by Kristin Swartzlander | Nov 18, 2016 | Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Sponsorship
Ever see a truck driving down the highway with a back windshield full of decals? From K&N to Monster Energy, he’s got all his adrenaline-related needs covered. Like this: Now, how many times have you thought to yourself: how did that guy get so many sponsors??! NO? So why do we do the same with other race cars? I have talked to so, so many racers who are discouraged when they look around the pits and see other race cars with tons of decals – specifically manufacturers decals – on them. They assume that those manufacturers are giving cash or product to their competition, even though they may have pitched them on a partnership and been turned down or offered a discount. But the truth is: many racers treat their race cars like they treat their F150’s – as a set of wheels to decorate. Many race cars sport decals for businesses, ideas or personalities purely because they like or support that entity. For example, anyone spot Trump ads on race cars this season? We did! And the only one that I know of that got paid for that advertisement was the Bruce Williams/Roger Crockett outfit at the 2015 Knoxville Nationals. (You can read a full breakdown of that partnership here.) They also sport decals for businesses that might give them a discount on products they buy, or in-kind product sponsorship and/or services. And don’t get me wrong: there’s value in all of that. But don’t get the impression that everyone who has a decal on their car is getting paid cold, hard cash for the privilege of exposure to...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Nov 3, 2016 | Mindset, Thoughts and Rants
In a sport that’s so focused on winning, you rarely hear talk about being average. Average is no one’s goal. Very few people get into racing thinking that after enough time and practice and investment, they will peak at ‘average’. With Carl Bowser, I am fortunate to own and be a part of a race team that’s considered ‘successful’ and winning on our stage. Because of that, we often get asked for advice from new racers or people looking to get into the sport. I find that, in a year of major changes, I’ve been giving the same advice over and over again: Embrace being average. Because I’m not the speed guru, my advice applies to the rest of your life, not what happens on the track. But keep in mind: it’s often the rest of your life that determines what happens on the track. The average racer – those of us who don’t have someone else paying the bills – has to figure out how to make racing happen. It’s no secret that racing takes money, time, energy and relationships that are solely dedicated to racing. When I’m asked how we have the money or time or energy or relationships to put a successful team in the pits, my answer is this: we make big choices. And one of those choices is to make sacrifices and embrace being average in the rest of our lives. To make our racing life happen financially, we’ve made decisions over the past four years that others probably wouldn’t. We sold our house to free up equity. We now have a small mortgage on a house with a garage. We...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Sep 22, 2016 | Racing Sponsorship
Sometimes, marketing your race team to potential prospects can feel like finding the Goldilocks of companies: not too big and not too small. A few weeks ago, I got a great question from a prospector who detailed the struggle: many companies are too small and local to be interested in racers who run a regional or even national schedule. They don’t benefit from the traveling, so they don’t want to pay what, say, a regional or national team would charge for that advertising. On the flip side, most big corporations aren’t interested in smaller, regional programs. And if they are, it’s extremely difficult to cut through the bureaucratic clutter to find the marketing person who is going to pay attention to something that’s a very small percentage of their marketing budget, especially when it’s less quantifiable than, say, a regional magazine or Facebook advertising campaign. So, how do you find those Goldilocks companies: the ones that aren’t too big to care about your market but too small to get the cost-benefit of your program? Here is some food-for-thought on a very valid question: First, like we’ve talked about on the blog in the past, it’s most important to align your prospecting to the interests and spending habits of your audience than the region and the size of the company. I’m going to assume that if you’re deep enough into the prospecting process that you’re looking at company size, you know that and, like our question-asker, are on top of this principle. But, as a reminder, that’s principle #1 of sponsorship searching: know your audience and your assets. Know what you have...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Sep 1, 2016 | Racing Sponsorship
Have you seen Gary Vaynerchuk’s recent video titled August? From talking with some of you on coaching calls, I know that he’s pretty polarizing. I personally like his no b.s. approach but I don’t subscribe to the business-over-life mentality. I was really happy when one of our great DirtyMouth Sponsorship Success Community members – hey Haley! – shared that video with the group, as I really feel it’s worth watching. If you have a few moments, I suggest you go do that. If not, here’s the general gist: August is the time when most people are sleeping and resting. They’re taking vacations or taking time off or focusing on getting the kids back to school, and they’re not focusing on their businesses. If you’re really devoted to being successful in business, you can use your August to hustle and show up in places and ways that other people aren’t. Although August is already past us, I wanted to relate that back to a few racing conversations I’ve had over the past few weeks. Because I feel that September is a really big month for racers: In the short term, September is when the pros really shine on the track. In the long term, September is where marketing pros put together their next season. Let’s talk short term first. As many race tracks close up shop on their weekly shows, racers that normally stick close to home have the opportunity to go out and race in specials. But, that’s only the case if they’re not out of money or equipment or energy. Those who plan their seasons to have enough equipment/money and energy, both in them...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Aug 11, 2016 | Thoughts and Rants
With the untimely passing of Bryan Clauson this week, it just doesn’t feel right to talk about the tactics of building a good racing program. As one of our own in the sprint car world, Bryan’s death has hit us hard. So, this week, I want to let go of the sponsorship, marketing and branding tactics and talk about something a little bit more personal: how Bryan influenced our lives and work. When the news was confirmed, both Carl and I searched for what to say. For me, it felt like it wasn’t my place to make it about me. But saying nothing – not sharing what he and his fiance Lauren unknowingly gifted us – didn’t feel right either. Finally, Carl told me to share what I had written that morning in my personal journey, as private and imperfect (and illegible) as it might be. Here’s what I wrote: “If we ever start to wonder if what we do matters, we should take a look at the life of Bryan Clauson. Our home is crushed today for his home. So much of our journey has been influenced by his. He was an inspiration not just to Carl as a racer, but as a person. He and Lauren inspired our business and the life that we have been working hard and sacrificing for. When we have had to dig deep to make decisions and take risks that were scary to us or those around us, it was BC and Lauren that we modeled. It is devastating to think that the path we have scraped and clawed to walk behind them...
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