Where all the fun happens.
Dropping knowledge left and right. But mostly left.
Make buying easy.
For most of us in racing, time is a limited resource.
We don’t lack ability, smarts or awareness. It’s time that stops us from doing anything more than getting our day-to-day tasks done. It’s time that stops us from being proactive about marketing, interacting on social media, and pitching new partnerships.
That’s why much of what I write focuses on two things: doing things better and making them easier. (Here’s a popular post on making it easy for others to help you sell yourself and tell your story.)
As a person who owns a home, runs a business and is elbows-deep in a race team, I make a lot of buying decisions. And I have a few criteria that I weigh when I decide where to buy what I need: connection, convenience and cost.
Last week, when I needed contacts I had to decide whether to order from a) my eye doctor or b) an online retailer. Here’s how I weighed my buying decision:
Connection: I love my eye doctor, and I’d like to support her. I have no connection with an online retailer.
Cost: My contacts cost between 40 and 50% less when I buy them online.
Convenience: When I order from my eye doctor, I have to pick up the phone during their limited hours and explain to them what I want to order. They usually don’t know how long they’ll take. I wait for a phone call to say they’ve arrived. When I get the phone call, I have to find a time within their limited office hours to pick them up. They call every single day after they’ve arrived to ‘remind’ me to drive to their office. It’s a huge hassle when I’m juggling a packed schedule. My other option? Take 5 minutes to place my order online and know exactly when they’ll arrive at my door. Boom, it’s that easy.
The clinching point, and my money, goes to the online retailer in this case because, at this time of the year, convenience is hands-down the most important thing to me. Convenience is my easy button.
Your customer will have a similar set of criteria when deciding where to spend their money with you or your competition.
I really, really prefer to buy from businesses that I connect with. And so do your customers. And I’m willing to spend more to do that. I’m guessing some of your customers do that, too. But do you make it easy for them to buy from you? Do you even know what they find easy?
For some, a decision becomes easy because it’s affordable. (Example? It might be cheaper to take their family to your track’s fireworks show than one downtown, where they pay a premium for parking, food, etc.)
For others, it’s easy because they have a connection with you or your product. (Example? Sponsors aren’t necessarily interested in winning drivers. They’re interested in drivers who connect with their brand and fan base.)
For others, it’s has to be an easy, convenient process. (Example? Your track or team takes away the obstacles to buy. That might include taking credit cards, offering a clear marketing menu to choose from, providing appealing food options, etc.)
If you know who your customer is, you should know what will make their decision to spend money with you easy.
And I’ll give you a hint: the customers who tend to spend the most money or generate the most business for you – your marketing partners and VIP’s – are mostly focused on what’s convenient. They don’t want to come up with a plan and have you execute it. They’ll invest if you do the work up front and make it convenient for them to choose you.
How can you make that decision or process easy for them?
Xo.
Kristin
Making Waves vs. Making Ripples
If you’ve been following DirtyMouth for long, you know that I’m passionate about making waves in the racing industry. My goal with everything I do, from coaching and seminars to promoting and consulting, is to help us all make the sport stronger with positive change, now and in the future.
So I bet you think you know what this post is about: making waves.
In this case, I think a lot of you will be happy to know that you’re wrong. Today I want to talk about making ripples.
But who cares about ripples when other are making waves? Me, and I’ll tell you why.
When you first start out in racing, or in anything else for that matter, you’re a beginner. From your first job to your first time playing a video game, you generally start out at zero.
And when you work at something new, you start improving. In fact, the harder you work, the more you improve. You go from tiny steps to leaps and bounds.
It’s easy to see this with rookie racers. Most struggle to make their first laps. But after some experience, they start to improve.
Once they get the car under them, they quickly shave a large chunk of time off of their laps. Then they finish their first race and begin making passes. When you get a little bit of skill and confidence, you can quickly go from last to, well, not last.
That’s making waves.
But as you get better and better, those huge improvements taper off. You might only shave two seconds off your best lap on a good night. After more experience, it’ll reduce to one. And eventually, when you’ve hit a comfortable stride, your improvement will likely plateau completely.
And that’s when it seems like the sea is calm.
That’s the tipping point for many of us. When it seems like we can’t improve any more, some just accept status quo and maintain.
But if you want to get to the next level, you have to accept that the waves of change are going to start to look like ripples.
The better you get, the more subtle your improvement will be.
The ripples will sneak up on you. You won’t always improve on the same scale as you did at first, and your brain knows that. But it’s difficult to notice the little things that you begin to improve on after the waves you’ve just ridden.
That’s making ripples.
World of Outlaws Champion Donny Schatz continues to test dozens of times each year. He’s not looking for five seconds. He’s looking for half a tenth. Or a faster pit stop. An easier component to maintain. Or a more comfortable posture.
He’s looking to improve details that don’t even cross the average sprint car driver’s mind. Things that you and I probably can’t even conceive of.
He’s looking for the subtleties and the nuances. And that’s why he’s one of the best.
He’s making ripples.
The better you get, the less drastic your improvement will be. So if you feel like you’re not getting better but you’re working at it, you’re probably (delightfully) wrong.
You just have to look for the ripples.
Xo.
Kristin
How long will it take to succeed in racing?
When you’re trying to do something great, whether that’s run a race team or build a business, you have to commit. That’s not news. Most of us in racing know all about commitment.
Sometimes I feel like I’m committed. Sometimes I feel like I need to *be* committed.
You can’t just build a team or buy a race track and try it for a few weeks. You have to commit, up front, with time, sweat and money.
We don’t have a problem with commitment when it comes to the racing part of the business.
One of the biggest mistakes I see in racing, though, is a lack of commitment to marketing. To building an audience.
We build racing properties then try our hands at a few press releases, tweets, advertisements or another method for getting the word out. We stick with it for a few weeks, maybe a few months, and when the opportunities don’t come knocking, we quit.
It happens all the time.
Racing is a demanding sport, no matter what side of it you’re on. It’s easy to imagine that you’re wasting time building that audience, and decide to put that time and effort into the actual racing.
But if I gave up after a year of blogging, I would have missed some big opportunities. Huge ones. Some of which you know about, like the Dirt Classic, and some of which you don’t. At least not yet.
And most, if not all, of them came from my writing.
But do you know how long I wrote to no audience before that happened? A really, really long time.
For over a year, I spent hours – sometimes over multiple days – crafting a blog post to release each and every Thursday. For five subscribers at first. Then I cracked ten. Now, I’m in the hundreds.
And I’m not sure when that audience will feel large. Maybe never.
Starting out, I couldn’t have known that it would take six months, one year or even three years of blogging to attract the right type of clients. I didn’t know how long I’d have to work, write and promote to get a break.
But I do know that if I hadn’t stuck with it, I wouldn’t have a business now.
How long do you have to before it pays off? I don’t know. You don’t know.
I only know that the longer you stick with it, the more likely it is to result in a ride, a marketing partner, a piece of amazing press, a new fan, packed pits, or any other positive metric.
If you committed to your marketing program like you commit to your racing, how many more opportunities do you think you’ll have? Infinite, if you ask me.
Xo,
Kristin
Growing the Sport with Grassroots Marketing
When I worked in the NFL, one of my primary responsibilities was to create out-of-the-box opportunities for fans to connect with the team and players. Mostly, this was through media and community relations opportunities.
For example, one of Vernon Davis’ interests is fashion. So I worked to secure pieces in high-end fashion magazines for Davis to show off his style.
It might seem frivolous – does an NFL player really need more PR? Especially that of the fashion world? Maybe not.
But, how many fashion magazine readers get exposed to the NFL every day? Probably not many. It was an opportunity to reach a potential new fan in a place they’re already putting their attention.
Getting new fans for any sport or cause often requires thinking outside the box. But it doesn’t have to be hard.
It does require some thought, research and ingenuity. Because you have to reach people where they’re already spending their time, attention and money.
Getting to the point…last week I wrote an article that got a lot of (mostly) positive response. As excited as I am about the future of racing, there are some places in the country where tracks and drivers are struggling. In my opinion, it’s not the racing itself that needs fixed to solve that problem. We have a great product. It’s the marketing that’s not working.
And I said I’d give you a few ways that you can help grow the sport through grassroots marketing.
[Note: Grassroots marketing is a free or low-cost strategy that starts from the ground up. It often utilizes unconventional or nontraditional methods in order to get a message out through a group of existing fans. It’s perfect for grassroots racing.]Talk it up. Whether that’s on social media or in your daily life, don’t hesitate to talk about going to the race track. When you express interest and excitement about racing at your job, church, family functions or massage appointment (yes, we’ve gotten our massage therapist to the track!), you’ll inspire others to ask questions. And that’s the first step in getting their interest piqued.
Invite others. This is the next, obvious step to growing the sport: getting new people to the race track. Invite your neighbors, co-workers, family and friends. Know a family that would like an activity for their kids? Invite them. Most tracks have free admission for kids, so it’s cheaper than, say, a movie. And once you get kids to a race track? They’re hooked.
Always feel like you’re missing functions? Suggest the race track as a venue. I guarantee that your local track has a pavilion or picnic area that you could use for the family reunion, kids’ birthday party, Fourth of July celebration, or any other weekend event that you usually have to skip for racing duties.
Reach the kids. Speaking of…appealing to kids is one of the most underrated ways to get people to the track in my opinion. What parent hasn’t pulled into a McDonald’s because their kids wouldn’t stop begging to go there? I know mine did. When kids have an interest, they are obsessed. Since-focused. They will wear their parents out to do what they want to do. Imagine if that was your race track?
Whether you’re a driver or a promoter, it’s easy to setup opportunities to reach kids. Carl has visited schools, vacation bible camps, and charity events, even birthday parties, because kids love race cars and race car drivers. Now, we run into those kids’ families at the race track – many of whom have never been there before. We don’t see a direct return from that – the tracks do – but it makes our sport stronger (and our sponsors happy!).
Encourage the media to cover it. When I see a great piece on racing, I do one of the following: Share it. Comment on it. Email the author thanking them for taking the time to write it.
It’s a reporter’s job to write pieces that people are interested in. Whether they write for a newspaper or record video for an online magazine, their job is to get and keep a fan’s attention. If you don’t support that and encourage it, they won’t continue to cover it. And every piece of coverage is an opportunity to reach a new fan.
Get other businesses involved. Almost every company does something for employee appreciation. Every charity has a group of passionate volunteers that supports them. Local restaurants, gas stations, and hotels benefit from the presence of a race track. But when you talk to most of them, they’ve never even been to the track. Reach out and try to change that. They’re much more likely to recommend you to their other customers if they know who you are and what you stand for.
Give away tickets. There are so many reasons why I feel this One of the guys I see having the most success with grassroots marketing right now is Roger Hadan of Eagle Raceway. My favorite promotion of his? His ticket giveaways. Each year, Roger and his staff give a pack of tickets to each banquet attendee. They’re encouraged to distribute these tickets to people who have never seen them race before to encourage new fans. Roger doesn’t just stop at counting how many of these tickets come back. He even goes so far as to track what driver brought those fans in, and gives that driver a bonus. Can you imagine the impact on his bottom line?
Let’s talk about worst case scenario, because that’s where many people will go first. Worst case: the drivers give those tickets to people who already attend. If you got a free ticket to a race track that you normally paid for, would you hesitate to spend money in the concession stand? Nope. Heck, you’re up on the night. You’re more likely to buy a beer, buy little Johnny the ice cream he always wants, upgrade to a pit pass or purchase a driver’s shirt.
As a promoter, I can tell you that the faster you realize that the show costs the same whether there is one fan in the stands versus 10,000, the better off your marketing will be. Those bleachers are sunk costs. So you can charge people a lot of money to sit in them and then try to entice them to give you more for food and apparel. Or you can use ticket giveaways strategically to create a fun, happy, profitable atmosphere.
Be positive (to a point). Who wants to be around someone who thinks they’re perfect? No one. It’s annoying. It might seem logical to advise you to be positive no matter what. Who hasn’t heard that negative feedback only hurts the sport and turns new people off, right? I agree, but only to a point.
My take: if you’re going to talk, be positive while keeping accountability. We’re not perfect, and if we pretend to be, people will be seriously turned off. We’re an approachable sport, and admitting that we love what we do but don’t always get it right is important for encouraging people to join us. I’m not perfect, you’re not perfect, a new fan isn’t perfect. Let’s be friends.
Ask for help. While there’s plenty of lamenting about not enough young people being involved, there are still plenty of young people in the sport who are willing to help you grow it. Whether you hire an intern or just recruit a college student to your team, I guarantee you they know how to get other people’s attention and they’d be excited to help you do it. Even if they’re not going to college for marketing, video production, PR or communications, they know how to use social media, film a video or take a beautiful photo. If they’re specializing, they can probably show you how to build an app, create an SMS campaign or design a nice, functional website.
If all else fails, call me. I’ve got plenty of proven ideas that you could use as a driver, track or sponsor to get more people to your local race track, and I’d be happy to help.
Because more fans = more tickets, more apparel sales, more sponsors and more future drivers. Our sport depends on it.
xo.
Kristin
P.S. Have more? Feel free to share. We can all benefit from more ideas.
It’s not the racing that’s broken. It’s the marketing.
Me? I have never been more excited about the future of racing. And a lot of that has to do with people like you, who are working to improve the sport we love.
This is me trying to make a smackdown face. *Cue laughter.*
But in many areas, the sport is suffering. Car counts are down. The purses are the lowest in the country. And ticket prices keep going up.
And how many discussions have you overheard, or been a part of, in which someone suggests changes to the actual racing program in order to fix the problem?
The stands would be more full each week if we:
- Add another division.
- Get rid of heat races.
- Change the number of laps.
- Do qualifying instead of pill draws.
- Make the racing more exciting in fill-in-the-blank way.
People today – (P.S. I love that phrase. What else could we be? Time travel!) – want shiny and new. They can’t pay attention as long as they used to. We have to give them a reason to put their phones down. Etcetera.
That’s the consensus, if you ask many.
But here’s my opinion: the racing itself does not need to be fixed. It’s the marketing that hasn’t evolved as fast as the fans have.
Every day, I talk to people who are involved in racing. Whether they are a group of fans at a mall show or clients on our regular conference calls, I’m exposed to a wide variety of people in racing.
People are no less passionate about racing today than they were back in the good ol’ days of big purses and packed stands. There are just less of us than before.
And that’s where marketing comes in.
If you wanted to combine my favorite sport – racing – with my spirit vegetable – pumpkin – this would be the analogy:
Let’s say that you sell pumpkins. And you want to make more money. Or just make as much money as you used to, when the market was booming.
Your first thought might be, how can I grow bigger pumpkins? Let’s fatten the ones up that we already have. Fatter pumpkins bring in more money.
But there’s a limit to how big pumpkins can get before they burst.
If you want your pumpkin patch to be more successful, you don’t try to grow fatter, tastier pumpkins. You grow more pumpkins.
We, race fans, are pumpkins. And we’re already pretty round and tasty. We will continue to spend our money at the race track, just like we have for years.
We have fully bought in to the weekly program and the special events. And many of us are can’t afford to be fatter pumpkins. Some fans are financially tapped out.
To be successful? The sport needs more new fans. And we need drivers, tracks, promoters, retailers, media and current fans to make that happen.
And marketing is how we’ll do that. Look out for next week’s post for some ideas on how you can help grow the sport.
Xo.
Kristin
P.S. Disagree? Love pumpkins, too? Tell me what you think.
Do your best, let go of the rest.
In the past few weeks, we’ve talked a lot about hitting the ground running and practical ways to get ahead of your off-the-track work before the season heats up.
For many of you, the season has already started. For some, it’s still weeks away. Either way, there’s not much time left to prepare.
Now, it’s time to produce.
This is what we live for. It’s what gets us through the winter and keeps us working towards our goals.
It’s racing season.
And in all of the excitement and anticipation, one of the things we often forget is the challenges that we’ll face. On and off the track.
Racers will bust shocks on a rough cushion. The concession stand freezer will break and the beer will get warm. The trackside truck will get a flat tire on the way. The server will go down just as your pay per view goes live.
It’s inevitable. And it’s not easy – the days when everything goes wrong. All the work you’ve done seems wasted.
And there’s nothing you can do about it now.
As scary as it seems, the work is all we can control. The results will reflect our hard work and preparedness some days, and they won’t on others.
The others, though, are where character is built. Those days are part of our story, too. Sometimes a big part of our story. And that matters.
So show up. Do your best, and let go of the rest.
Smile through it, if you can. You might just make some new fans and friends. You never know when someone else is letting go of their ‘rest’, too.
Xo.
Kristin
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