newsletter sponsorship

   Many organisations employ email-newsletters as a tool for communicating with customers, building relationships and driving traffic to their website. By sponsoring an e-newsletter, you can often tailor your message to a specific audience, because the audience is clearly defined and its demographics are easily measurable by the organisation you are sponsoring. The beauty of the e-newsletter is that most people have requested to receive it, so they are more likely to read the entire contents of the email and thus, respond. By sponsoring e-newsletters, you can even further refine the audience to which you are sending your message, e.g. you may only sponsor the emails going out to NSW customers, or female customers, etc.

2. Website sponsorship

   You can sponsor the website of an organisation in a number of ways. Firstly, you could place banner, tile, or pop-up ads on the website, all of which are most effective when you have industry exclusivity. That is, when your competitors are not allowed to advertise on the same site. Your sponsorship package can also include content rights, where your business provides articles, advice or free downloads on the website you are sponsoring. Ideally, the organisation should also be endorsing your business products and services in its editorial.

3. Fully integrated sponsorship

   The most effective of the three sponsorship strategies is the fully integrated sponsorship strategy. This combines e-newsletter and website sponsorship with every other online and offline communication piece the organisation you are sponsoring has with their customer base. For instance, as a fully integrated sponsor, your business should also have your company logo and information on all electronic invitations, brochures and flyers as well as having your brochures and sales representatives physically at the organisation's events. This means that every customer should be aware that your business is a sponsor and strategic partner of the organisation you are sponsoring. The result is that you will have an increased capacity to deploy highly targeted, attractive and measurable marketing campaigns to new segments of customers.

The benefits of sponsorship are widely acknowledged by big corporations that spend millions of dollars aligning their business name with organisations in the arts, sports and charity groups. Why not use the same proven strategy that these companies use, on a smaller budget, to significantly raise your own sales, so that you can grow your business?

To gain the maximum return from online sponsorship opportunities, talk to the online marketing experts. Contact Fred Schebesta on (02) 9818 7300 or email fred.schebesta@freestylemedia.com.au