Sponsorship, once a symbol of corporate excess, is now finding its place within the business world—especially in the digital sector, where sponsors know how to best maximise ROI from these channels.  By its nature sponsorship creates ideal digital marketing opportunities.  It has the flexibility to provide platforms for brands to create exclusive content and online experiences as well as being able to engage directly with their audience.

With more than 50% of DMA sponsorship coming from digital marketing partners, you might be wondering what you are missing.

Marketers are desperately searching for new and economical avenues to create stronger relationships between their brands and target audiences. One avenue that’s resurgent is sponsorship, which is proving a powerful way to engage with consumers. At a time when people are constantly marketed to through an increasing number of channels, consumer engagement is vital for marketers to get their messages across.  When reaching its target audience, sponsorship provides an ideal medium to facilitate this engagement by providing tangible “touch points” for the consumer.

For example, when Silverpop, a U.S.-based organisation that provides worldwide Web-based solutions to its clients, was interested in building brand awareness among the top marketers in the United Kingdom, it chose to incorporate a bespoke DMA sponsorship programme within its marketing mix to do so. Silverpop has recently signed on to exclusively sponsor the DMA B2B Email Marketing Event, which will be taking place on 1 October 2009 in London. This partnership has allowed the DMA to provide new training for the B2B email sector while also providing Silverpop with the best platform from which to showcase its expertise.

For Silverpop, the many touch points and benefits of this partnership include:
•    A speaking opportunity at the event
•    Production of a joint press release
•    Increased profile among delegates throughout the promotional campaign

This sponsorship has provided the perfect platform from which to increase brand awareness and engagement among the people that matter most to the company.

If you haven’t yet thought about integrating sponsorship into your marketing mix, or felt it wasn’t useful to your type of business, you might want to take a fresh look at your current marketing and what your competitors are doing—it may surprise you.

Jackie Fast
Direct Marketing Association