by Kristin Swartzlander | Oct 29, 2015 | Media and Public Relations, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Social Media, Racing Sponsorship
It’s that time of year – okay, it’s always that time of year – when the stakes feel their highest for teams, tracks and manufacturers. We have to get that one last win, that one last show in, that one last sale and, often, that one last dig at our competition. Media training was a big part of my career when I started out working in professional football because my role was in the public relations department. Helping athletes to understand how to deal with media was one of our most important jobs, and I learned a lot about the importance of positive messaging as it benefits the: Athlete Team Sport Marketing Partners To say that trash talking in the media was discouraged is an understatement. Trash talking, in my opinion, hurts everyone. When you see another driver spinning his or her version of a story, it’s so tempting to hop on the media or social media bandwagon and try to correct it. Or put out your own equal-and-opposite take on the situation. But if you’ve ever worked with me, you know that I advise my clients to take the high road every time, no matter how difficult or tempting the situation is. (And, by the way, the high road doesn’t always mean silence. “No comment” is a response, too.) Why? Trash Talking Makes YOU Look Bad Whether you’re talking directly about your competition’s actions or highlighting your position at their expense, in this industry there are plenty of witnesses. If you think you can pretend you didn’t hit someone on the track or scream obscenities at them in the...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Oct 22, 2015 | Media and Public Relations, Mindset, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Social Media
As I write this, the offseason is barreling towards us like a train about to derail. Not that I don’t love the offseason…mind you, it’s become the most productive time of the year for me. In fact, last year’s offseason brought about a lot of changes for me in my business and in our personal life. I was able to do my annual Charlotte and PRI trips, along with adding the Florida RPM workshops and outlining the marketing and PR plan for the Dirt Classic months in advance. Personally, we also took a huge leap when Carl left the job he’d held for over 10 years at his family company to pursue racing as a more full-time profession. I talk more about how that came about in another blog on positioning yourself for opportunities. This year, the offseason looks similarly up-leveled. I have speaking engagements at the Las Vegas, Indy and Florida RPM workshops, along with the Western Auto Racing Promoters Association workshops in Portland, in addition to our annual PRI and Charlotte trips. And that doesn’t include the racing opportunities that have come our way in Carl’s career. While the offseason is fun, busy and relaxing all at the same time, I have to admit that life is just not the same without racing. And it doesn’t offer you the same type of opportunities to promote yourself, whether you have a race car or a race track, as racing season does. With a little bit of preparation, though, before the season ends, you can set yourself up for promoting success in the offseason, when there are no race cars on the track and fans in...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Oct 15, 2015 | Mindset, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses
‘Put yourself in a position to win.’ I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve seen or heard that phrase. When you’re new or a beginner, the first step in positioning to win can be as simple and straightforward as working as hard as you can and/or investing as much as you can into what matters. As you get more advanced, this brings to mind the tougher decisions you might have to make in the garage or at the track – put on a new tire for time trials when the used one will do? – that will hone in your program and literally put you into a position on the race track to win. Then, there’s the dimension that you know I love talking about: the mindset, and what happens off the track. To me, positioning to win isn’t where you start out. You don’t expect to win your first race, just like you don’t expect to be CEO on your first day of a new job. You first need an opportunity to, for example, get on the track. Or submit a resume for an interview. I believe ‘positioning to win’ in racing is the same. Wins start with opportunities. This is just my long way of saying that, to win, you have to first position yourself for opportunities. You can’t pass for the win if you aren’t near the front. You don’t have the opportunity. That’s not just on the track – it applies to the rest of your program, too, whether you’re a racer, promoter or business. So, how do you do that? The first step is setting your...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Oct 2, 2015 | Mindset, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Social Media, Racing Sponsorship
There are times when I am optimistic. I have high hopes for what we can do for this sport and with this sport, as racers, promoters and fans. Some might say my hopes are too high, too optimistic. Some might even call me naive. And this weekend at the Dirt Classic, I had my eyes opened to how, in a way, those people would be right. See, when I’m writing, I often imagine that when I push ‘publish’ on a blog post, it disappears from my computer and flies out into the universe, never to return. And, while I truly hope that it helps someone in their quest to improve their team or track, I don’t imagine them reading it and thinking about where it came from. I imagine that you like the words. You appreciate the words. You take the words and make great things with them. Like race cars. And race tracks. And racing businesses. For me, promoting a blog post is all about putting my work in front of people and what that can do to help people. It’s not about putting my face in front of people. On Saturday, I walked up to many people that I expected to introduce myself to, only to find that they were introducing themselves to me. Or, once I said my name, they talked to me at length about my writing. Or my clients. It was mildly terrifying, in the best possible way. If that makes sense. The thing is – I know the numbers. I know how many people subscribe to my email list, like my Facebook page or hop onto...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Sep 17, 2015 | Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses
This week, there’s been quite a lot of discussion about the costs of racing: the costs for fans, the costs for promoters and the costs for teams. When I talk to any one of the many tracks that I work with on a weekly basis, most – not all, but most – will tell me that purses are too high. The math doesn’t work on raising, or sometimes even maintaining, payouts without raising ticket prices. And the sport can’t sustain that. By that math, they’re right. Payouts are too high. Ask any number of my racing clients, though, and the costs of racing, whether that’s being competitive or just being compliant, are going up. And payouts are not. In fact, many drivers are finding some envelopes lighter than years past when they get to the window at the end of the night. I know we have. Like at the race track level, there aren’t many ways to cut costs for racers. Not safely, anyway. By that math, they’re right, too. Payouts are too low. So what does that say for our model if everyone is right: payouts are too high, payouts are too low and our fan base can’t sustain a rise in ticket prices? Economics would say that supply is exceeding demand. Perhaps we have too many races, too many race tracks, and/or too many race cars for the number of fans in the stands to sustain them. I don’t like that theory. And not just because I love racing. In all of these conversations, I have yet to see anyone discuss what bridges the gap between costs...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Aug 27, 2015 | Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Sponsorship
Y’all know I don’t talk about news very often. I’m more about the business of racing, less about the results and gossip. And I certainly don’t talk about politics. (Both stances are less stances than insurance policies against my safety and sanity. But I digress.) But a news story out of the Knoxville Nationals caught my particular attention, and I shared it on my Twitter account. The headline reads: Donald Trump getting his message out by sponsoring a car at the Knoxville Nationals (You can click on the link to read the whole article, if you haven’t already, and it’ll open in a new window.) I thought it might be fun to break this one down, the DirtyMouth way, because whether you’re looking for racing sponsorship or want to market to race fans, there are some interesting insights in this quick relationship. So, here we go. Messaging Start with the headline: the whole point of the sponsorship is to ‘get Trump’s message out’. Not to help Roger Crockett and car owner Bruce Williams out of the goodness of his heart. Not to have a logo on a car that’ll bank $150,000 at the end of the weekend. And probably not to get nothing at all in return. Trump’s campaign team chose this marketing vehicle to get his message out – a priority for political campaigns and companies alike. So, every time you ask why a company would sponsor you over a car that wins more races, or your track over, say, a stadium that gets quite a few more fans, recognize that you might be buying into an excuse....
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