In previous columns I've written about building a broader exposure for your marketing presence online through proper listing in search engines, strategic placement of advertising banners, and support for the community building aspects of the Internet.

While no single aspect guarantees success, there are factors that contribute to a well thought out marketing plan. To take the next step, we consider the benefits received from collaborating with others with similar interests.

If consumers are attracted to compelling content and your company does not have the expertise nor budget to build a valuable content collection online, what options are there to attract content-hungry consumers?

Consider for the moment, our example company, a fictitious manufacturer of athletic shoes, the Go-Fast-And-Jump-High Athletic Shoe Company of Go-Fast, Wisconsin.

After building an impressive Web site replete with the required "sexy" graphics and sparkly Java gewgaws, our company leans back, anxiously awaiting the rising tide of excited consumers anxious to buy.

Hits are registered, visits tallied, and orders appear but the trickle that begins does not become the expected flood. "What?!?!", management exclaims, "If the Internet is such a great place for marketing, why aren't we seeing a better response? We thought this was the next big thing! Is it time to rethink our use of the Web as a marketing vehicle? Or have we missed something important?"

Loyal readers will recognize this as (yet another) opportunity for me to tout the value of building community online. But let me spare you the obvious and take a slightly different tack…

Imagine the inspired marketer in our company who thinks: "Perhaps information about our products by itself isn't enough to draw the attention of buyers." (We'll call this visionary marketer "J.")

Expanding on this thought, J. takes pen in hand and begins to list those products Go-Fast's customers might also find valuable: socks, sweatsuits, running shorts, basketballs & baseball bats, analgesics & muscle liniments, vitamins, herbal medicines & health foods, weight gaining products, weight loss products, portable radios & tape players, barbells, dumbbells & exercise equipment, etc. What about services or events? J.'s list grows to include exercise trainers, weight consultants, & health professionals, day, summer & sports camps, marathons, high school basketball games, tennis matches, inline skating tourneys, skateboard competitions…the list goes on and on.

Armed with this list, J. begins to explore the Web, seeking those companies and groups currently online in the product and service categories he identified. Most won't be on the Web, and this might present an opportunity for the company that built the Go-Fast Web site. J. notes those facts for further thought.

J. then lists those companies that do have an existing Web presence, giving special attention to those, like Go-Fast, that seemed to take the same approach of creating an attractive online brochure. Armed with this list, he reaches for the telephone.

"Hello…this is J. Marketing Professional from the Go-Fast- And-Jump-High Athletic Shoe Company. I'd like to talk to you about your Web site."  I'm sure you can imagine how the conversation goes.

First, J. describes the effort Go-Fast went through creating its site, sharing the trials and tribulations of building an online marketing presence only to be disappointed with its performance. This creates common ground between the two companies.

Next, J. begins to explore ways in which the two companies might create something to attract a higher percentage of sales leads. A plan begins to form in J.'s mind:  By pooling the resources of a collection of companies that do not compete with each other and yet all provide products and services to a shared audience, these companies could build an online attraction specifically designed to appeal to those consumers with direct interest in the chosen product and service category of the identified companies.

J. begins to design "The Running Web"--an "online service" designed to serve the needs of the running aficionado. The partner companies each provide some small portion of their existing online marketing budget to its creation.

By gathering content from not-for-profit and hobbyist groups, the site begins to build content to attract consumer interest.  By partnering with a Web services company with a special interest in serving the needs of companies similar to Go-Fast and its new partners, the online presence expands to include moderated bulletin boards, mailing lists, and real-time chats with running celebrities. By building strong ties to university sports medicine researchers, the site begins to provide leading-edge guidance to any and all with an interest in running.

Oh, and by the way, all advertising on the site comes from the partner companies, each of which see a better than tenfold increase in traffic to their existing Web sites.

"The Running Web" takes on a life of its own, creating tremendous value to its member companies in terms of marketing exposure, sales leads, and ultimately in revenue as other companies see the value of it as an advertising vehicle.

Ok, I'll freely admit that this is complete fiction.

"The Running Web" does not exist, yet.

But it should, and I suspect that it will more sooner than later because it is a logical application of collaboration and leverage of limited resources. A precedent certainly exists for co-branding a wide variety of marketing communications products in the service of their constituent companies.

As a final thought, you might notice the complete absence of any suggestion that Go-Fast and its partner companies seek the help of the established publishing community.

This was not an oversight. Far from it.

While the goals of "The Running Web" and, say "Running Magazine" are very much the same, the business model of traditional publishing does not directly support the specific needs of advertisers. Both strive to serve a well-identified vertical "community of shared interest", but in the case of traditional publishing, advertisers pay for the benefits of exposure to consumers in a rich content environment without much control over that environment.

If anything, collaborative sites like "The Running Web" represent a natural "next step" in the evolution of traditional publishing--where advertising-sponsored content (and community) are collected to serve the needs of vertically identified communities.

The underlying message you might have picked up on in this column is something that most businesses have yet to understand: Any company interested in using the global Internet for business advantage must begin to appreciate its new role as publisher because the Internet is, at its heart, a publishing medium.