Motorsports Marketing Mail Tips
IT’S MORE THAN JUST SLAPPING ON STICKERS
Posted on: Thursday September 29, 2022
IT’S MORE THAN JUST SLAPPING ON STICKERS by Joe Verdegan @jverdegan2
Let’s face it – things are much more complicated in the sponsor search than they were 25 or 30 years ago.
Most sponsor deals were sealed with a handshake and more often than not, business owners didn’t really consider ROI (return on investment) as much as they do in 2022. A driver could simply slap some stickers on his or her race car and call it a day.
Kevin Miller, C.E.O. of USAC recently stated in Alex Striler’s book “Motorsports Marketing and Sponsorships”: “In this new age of digital media, with sponsored “Likes” and paid “Tweets” the days of exposure through logo placement are dead. Supporting motorsports on sponsorship dollars today requires a business approach because marketing professionals have endless options and can simply click a button and get millions of impressions.”
I would disagree to an extent to say logo placement is “dead”, but the point Mr. Miller hammers home is well put. It’s MORE than just slapping stickers and to move past this mindset you’ve got to take a true businesslike attitude towards your search for marketing partners.
The truth is if you’re serious about chasing some serious dollars and forging some legit marketing partnerships with businesses, you must go beyond the “sticker slapping” mentality and put yourself in the shoes of the business you are reaching out to.
We can debate the pros and cons of social media in motorsports all day long. But the hard truth is it’s here to stay for good. Plus, I do feel the pros outweigh the cons when it comes to social media and motorsports marketing.
For starters, at a minimum you can do something as simple as creating a separate Facebook page for your racing team. Provide regular updates all season long on where you’re headed to race each week.
Make sure you tag or share links to your existing marketing partners. It’s free and just takes a little bit of legwork. You’ve also got Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter where you can use as legitimate platforms to showcase your racing team’s efforts.
In many cases businesses are looking to reach out and grow their sales through business-to-business relationships (B2B).
So, when you are putting your sponsorship deck together this fall most of these companies don’t care about how many top five finishes you had this year. Sure, it’s ok to put some things in like championships and total feature wins but in my opinion many drivers put waaaay too much emphasis on things of that nature.
In closing, we’ll refer to Striler’s book and a quote he has. Again, I don’t agree with it 100 percent but his point is well taken when it’s more than slapping stickers on a car. We’ll chat again in August!
“From my experience, 99 % of all SPONSOR ME pitches are attempts to sell a logo on a hood, helmet or race suit. The pitches offer exposure in return for cash or product. Unfortunately, exposure is often the last thing a sponsor wants.”
Alex Striler
Motorsports Marketing and Sponsorships