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Ten Things to Do Now to Impact Your Entire Season
Whether you’re a track promoter or a team owner, things are about to get real. Real busy, that is.
With the racing season upon us, nights in the garage / at the track are going to get longer and the time you can devote to ‘extras’ – what marketing is, like it or not, to many of us – becomes shorter and shorter.
It’s really easy, and common, to hit July or August before you order your apparel, get around to inviting sponsors (or potential marketing partners) to the track, or realize you missed a holiday promotion you wanted to run. It happens to all of us (or maybe just me).
Buckle down for a bit now – reap the benefits all year long.
So, I put together a list of ten things that you can handle, or schedule, now, while you still have at least a little bit of breathing room, so that your season runs smoothly and you reach your goals for the season without overloading the last few race weekends of the year with everything you forgot about earlier.
- Social media channels – If you don’t have them setup already, please do it now. (And, if that’s the case, just pick one and do that well to start with. Then branch out as you get your social-media-sea-legs.) If you’ve been quiet all winter, it’s time to stretch those thumbs and start putting information out about your first event, any partner news you have and your 2016 car or apparel designs, for example. If you’ve been active this whole time, bravo! You’re in the minority, but you’re surely a #DirtyMouther indeed! (P.S. Need guidance for your social channels? Check out the Social Media blog category for tons of free information here.
- Calendar – One of the best things I ever did for myself was actually log our intended racing schedule into my calendar. Yes, I know we race two nights a week. And I know when most of our mid-week specials are off the top of my head, too. But taking it out of my brain and putting it on a calendar made a huge difference in terms of scheduling my own workflow, knowing when I had to book hotels and flights and so much more. I use Google’s calendar which I can share with our team, marketing partners and family members, so that they can see our schedule as well. It’s worth the hour it takes now, for reasons that we’ll also talk about later.
- Apparel – If you’re planning on ordering apparel for the season, aim for a delivery right before some of the biggest apparel-selling weekends of your season. Then, work backwards to build in a few weeks for design and printing. If you’re planning on debuting your apparel at, say, the Firecracker weekend at Lernerville Speedway in June, you probably want to get the ball rolling in early May. If your big event is at the King of the Carolinas, for example, at Carolina Speedway in October, though, I’d plan on ordering in July or August so that you can start chipping away at sales ahead of that event. You don’t want to sit on inventory all winter. Put the order date on your calendar.
- Promotions – Want to do a Mother’s Day, Father’s Day or Memorial Day themed giveaway? Now’s the time to block out when that work is going to happen on your calendar. If it’s as simple as creating a graphic two weeks out, then put that reminder on your calendar. Maybe you’re doing a discount code on your website that your programmer will need time to set up? Give her a month’s notice, if possible. Put everything you can think of in terms of seasonal promotions on your calendar and back the work out so that you’re not rushing around at the last moment in an attempt to execute it well.
- Financials – Do yourself and your accountant, or wife (<- if Carl ever goes missing during tax season, I really don’t think a jury of my peers would convict me…), a huge favor by keeping track of your financials from the beginning. It can be as simple as creating a manila folder for receipts and check stubs or setting up a full-on budgeting spreadsheet. Try to do something now to keep your program in line before it gets out of hand so you don’t run out of money in July.
- Sponsorship acquisition – Oh yeah. Remember that time I told you that attracting marketing partners happens year round? And budgets are often determined in August and September of the year before? Seems like you’d have to be on your game to be pitching potential marketing partners about halfway through the year, then, right? Right. I know, it’s lofty. But if you build in time (say, an hour every single Sunday of the year?) to consistently work on attracting new partners and fulfilling the activation promises you’ve made to your current ones, you’d never fall behind. In fact, you’d be way ahead of your peers and you’d feel the benefits within a few months, in my opinion, if not right away with your current partners.
- Marketing materials – If you’re doing appearances, repping your partners at the track or in the community, and/or pitching new potential partners, you’re going to need marketing materials. This might include autograph cards, catalogs or materials that your partners will provide on request (schedule that, too!), sponsorship proposals, stickers, apparel and more. Build in a few weeks before you’ll actually need them, and put that date on your calendar so you don’t end up spending four times as much as you budgeted at Fedex Print Center after Overnight Prints forgets to overnight your prints multiple times. (Just me? Probably not. But my fault, nonetheless, for not putting it on the calendar.)
- Photos – If you’re creating marketing materials, putting information out on social media or updating your website, you’ll probably need photos. Nice ones. And not just of the car (or the cars on the track). Now’s the time to pick a photographer to either hire or ask to help you with acquiring those images. There are a lot of things to keep in mind on this front, but above all I would recommend two things: ask permission to use images, even if they were shared publicly, and pay the photographer to remove the watermark if you need to. Beyond illegal and being bad for your image, stealing photos is rude. Don’t be a jerk. Your mom is on Facebook and she taught you to have better manners than that.
- Team – Oh boy. Team morale might be at an all-time high (who’s ready for racing season?! *team cheers*) or low (WE’RE NOT READY FOR RACING SEASON! *crying*), dependeing on how you’ve handled the off-season. It’s time to welcome everyone back – whether you’re paying them to be there or not – and set a positive tone for the year. Treat them to some new team apparel, dinner or a simple ‘thank you in advance for all of the time you’re about to commit to my dream’. It makes a big difference. And schedule doing that again in the middle of the season and at the end, if you’re not doing it already.
- Hit the ground running – more suggestions, if you’ve got the time.
Ready to take 2016 by storm? Me, too.
xo.
Kristin
P.S. If you’re not already a member of the free DirtyMouth Sponsorship Success Community, feel free to join over here on Facebook. There are lots of great pieces of advice, articles from people other than me and words of encouragement to benefit from. And we have some exclusive happenings planned only for that group over the next month, so request access now to join the fun!
The Cold, Hard Math of Sponsor Acquisition
Sponsorship, in particular finding marketing partners, is one of the most popular topics on this blog and with my coaching clients, so it’s only natural that I get questions on that process frequently.
Today, I’d like to talk about the sponsorship outreach process, and the questions that I get on that, including some variation of:
- How many emails do I need to send to get a sponsor?
- I’ve sent emails and haven’t gotten a response. What do I do?
- Should I follow-up from those I haven’t heard back from?
Not a wink. Trying to see without glasses…
These are great questions. I’m all about actually taking action, and all of these questions imply that you’re already doing that.
My hat is off to you.
Unfortunately for anyone who doesn’t share my love of calculus, I’m going to answer this question with math. #NotSorry
If you have a goal, whether that’s a dollar amount you need to reach or a number of partners you’d like to work with, that’s obviously the number you want to work backwards from, whether that’s in initial outreach (Question #1) or follow-up (Questions #2 and #3).
For this exercise, let’s assume it’s one. Yep, just one, fantastic, voracious, enthusiastic partner that you can knock it out of the park for. Who will tell all of their business friends about. And love you forever. (Doesn’t sound bad, does it?)
So, the real question is: how do you get to that one?
Conversion Rates
In order to get to your one, you have to understand the concept of conversion rates. A conversion rate is the percentage of actions taken on an offer or another action.
For example, if 10 customers enter a store and see an offer and one person buys that product, the conversion rate is 10%.
Conversion rates are generally used to describe the buying process because you are converting a non-customer into a customer, but we can use it here to refer to a number of buy-ins. Just remember, it’s the number of actions taken in response to another action or offer.
Outreach Process
So, how do we apply that to our outreach process? Each action that we take is going to be met with a conversion rate.
Let’s talk about what that looks like for us in the sponsorship search:
- For each initial email sent, only a certain percentage of recipients will even open it. That’s your ‘open rate’. You won’t know what your open rate is until you start sending emails. Lots of them. And tracking that. (There are a number of ways to do that, including using a service like MailChimp or a GMail plugin.) For example, MailChimp says that the sports industry gets an average open rate of 26.03%. So, if you send out 100 emails, 26 people will open them.
- Of the people who open those emails, a certain percent will take the next action you ask of them. Is it to email you back? Call you? Click on a link for more information? Whatever you want them to do next, only a certain percentage will actually do that. As the ask gets bigger (for example, it’s easier to click a link than pick up the phone and call you), the percentage will go down. MailChimp says that the sports industry sees a 3.5% click rate. So, of those 100 initial emails, only roughly four people will click on a link.
- Every step beyond this has a conversion rate, so you need to consider it. Are you requesting a meeting? Are you asking for more information to submit a proposal? Only a certain percentage of the people will jump through that hoop and do the work you’re asking them to do, whether that’s giving you time, information, attention or money.
So, how many do you need to reach out to to get your one? That all depends on your conversion rates. Those are different for everyone, and you really won’t know until you start trying.
Let’s say your conversion rate drops by 5% per action for very rough illustration purposes:
- Initial email: 1,000 sends – 26% open rate – 260 opens
- Email response: 260 opens – 21% response rate – 60 responses
- Response converts to meeting/proposal presentation: 60 responses – 16% meeting schedule rate – 10 meetings
- Buys from presentation: 10 meetings – 11% conversion rate – 1 new marketing partner!
Terrifying to think about sending 1,000 emails to get to your one? Fingers hurting in anticipation? Already scheduling your Lasik appointment?
Fret not. There’s one other thing we’re not talking about:
Conversion Optimization
If you’re already thinking that there ought to be a big difference in open rate between the intelligently crafted emails you’re sending to perfectly aligned potential partners and the spammy cartoon chain letters Aunt Marge sends your entire DNA pool (seven years of bad luck! *forwards*), then you’re bang on, my friend.
That’s called ‘conversion optimization’.
See, well-crafted emails are going to get a better response rate than poorly-crafted ones. Easy calls-to-action get a better response rate than emails that ask someone to jump through a flaming hoop with a suitcase of the money you’re requesting in all quarters while avoiding the hungry lion on the other side.
So, if that 1,000 potential partners scares you, or if you want to work with more than one marketing partner, you can focus on one of two things:
- Increasing the number of people you reach out to, or
- Doing better outreach.
Which is also known as ‘increasing your conversion rate’.
If your conversion rate was 30% on email opens, then you’d have 40 more prospects who will potentially call you back. Increasing any one of those conversion rates will make a big difference in your overall sponsor acquisition process.
So how do you increase your conversion rate?
Here are ten things you can do to increase your conversions at any point in the process:
- Reaching out to relevant marketing partners
- Testing email subject lines
- Finding the right person in the company to reach out to
- Using an email address like Carl@CarlBowser.com instead of a GMail or Hotmail address <- more professional = more responses. And spell check. I could grammar and professional image you for DAYS.
- Keeping it short, and easy for them to understand what you’re asking them to do
- Testing the actual calls-to-action
- Customizing your email with research and details about them instead of you
- Relating your offer to what they actually need for their business (Need help with this? You might like our premium Crafting and Valuing Offerings Workshop.)
- Cohesive branding across your channels, from email to social media, your website and car design
- Presenting better, more professional proposals (Need help with this? You might want our premium Creating Effective Proposals training.)
And, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
So, if you’re doing outreach and not getting any responses, there are two things you can consider:
- You need to reach more people, and/or
- You can improve your outreach.
And, by all means, if you have reached out to someone who you feel is the PERFECT fit for your team and haven’t heard back? Follow-up with them in a polite, non-invasive way. Once. You have no idea how many emails people get every single day, and most people don’t have the intention of just ignoring you. A friendly reminder can help them respond to an email that they meant to hit reply on, but just didn’t have the time.
Do you like math now? Still no? Don’t fault an engineer for trying, but as long as you still like racing, that’s fine with me.
xo.
Kristin
The Racing Timeline + Drinking the Kool-Aid
Tensions can run high at this time of year, what with the anticipation of getting back to the track in the next few weeks juxtaposed by the terrifying feeling that you didn’t get ‘enough’ done in the offseason.
One thing that I find with coaching clients is that, despite the excitement that every new racing season brings, there is often a feeling of inadequacy that pops up around this time of year. We’ve had all winter to watch what everyone else is choosing to put out on social media, or – the horror! – not be able to see what they’re doing and wonder how far they’re getting ahead of us or what strides they’ve made that we haven’t!
We’ve been drinking the delightfully-censored-social-media Kool-Aid and now we have a comparison hangover.
I’ve been just as guilty as the next person, assuming others are working on the types of proactive projects that I’d like to complete and creating loads of content while I’m just trying to keep my head above water with my current workload.
What helps me? Thinking about where I’m at in the journey, without focusing on where I think I should be.
In other words, remember that no matter where you are with your program, there’s always someone ‘ahead’ of you and someone ‘behind’ you. But it’s not a ladder – it’s a timeline.
When you raced go-karts, at the same time there was a kid racing slot cars that wanted to actually sit in a race car. And there was also Steve Kinser.
Imagine an eight-year-old kart racer waking up every morning kicking himself that he isn’t on the World of Outlaws tour yet. I mean, how did Scott Bloomquist find the time to go on the road and grow that head of hair?!
‘He must be more motivated, a harder worker, more connected, and overall just better if he’s wheeling a late model and running a comb through those locks while I’m trying to change out of my footie pajamas in time for school, right?’
Ridiculous.
But when we get closer to achieving a goal we set out for, or making a major change, we act that way: it’s suddenly as if you’re on the bottom rung of the ladder. And, by the way, it’s all your fault.
I want you to remember this: timelines are horizontal, not vertical.
Evolution is a series of steps that come one after the other. There is no elevator.
So when you’re kicking yourself for not being where you think somewhere else is, remember that we’re all on the same timeline, working towards different next steps. And that’s okay.
My recommendation?
- Focus on the next thing that will make you better,
- Try to learn from someone who’s a step or two ahead of you, and
- See if you can pull someone who’s a step or two behind you forward.
To evolution!
xo.
Kristin
P.S. If you are ready to take the next step and learning about sponsorship is part of that journey for you, feel free to check out one of our workshops!
I got pitched. Here’s what happened.
Pitching. It’s an arduous and repetitive process, whether you’re throwing fastballs, trying to communicate the value of an offering to a potential partner, conveying a story to the media or the like.
I see a lot of these pitches, whether I’m reviewing them for clients or sending them out myself on behalf of our race team, one of our events or a client.
But I’m always intrigued when a pitch finds it’s way into MY inbox.
So, not exactly for fun but for learning experience, I thought we could review two pitches I got recently and tell you why I didn’t take the person up on their, ahem, ‘offer’.
I’ve blacked out any details that might incriminate or identify the guilty.
Unsuccessful Pitch #1:
Yep, that’s it.
You can probably spot the some of the problems with this pitch straight off the bat, but let me list them out for you:
- Used a contact form when my email is all over this website. This makes it difficult for a person to just hit reply – they have to copy and paste your email into their email service provider just to reply to your pitch. No.
- Didn’t use my name, even though it is also all over the website.
- Didn’t sign their name. Just a courtesy.
- Didn’t give me any information about his team and why I would be interested in sponsoring it.
- Didn’t provide any information about what kind of value I would receive in the relationship.
Basically, this pitch said, “Hey person, I want to talk to you about giving me money. And I’m putting the burden of finding out why on you. Copy and paste my email, person, to get in touch with me.”
If you’re here, I know you’re not sending this pitch. So we don’t need to belabor the point. Maybe he will read this some day and be helped. Probably not, though.
Unsuccessful Pitch #2:
Let me start you off with this bit of context: I’ve never met this person before. And, I received this message within 15 minutes of her requesting to connect with me on LinkedIn.
That’s the first point I’d like you to take away from this: if you’re pitching a potential sponsor or media member, make sure that pitch isn’t your first point of contact.
That being said, this pitch is significantly better than the first:
- She uses my name (spelled correctly!)
- She gives me her availability so if I did want to take her up on her offer to ‘educate’ me (sorry – I just can’t with that…), I wouldn’t have to play schedule-tag to work out the details.
- She signs her own name at the end.
- She mentions ‘helping me’. She doesn’t make it all about her and what she’s trying to sell me. That’s a great takeaway.
- She’s using a professional social media platform that helps me to give context to her and her pitch. I can see her full name and her photo. She’s a real person. I can now see her job title and work history, exactly what she does in her current position, recommendations by other real people and, possibly, the mutual connections we have between us. It’s easier for me to take this pitch much more seriously because I don’t have to do research to find out who she is. That’s a big plus, and something I want you to take away: your potential marketing partner or reporter will have to do research. But by having some context with previous content or by being on an appropriate platform, you can help add an implied layer of both trust and professionalism. Don’t take that lightly.
But, here’s what I wouldn’t recommend in this pitch, besides trying to sell me something within 15 minutes of meeting me:
- Again, if you tell a potential partner that you wanted to ‘educate’ them on the value of motorsports marketing, they would show you the door or the trash bin. I’m all about learning – I spend thousands of $$ each year on education so that I can pass that along to you – but I would be very careful on how you word that in an email. I’d suggest using the word ‘share’. It’s a partnership, right?
- Don’t ask for a referral before the person even knows what you do or why they should care enough to tell other people about it. This is a mistake I see made frequently – telling someone up front that if their offer isn’t right for them, they probably know someone it might be right for. The problem is that it’s true. The bigger problem is nobody wants to think that if they spend their time learning about an offer that they’ll then be pitched on selling it to someone else they know. We don’t make recommendations to friends, family or other people that trust us lightly. So springing that up front is a turn-off.
Successful Pitches:
Now, you know I’m all about being real and lifting up the industry, so I think two examples to take apart are enough. I applaud these two for even taking the time, energy and hutzpah to send the pitches in the first place.
But you and I both know that taking the initiative is not enough to sign the partners or get the news coverage that your team or track needs to be successful.
(Although you might be fooled by all the GoFundMe pages floating around on Facebook. *Screams silently and punches air.*)
So, let’s sum up what goes into a good pitch:
- Basic manners. Think about how you would talk to someone in real life. Even if you didn’t know the person’s name at first, you’d at least introduce yourself, right?
- Information that appeals to them. I like to use this formula: 20% this is what we do, 80% this is why it’s valuable to you.
- (Behind the scenes) research. I know why it’s valuable to that person, or can get pretty darn close, because I’ve done my research. I know the look and feel of the brand will match with what I’m pitching. I know, or can guess, what their goals are by the way they’re currently marketing themselves. I know who their audience is. And so it goes.
- A easy-to-take-up call-to-action. I know many people like to promise that they’ll follow-up on a certain day via phone, email or mail. I’m not in that camp. There’s nothing wrong with that theory, but it’s not for me. I don’t like to assume that the person has already taken the time to review my information and respond before I interrupt their day again. You do what’s comfortable for you. What I do? Make sure my contact information is easy to find, they have multiple methods of contact and I’m easy to do research on.
There are too many ways for a good pitch to go – ahem, because they’re all so unique and customized to the situation – for me to illustrate them today. If that’s something you’re interested in, though, let me know in the comments, via email (kristin@dirtymouthcommunications.com) or via this survey and if there’s enough interest I can put something together. (<- Calls-to-action in action. See what I did there?)
Go forth, and pitch with love, care and research.
xo.
Kristin
Turn people off. It works, believe me.
Have you ever heard the old adage: “if you try to appeal to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one?”
I believe it’s true.
I mean, some guys like big boobs. And they tell me some guys like small boobs. But news flash: no one can have both. Well, not a matching pair anyway. And I bet some people are into that, too.
Mind blown.
That’s why having boobs that everyone likes is literally impossible. (This analogy works on paper so just follow me here, people.)
But the biggest problem with ‘trying to please everyone’ isn’t just that it’s impossible.
The real issue is the trying part. Every girl knows that you can’t successfully grow real, perfect boobs by ‘trying’. You’ve just got to embrace what you were given. Or, get the fake ones that you think are the greatest – that’s fine, too.
Whatever you do, own it.
Sure, being real means that some people won’t like it. But the people who do like it – well, they’ll do you one better. They’ll love it.
And that’s why turning some people off is a good thing – a really good thing.
Every time I attend a big race, one where the crowd is really electric like at the Dirt Classic, I am completely delighted when someone starts booing a car.
Booing? YES!
You hate that car? They must have really done something to earn your obnoxious boos.
And doing something, anything interesting enough to earn some vocal hate, will also earn you some love from another fan. For the exact same reasons.
But doing nothing – walking the middle ground – so that you don’t upset anyone, ever, will get you exactly zero rabid fans.
Case in point: one of my favorite sprint car drivers growing up was Jac Haudenschild. That man does fast and out of control like nobody’s business. And I love it. Because that’s who he is and he doesn’t apologize for it. Wreckers or checkers…and he (mostly) gets it done.
But there are a lot of people who hate that about him. There are plenty of boos when he successfully pulls a slide job or unsuccessfully slingshots himself directly into the wrong spot.
Can you imagine if he dialed it back to get more fans to like him? Maybe took it down a notch and accepted second instead of making a bonsai move and risking the complete obliteration of his equipment (and that of a few cars behind him)?
Lame, I say.
That’s not who he is, and we know it. WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE, JAC.
Being more conservative might make him better on paper, but not in my heart.
Listen: you don’t have to drive a race car like a crazy person to be like-able or hate-able. You just have to stop trying to be everything to everyone and do things your way.
Let go of the idea that you have to be everything to everyone. Choose your line and pursue it without apology, whether that’s saying ‘no’ to certain types of marketing partners or ‘yes’ to a set of promotions at your race track.
If you’re not turning some people off with your brand, you’re probably not doing it right.
Because for every person that hates your choices, there’s another fan that will support you to the end of the earth.
And that’s way more valuable than a bunch of middle-of-the-road semi-fans who will forget you existed a year after you close up shop.
So here’s to the haters (and the boobs),
Kristin
P.S. How do you turn people off? Comments welcome.
My Favorite Tools and Resources for Tracks and Racers
As someone who does marketing for a living, I do my best to go out and consume a lot of content, products and services in order to learn about the craft. ‘It’s called market research…’, I tell my husband and my accountant.
I mean, it’s like taste-testing. It makes you a better host, I say, to ensure that your guests will enjoy that dessert. And if you need to taste-test an entire package of bacon or bowl of cookie dough, well, that’s between you and your spatula.
No judgement here, my friend.
One thing I notice, though, with marketing content is that there seems to be three types of bloggers: those who write to attract to new readers, those who write to serve their existing audience, and those who manage to do both.
Guess which one I aim to be?
And, thus, this post. While writing about tools and resources isn’t going to attract new customers, it is going to serve you – the people who are already here, lending me your precious time and attention.
So here we are.
(And, speaking of time and attention, if you’re a track that’s interested in getting more in-depth on setting up tools and systems to market yourself throughout this season, we have a free workshop coming up next week on Thursday, March 10th at 10am EST. You can sign up here. Can’t make it live? We’ll provide a replay for everyone who registers.)
Now, to the meat of the issue.
What tools do you need to run your race track or team? Sometimes, on Tuesdays, we get together on the free DirtyMouth Sponsorship Success Community and share the tools we’re really digging right now. It’s always a great thread, and it made me realize that I don’t share these items often enough on the blog.
Here’s what I recommend to get started:
- Mailchimp. Or your choice of email service provider, but I currently use and recommend Mailchimp. Why is this first on my list, when I provide social media services? I will tell you, of course. Because email marketing is effective and free for both race tracks and teams. Boom. If you want to directly reach people who have put their hand up to receive your information, there is no better way to do that than through email marketing. Give them a call-to-action, whether that’s to buy a ticket to your next race or share your content with a friend, and they’re most likely to take action here in their inbox. That’s powerful. And that’s also why we recommend that our clients use social media to drive fans to their email list.
- All. The. Social. Media. Okay, that’s not a realistic recommendation for most of us busy, race-chasers. Here’s what I recommend, in what order and why:
- Facebook: It’s hands-down your bread and butter. It’s not the newest, sexiest platform out there. It won’t win you an innovation in marketing award. But it will win you fans and profits. Because most of our fan base spends time here, whether they’re an older demographic just jumping in or a younger demo ‘still’ using the platform, they’re all there. And although you can’t reach them all for free anymore, you can spend very little money to reach lots of them in a really targeted way.
- Twitter: I love Twitter because of the industry insights. It’s where the cool kids hang out, if I do say so myself, so if you want the latest and greatest happenings, this is likely where you’re going to find it.
- Instagram: Want young people at your track? This is where they’re chilling. Or whatever word is popular at the moment. It’s all photography, it’s unschedule-able and it’s hard to link to a direct call-to-action, but it’s completely worth it to harness the millennial crowd, which has years to lend to your race track as a lifetime fan.
- Periscope: Live broadcasting, you say? Won’t that take away from ticket sales? First of all, no. Second of all, if you’re a team, who really cares? Just kidding. Ticket sales are good for everyone. Tracks and event promoters who are trying live broadcasting through pay-per-view channels like my faves SpeedShift TV are not seeing ticket sales drop off. In fact, they’re getting great feedback (and revenue) from fans who couldn’t possibly make it to the race, whether they’re across the country or in the nursing home down the road. Yes, grandma wants to see her grandkids race, even if she can’t make it to the track. This is worthy of an additional blog post, but suffice it to say that video content gets people excited about your track or team. It let’s them get a taste of the action, whether that’s a behind the scenes tour of your hauler or an infield view of some racing action, that will help them decide if they want to buy a ticket to your race in the future or a marketing appearance at their next ice cream shop opening. Don’t be afraid to be an early adopter on this platform. You WILL be rewarded.
- YouTube. See Periscope notes above, but take away the ‘live’ factor and add to it the ability to market your video content forever. And monetize it. Yep. Just create an account and put ‘monetize YouTube’ in to the Google machine and it will give you super easy instructions on how to profit from your best video content. Want to see a great example of video marketing piece from a small racing business? Check out my friends at Northwest Focus Midgets and see if you don’t want to move to the Northwest and take off your top wing.
- Freshbooks. Because you need to get paid, and you don’t need to overcomplicate it. I recommend Freshbooks to any client that needs to invoice marketing partners, whether at a speedway or as a team, needs to pay anyone, draw up estimates or keep track of expenses, because it’s so dang easy to use. It keeps track of everything you need to run your team as a business and keep things looking, feeling and operating professionally. We use it for my business, dynoing shocks (who doesn’t want to pay by credit card?!), CBR marketing partners and more. Try FreshBooks free for 30 days here.
- A scheduler tool. Want to stop worrying about putting content out all the time? Use a scheduler tool. For Facebook, I highly recommend scheduling within Facebook. But for Twitter, you can use a tool like Hootsuite, where you can also manage multiple accounts at once, I might add, to schedule content for when you know you’ll be be busy.
- Bluehost. If you’re in business, you need a website. Bluehost is my hosting company of choice for two reasons – it’s reliable, and it’s easy to use in terms of setting up your website, even if you don’t know nothin’ bout no website building. Just trust me, if you’re not using someone like MyRacePass to build you a custom site, you’re going to need something that you can easily build on your own. In that vein, I recommend WordPress and Elegant Themes (Divi, in particular) for easily and beautifully building your own site.
- Continuing education. Whether you want to pick a book from my list of recommended titles over here, take in an industry publication like Performance Racing Industry, take part in a workshop on creating marketing offerings or crafting effective sponsorship proposals, or subscribe to a podcast like Born Racing, I highly recommend that you invest in educating yourself, whether that’s through time, money or energy. Take a veteran racer out for coffee. Watch a video that you’d normally pass over as too-technical. Take a free class on iTunes University. You never know what you’ll pick up. And it’s what the best do. That should be reason enough.
Want more tools and resources? We have a whole page over at DirtyMouthCommunications.com/Resources with additional recommendations and reasons why I recommend what I do. There are also some fun and helpful social media templates there that you can use as a track, racer or business, available to download for free.
xo.
Kristin
P.S. Don’t forget: if you’re a track that’s interested in getting more in-depth on setting up tools and systems to market yourself throughout this season, we have a free workshop coming up next week on Thursday, March 10th at 10am EST. You can sign up here. Can’t make it live? We’ll provide a replay for everyone who registers.
Connect!