by Kristin Swartzlander | Feb 20, 2015 | Thoughts and Rants
Earlier this week, I was able to attend the 42nd annual RPM Promoter’s Workshops in Daytona Beach both as an observer and as an exhibitor. It was a great experience – two days of programming designed to help race track and series promoters be more successful – and I got to connect and reconnect with a number of great people. In fact, I was lucky enough to meet some of you at my booth, at Volusia Speedway, and for private consulting sessions on Saturday and Sunday! Since it was my first time attending RPM, and putting together a tradeshow exhibit for my own company, I didn’t know what to expect – something that’s a little bit, er, difficult for me. See, I’m used to being the supporter. The person that puts it all together for someone else. I’m used to helping other people shine. Frankly, being the center of attention felt pretty weird to me. But I realized that I have to learn to embrace that, or at least accept it, to promote what I love to do. I imagine that many of you have to deal with this as you expand your careers and businesses as drivers, owners, and promoters. If you’re here, you’re probably the type that puts their head down and does the work instead of self-promoting. Even though, deep down, you know you have to do both. If it doesn’t come easy to you, rest assured that you’re not alone. I also learned a few more things that might be of interest to you, too: Being honest. Quite a few people at RPM asked me what...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Feb 13, 2015 | Racing Social Media
Preparing for the RPM Promoter’s Workshops in Daytona next week, I’ve been doing quite a bit of research. One thing that became quickly apparent to me was that many tracks, drivers and series’ are hard to find on social media. Many are there. And many are doing a great job. But you wouldn’t know that if you didn’t already have them as part of your network or see their content being shared by a mutual connection. The big mistake? An un-searchable bio. Bios are so difficult to perfect, because they’re so brief. You can’t say much in the 160 character Twitter bio. That’s why it’s so important to optimize the space you do have so that fans can find you easily. If you take nothing from this post but one single point, it should be this: do not leave your bio blank. It’s a blank billboard that could be used to point your fans directly to you. If it’s empty, they may not even know you’re there. Here are a few more tips: Make sure your name is on your profile (not just Twitter handle). If you’re a celebrity, people will likely still find you if you use a nickname, parody or do something like, for example, forget to put the space in between first and last name. The rest of us? Not likely. Make sure your company or racer name is in the name field of your profile, and if it won’t fit there (Jacksonville Speedway, I feel your pain) make sure you include it in your bio. Include your location (like Tri-City Speedway in Granite, IL) so...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Feb 5, 2015 | Mindset, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Social Media
Quick Note: Just a reminder that DirtyMouth will be at RPM doing quick and dirty consulting sessions and much more at RPM from February 16th and 17th. Sign up for a session here. I’ve gotten a few requests for non-promoter coaching while I’m in town, too. If that’s of interest, please shoot me an email at Kristin@DirtyMouthCommunications.com and we can setup a quick intro call to see if it’s a fit. Now, on to the good stuff… — How to promote yourself without feeling like a sell-out. We all know that racer – the one that repeatedly finds a way to tell everyone else how great he is. He’s on Twitter, Facebook and, sometimes, a victory lane microphone lamenting how hard he’s worked, how much he’s sacrificed and why he deserves to win over, well, you. When the topic of self-promotion comes up on almost every coaching call I do, we inevitably end up talking about that guy (or girl). And almost everyone, myself included, has that moment where we think everyone else believes that guy. They’re buying it, right? They think she’s as great as she thinks she is. “And I don’t want to be that guy, so I’m just not going to promote myself at all.” – said me, and lots of clients. But in reality, that’s not the case. Most people can see right through the clutter and call it what it is. Bull. (Even though it’s interesting to watch sometimes…) So how do you promote yourself without selling out or blowing smoke or being that guy? Listen before you talk. This is important in all...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Jan 29, 2015 | Racing Social Media
I’m excited to share that I’ve been working with Stewart Doty and the RPM Promoter’s Workshops to provide some extra content and value for promoters who attend this year’s Florida Speedweeks event. From February 15-17th, DirtyMouth will be on hand to help show promoters how to use their online program – whether you’re just starting out or already established – to make their offline business more profitable. As you’ll read below, part of what I’ve been working on is written material on social media that promoters can go over and discuss with us during the workshops. I’ve already integrated a number of your existing questions and dilemmas, but I’d love it if you’d take one minute and tell me what your biggest social media questions are so I can make sure I cover that. Quick survey here: http://bit.ly/1tzUV3j DirtyMouth at RPM: Get the next best steps to move your program forward. Assessments: If you pre-register for the event, I’ll be providing a quick assessment of your current online properties. I’ll give you a handful of helpful suggestions on what improvements, if any, will give you the most bang for your buck this season. Hands-On Help: DirtyMouth staff will be on hand to help promoters with the actual training needed to get up and running online, no matter what level you’re social media is currently running at. We’ll will walk you through how to setup your first profile, send a tweet or post a message, and show you how to collect the data you’ll need to fill your social media channels, in addition to providing more advanced one-on-one training. Quick...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Jan 22, 2015 | Media and Public Relations, Mindset, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Social Media
Without one, it’s really tough to successfully do the other. You might not see it directly as a racer – in theory you can do the work of building a fast race car and win races without ever promoting. But that’s just theory. How many successful racers do you know that pay the bills just by winning races? I don’t know any at all. Purse structures don’t support that model. Without some level of promotion, you can’t pay for your racing, except for out of your own pocket. (Which I would also argue makes you a successful person, not necessarily a successful racer. Nothing – nothing at all – wrong with that. But recognize the distinction.) Successful racers pay for their programs off the track with apparel sales, sponsorship packages, product partnerships and more. And how do they do that? Promotion. You can’t sell tickets to your race track, t-shirts or sponsorship packages for your race team, and race car parts or shock dyno services for your racing business if no one knows who you are, what you do and why they should want to be a part of that. You can’t pay the bills without promotion. But here’s the catch you’ve probably already considered– you can’t promote without producing. At least, not for long. If all you do is promote your race track but you don’t do the work, you won’t continue to sell tickets. Twitter won’t find your fans working restrooms. You can’t make promises to marketing partners without doing the work. You can’t tell people about your speed shop if you don’t have any parts. You can’t...
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