by Kristin Swartzlander | Oct 15, 2015 | Mindset, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses
‘Put yourself in a position to win.’ I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve seen or heard that phrase. When you’re new or a beginner, the first step in positioning to win can be as simple and straightforward as working as hard as you can and/or investing as much as you can into what matters. As you get more advanced, this brings to mind the tougher decisions you might have to make in the garage or at the track – put on a new tire for time trials when the used one will do? – that will hone in your program and literally put you into a position on the race track to win. Then, there’s the dimension that you know I love talking about: the mindset, and what happens off the track. To me, positioning to win isn’t where you start out. You don’t expect to win your first race, just like you don’t expect to be CEO on your first day of a new job. You first need an opportunity to, for example, get on the track. Or submit a resume for an interview. I believe ‘positioning to win’ in racing is the same. Wins start with opportunities. This is just my long way of saying that, to win, you have to first position yourself for opportunities. You can’t pass for the win if you aren’t near the front. You don’t have the opportunity. That’s not just on the track – it applies to the rest of your program, too, whether you’re a racer, promoter or business. So, how do you do that? The first step is setting your...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Oct 8, 2015 | Racing Social Media
It’s one thing to talk about what you need to do in theory. It’s another thing to show you how to do it. Today, I’m doing just that. If you’re interested in using social media as a tool to fuel your racing platform, this mini case study on Facebook Posts That Work is for you. I’m breaking down one of my recent client posts that did incredibly well in terms of reach, engagement and opportunity. We’ll explore what went into the post, and how and why it worked so well. The Results: Before we get started, I want to share the numbers with you for our case study feature (Carl Bowser Racing): Original Page Likes: 1,793 Additional Page Likes Over Average Daily: 75 Reach: 12,000+ Post Clicks: 1,800+ Likes, Shares and Comments: 285 Opportunities: Multiple I think it’s important to share the numbers because if you’re consuming any sort of social media marketing information that’s not geared toward your niche, the numbers can be astronomical. Big brands like General Motors or Doritos are going to blow up the internet with hundreds of thousands of likes on their ‘viral’ posts. But that’s not realistic for niche industries like motorsports, so it’s less applicable, replicable or even inspirational. So, this will hopefully give you a good idea of what an average sized motorsports property can get for a reasonably ‘viral’ post. By the way, these numbers come from your Facebook Fan Page Insights. If you want to know more about how to find them and what you can do with them, here’s a helpful post for you: Proving Your Sponsorship Worth (with real, hard metrics!) and...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Oct 2, 2015 | Mindset, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Social Media, Racing Sponsorship
There are times when I am optimistic. I have high hopes for what we can do for this sport and with this sport, as racers, promoters and fans. Some might say my hopes are too high, too optimistic. Some might even call me naive. And this weekend at the Dirt Classic, I had my eyes opened to how, in a way, those people would be right. See, when I’m writing, I often imagine that when I push ‘publish’ on a blog post, it disappears from my computer and flies out into the universe, never to return. And, while I truly hope that it helps someone in their quest to improve their team or track, I don’t imagine them reading it and thinking about where it came from. I imagine that you like the words. You appreciate the words. You take the words and make great things with them. Like race cars. And race tracks. And racing businesses. For me, promoting a blog post is all about putting my work in front of people and what that can do to help people. It’s not about putting my face in front of people. On Saturday, I walked up to many people that I expected to introduce myself to, only to find that they were introducing themselves to me. Or, once I said my name, they talked to me at length about my writing. Or my clients. It was mildly terrifying, in the best possible way. If that makes sense. The thing is – I know the numbers. I know how many people subscribe to my email list, like my Facebook page or hop onto...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Sep 25, 2015 | Thoughts and Rants
A unique format. Over 50 cars packed into the pits. Grandstands so full that I couldn’t find a seat. A monster winner’s check for $20,000 and one of the most beautiful trophies I’ve ever seen. You would think it would be hard to top the first Dirt Classic Presented by Kasey Kahne. But that’s why I’m proud that my company, DirtyMouth Communications, is a part of the Dirt Classic team once again this year for the second annual event: the long-term growth vision. For us, it’s not just about ‘topping’ the first race. It’s not just about adjusting the format, upping the payout or finding teams that fans will be excited to watch duke it out. It’s about continuing to make the Dirt Classic more than just a race. To me, the Dirt Classic represents a new way of thinking. It could even be considered a movement, with the number of fantastic people that are hopping on board with our vision. And it’s gaining steam. The vision – approaching a race from an entertainment and business standpoint – is what I bought into when the Dirt Classic team approached me last year about creating a marketing and promotion plan for the inaugural event. And that’s why I’m so excited about being a part of it again. Through my work with DirtyMouth, I have challenged the racing industry to think outside the box. And not just on the track. Although Dirt Classic format is one of my favorite aspects of the event because of the level of excitement it produces all night long, it’s only a small part of what...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Sep 17, 2015 | Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses
This week, there’s been quite a lot of discussion about the costs of racing: the costs for fans, the costs for promoters and the costs for teams. When I talk to any one of the many tracks that I work with on a weekly basis, most – not all, but most – will tell me that purses are too high. The math doesn’t work on raising, or sometimes even maintaining, payouts without raising ticket prices. And the sport can’t sustain that. By that math, they’re right. Payouts are too high. Ask any number of my racing clients, though, and the costs of racing, whether that’s being competitive or just being compliant, are going up. And payouts are not. In fact, many drivers are finding some envelopes lighter than years past when they get to the window at the end of the night. I know we have. Like at the race track level, there aren’t many ways to cut costs for racers. Not safely, anyway. By that math, they’re right, too. Payouts are too low. So what does that say for our model if everyone is right: payouts are too high, payouts are too low and our fan base can’t sustain a rise in ticket prices? Economics would say that supply is exceeding demand. Perhaps we have too many races, too many race tracks, and/or too many race cars for the number of fans in the stands to sustain them. I don’t like that theory. And not just because I love racing. In all of these conversations, I have yet to see anyone discuss what bridges the gap between costs...
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