Where all the fun happens.
Dropping knowledge left and right. But mostly left.
Matching your audience to a sponsor’s target (with real, live numbers!).
One of the most common pieces of advice you’ll hear is that you should be targeting potential sponsors or marketing partners whose target demographics match with the audience you reach.
In essence, the company should want to reach the people who are interested in you. Your audience should be their target.
When we think about the people who are interested in you, most of us instantly think about fans as that demographic. And that’s a great place to start. But there are other people who pay attention to what you say, from your other/current marketing partners, manufacturers and retail shops that you work with, other racers you mentor or share shop space with, and media outlets.
For example, you might be featured often in a magazine or newspaper that the potential marketing partner would also like to be referenced in. Another example? The company you’re looking to work with may also want to do business with a current sponsor.
In an ideal marketing relationship, you’re the linchpin between the company and who they want to work with.
When you’re brainstorming companies to connect with, or, hopefully, you may already be connected with, for your sponsorship program, knowing who your audience is can be a great first step to matching it up.
So how do you form the picture of your audience?
You probably already have a decent feeling for who you’re reaching. But here are a few tips for how to paint a solid picture:
- Think about what kind of people surround your car on an average night. Are they young or old, male or female, blue collar or white collar? What are their interests outside of racing?
- Think about the people who buy your shirts, respond to your social media updates, and cheer for you in the stands. Some are easier to picture than others, but talk to your crew, owner and significant other – anyone who consistently attends your races – to find out what they see.
- Consider the non-fan demographics and list:
- Any businesses you’re a regular customer of, racing-related and not
- Your current marketing partners
- Media outlets or reporters that you receive coverage from
- Businesses that your day job touches, if you have one
- Anyone else that pays attention to what you say. This might include younger racers that look up to you, churches and community organizations you’ve worked with
- Run the numbers (more below).
In racing sponsorship, we don’t often get the chance to attach numbers to our programs. But it is possible to get very clear on exactly who is in one segment of your audience: your Facebook community.
If you have a dedicated Facebook Fan page for your race team (not a ‘friend’ or individual profile, which I highly recommend switching from ASAP if you use one), you can use Facebook analytics to get a good idea of who’s engaging with your content online.
Here are the (simple) steps:
- On your fan page, you’ll see the Insights Tab on the header. Click there.
- Click on the People Tab in the sub-header.
- There, you can view information on people who like your page, are reached by your post and engage with your post. You can see their gender and age, country, city and language.
Between all of those metrics, you should be able to get a good idea of who’s paying attention to you and brainstorm some companies or industries that would be interested in reaching them.
Have another tip for identifying your audience? Share below!
Best,
Kristin
P.S. Thanks to everyone who entered to win Creativity for Sale: How I Made $1,000,000 Wearing T-Shirts and How You Can Turn Your Passion Into Profit, Too. I put all of the entries and bonuses into an Excel spreadsheet and used Random.org to generate a number. Congrats to winner Ron MacDonnell – check your email for details on how to get your copy!
Paying for Your Passion + Book Giveaway!
Note: Make sure you look for information at the bottom of the post on the giveaway!
I’m not sure if it’s reading that makes me feel like a vacation or a vacation that makes me feel like 
reading. Right now, I’m on vacation (for longer than a weekend – the first time since 2008!) and it never fails – when I’m not working directly on my business, I get more ideas and inspiration than probably the entire rest of the year.
One of the reasons? I read and listen to almost anything I can get my hands on. Some of it is business-related, some of it racing – I read a great article on Cory Kruseman in Sprint Car and Midget and another on this guy named Carl Bowser in Flat Out Magazine on the plane yesterday– and some of it just for fun.
This summer, I was sent a copy of Creativity for Sale by author Jason SufrApp and I was able to take it in over the course of a few long tows to Fremont Speedway and Wayne County Speedway.
If you’ve got a crazy business idea like, oh I don’t know, racing, this is practically a manual for you.
Jason talks about building his own million-dollar business by wearing t-shirts and other silly things at iwearyourshirt.com. The book is part his own story – having a crazy idea and figuring out how to make money at it – and part a manual for others to do the same.
As the winter months approach, you might be looking for new material to dig into to inspire your racing program. To help you out, I’m giving away a copy – digital or paperback, your choice – of Creativity for Sale.
I feel like I can pull something out of almost everything I read to apply to racing, but it is especially true for this book. My favorite part? There are two. The first is actually acting on your crazy idea and building a business to pay for your passion. The second is that you can’t just build it – they won’t come. You have to tell people about it.
The book is relatively entry-level in terms of building a business, but I love Jason’s tips and stories about how to build buzz both at the beginning, when people still think you’re crazy, and once you get things up and running.
I think you’ll enjoy the story and learn a lot about standing out from the crowd with Creativity for Sale: How I Made $1,000,000 Wearing T-Shirts and How You Can Turn Your Passion Into Profit, Too.
If you’d like to win a copy of Jason’s book, here’s how you can do it (by midnight Wednesday, October 15, 2014):
- Leave a comment below answer this question: what are the biggest challenges you’re facing off the track and can you give an example of something you’d like to do to remedy that this offseason? Brownie points, but no brownies (I wish!), for specificity.
- Get a second entry if you’re subscribed to the DirtyMouth email community. Not on the list yet? Join below – you’ll get max one email per week with tips and tricks to make your racing dream a reality, and, of course, your email is never sold or abused.
- Finally, earn third (and fourth) entry if you share on Twitter and Facebook. Share buttons are below!
I’ll add up your entries on October 15th and use random.org to generate a winner, announced on Thursday, October 16th!
Xo. Kristin
P.S. The Dirt Classic Presented by Kasey Kahne was a huge success. Thanks to everyone who supported the event, and I can’t wait to tell you all about what I learned!
You’re in the right place. + The Dirt Classic Presented by Kasey Kahne
You’ve come to the right place. That’s what I’m about, in business and life. Whether I’m opening the door to my house or welcoming you to my website, that’s what I want people, my kind of people, to feel.
You’re in the right place.
That’s one of the million reasons that I’m excited for this weekend. On Saturday, we’re launching what we hope will become the first annual Dirt Classic Presented by Kasey Kahne at Lincoln Speedway, a $20,000-to-win sprint car race that has been, let’s just say, very well-received by both racers and fans already.
And the goal? To make every single person who walks through the gates feel like they’re in the right place.
Maybe that’s not how my friends on the Dirt Classic team, from Jarrod Adams of Adams Investing to Alan Kreitzer of Lincoln Speedway to Kasey himself, might describe it, but that’s one of my main goals.
I believe that events become great because of the experience, and the feelings it invokes. For this race, our shared vision is to create an unrivaled experience.
For me, that’s not just the action on the track – the thrill of side-by-side racing, slide jobs and last-lap passes. It’s sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with fans that share the same passion as you do. It’s racing against some of the best in the business, pitting next to a new competitor. It’s listening to music with your family, seeing the joy on a kid’s face when he gets a decal or an autograph, and trading racing stories with old friends.
If you’re a race fan, driver, promoter, team owner or manager at a speed shop, you have an opportunity to make your customers feel like they’re in the right place every time they interact with you. From the way you greet them the first time they walk through the door (or up to you at the track) to your tweets and Instagrams, you create an experience , your experience, that attracts your type of people.
When you think about what you want in racing and in life, I’d encourage you to consider what kind of people are your people and what kind of experience you want them to have. And then work to create that.
You’ll have to accept that it will never be perfect – but that’s life. And do your kind of people want perfect, anyway? Probably not. Neither do my people.
They just want you and me, and what we bring to this (racing) world.
And for that, I am grateful.
Xo,
Kristin
“Keep Grindin’, Man.”
Over the weekend, Carl and I were blessed to be able to take part in the annual Children’s Hospital Heart-to-Heart Picnic hosted by Turner Dairy Farms. I had an inkling that I’d be inspired by the families affected by heart conditions and their caregivers, but I got a bit of inspiration in an unexpected place.
Some of the volunteers included members of the football team at Seton Hill University. Many of them had never seen a racecar before in person, but some knew about sprint cars because of the recent media coverage. When there was a break in the action they came over to ask Carl questions. They were respectful and genuinely curious.
One player asked if Carl was a professional. When Carl said no, he asked if that was what he was working towards. Carl said yes. His reaction really caught me off guard.
He broke into a big smile, nodded and said, “Keep grindin, man.” 
He probably didn’t think much of it, but I was so touched by this little nod of encouragement for someone else’s dream.
It’s easy to become jaded when you’re consistently talking about racing with other racing people. At first, it seems like everyone is in it together. And we really are. But when you get a taste of success, you may get a reminder that the people you’re talking to are often the same people you’re competing with. Some of them react to ambition and success negatively, as if there’s only so much to go around.
- “You’re so lucky.”
- “Must be nice.”
- “You want to ____? Good luck with that.”
- “Aren’t you happy with what you already have?”
It’s easy to focus on the few negative comments that you hear when you put yourself out there and strive for a goal, whether they come from other racers, relatives, co-workers or members of your church.
Because when you’re striving to achieve something, big or small, self-doubt is a natural part of the process.
- Do I have enough [brains, muscle, skill, money] to do this?
- Am I going to lose the support of my [mom, friend, wife, brother] if I keep pushing?
- What if I put in all that [time, effort, heart] and it doesn’t work out?
As I’ve written before, I generally believe that we see what we’re looking for. And that goes for hearing, too. When we have that little bit of natural self-doubt that comes with ambition, that’s sometimes all of what we hear.
So when you feel like all you’re hearing is crappy, backhanded insults, stop looking for feedback in the same places. Talk to someone else who’s working hard for something, even if it’s something completely different than your dream – like a business, a college degree or a football career.
Look for inspiration instead of negativity, and you’ll find it. But above all else?
Keep grindin, man.
Xo. Kristin
P.S. Tell me how you stay inspired in the comments below. Gotten some great encouragement? Share that, too.
P.P.S. We’re almost half-way through September, which is when many companies start looking at their marketing budgets for the next year. I wrote a post last year about it preparing sponsorship materials now that you might find helpful.
How do you know? You measure.
How do you know if you’re the best racing wife ever? Well, you obviously look at the racing-wife-scale and see where you match up.
Oh wait. There isn’t one. (Unless we live together. In that case, even the dog knows where I rank.)
Unlike marriage, there are ways in racing, and in business, to know if you’re improving. You might be winning more races. Or finishing more races. Or feeling more comfortable in the car – whatever’s important to you.
But how do you know for sure? You measure.
Because you can’t improve what you don’t measure.
Think that’s baloney? The entire basis of our sport rests on who crosses the finish line first, then second, and so on. Our performance is measured every single night. It’s up to us if it’s measured that one time in that one way or many times over in other ways.
So why can’t you improve without measurement? Anyone who wants to achieve a certain goal (hint: setting a measurable goal is the real first step) has to know where they’re starting from. And they have to know what constitutes improvement towards that goal and what factors actually matter.
And that last point is the real key: you have to focus on measuring and improving what actually affects the overall goal.
For example: if you’re looking to be more attractive to sponsors active on Twitter, keeping daily track of your Instagram followers isn’t a helpful act of measurement. You can improve that number without making progress on your overall goal. Measuring Twitter followers is the first step.
In racing, there are countless things we can measure. Shock pressure, weight, fuel consumption, ride heights…you get the picture. Some of us swear by lap times; some adjust by air density readings.
I’m not suggesting you go crazy and measure every single thing. I don’t know how many other ladies in racing enjoy a pocket protector.
What I am suggesting is that you pick a few things that directly relate to your performance and start measuring them. In the Twitter example, you could also measure how many tweets you send, how many retweets they get, what types of tweets get the most retweets, etc.
In time, you’ll begin to find ways to improve what you’re measuring. That, in turn, will affect your overall performance.
Can I get a cha-ching?
Xo. Kristin
P.S. What are you measuring? Get after it by telling us in the comments section below.
A man with tools (and a plan).
If Dave Despain called today and said he’d like to feature you on his show tomorrow, could you make money from that opportunity?
Most people would say ‘yes’.
But, even though thousands and thousands of people will have seen your face, your name
and, hopefully, your message…the publicity itself doesn’t pay. You won’t make a penny directly from being on television with Dave Despain – or Oprah herself, for that matter.
Sure, that’s obvious to most of us. But our career or business will improve based on that publicity, right?
You have to have tools in place to capture the opportunity. Or else your television appearance will soon be a distant memory with no dollars to show for it.
One of the biggest differences between those who are already successful and those who aren’t is that they have a plan in place to capture opportunities.
Most of them have:
- Social media accounts
- A navigable website
- A product, like apparel or an event ticket, and a way for people to purchase it
- A way for potential partners to get in touch with them
And the ones that are really doing it right make all these things work together with an integrated plan.
See, opportunities (like t-shirt sales and potential sponsors) are lost if you don’t have some way to capture them in the moment.
Humor me this scenario:
When an announcer says your name over the loudspeaker, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the stands that hear it. As soon as he or she is done talking about you, people will begin to forget.
But many of them will be sitting there on their smartphones, checking to see if you have a Twitter account in between races. If they’re inclined to a different network, they might check Facebook or Instagram. They’ll look at what they see, and decide to follow you or not follow you.
If they’re still interested, they may go home and pull up your website the next day. They’ll check out your stats, read your latest news and click through your pictures.
If they’re still interested –you’ve created a real fan – then, after a few weeks or months, they’ll look for an opportunity to support what you’re doing in a bigger way. They’ll see if they can buy your apparel, help you win a social-proof contest or sponsor your team.
See how that timeline works? Almost every deal I’ve ever personally worked on has gone done a strikingly similar path.
The key is to have those pieces in place. If you’re not on social media, they may be interested enough in you to search for your website. Or vice versa. Don’t have apparel? Don’t have a sponsorship program in place? You’re likely going to miss out on opportunities to support your dream.
It’s intimidating, whether you’re just starting out or have been in the game for a while, to create and maintain a lot of tools that don’t directly make you go faster.
So just start.
It won’t be perfect – you’ll change it many, many times – but you have to start somewhere. And then keep building.
Xo. Kristin
P.S. Just starting out? Or just starting to build? Share what you need support for – a Twitter handle, a Facebook page, whatever you’d like – and I bet the community (and I!) can give you some love.
Connect!