by Kristin Swartzlander | May 6, 2016 | Media and Public Relations, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Social Media, Racing Sponsorship
If you’re building a racing business – a team, a track, an event or even a store – you know that you need customers. Customers come in different forms – fans, purchasers, media members, marketing partners or sponsors – and you need to get in front of them to be successful, whether you’re selling a piece of merchandise, a ticket or a story. While making a connection in person is always best, there are only so many opportunities to do so. And that’s why I think social media is the most powerful tool in any businesses’ arsenal today – we can be reaching new fans and building our audience 24 hours a day, seven days a week, no matter where you are. So, if you’re taking building your racing career seriously, and you’re approaching it as a business, you need to be looking to social media to build your audience. Agreed? Agreed. Now that we’re – ahem – agreed, let’s talk about where to find your audience. In the same way that you’re won’t be successful selling life insurance to a kid in the candy aisle, you don’t want to be hammering tweens on Snapchat with, well, life insurance pitches. (No insult meant to the insurance industry – I happily have plenty of it. But, as my friends and family will quickly remind me, I am no longer a tween.) There are a few ways to approach finding the right platforms to build your audience. These two questions should determine how you read the rest of this post: Are you going full-bore in the direction of your dreams and willing to dive into...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Apr 7, 2016 | Media and Public Relations, Mindset, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Social Media, Racing Sponsorship
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). 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...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Mar 10, 2016 | Media and Public Relations, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Social Media
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...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Feb 18, 2016 | Racing Social Media, Thoughts and Rants
This week, I got to travel to Florida to speak at the RPM Promoter’s Workshops. My presentation was on social media, and how tracks can use Facebook in particular to succeed in promoting their events. It was fun to get to talk to a lot of tracks who were more interested and active on social media than even a year ago, and hear about their insights. And some promoters even got up and shared the results they’d gotten based on my training or advice with the nearly two hundred other promoters in the room, which meant more to me than any of them know. Social media was definitely hotter topic than last year, and there was one topic that was particularly popular among those who are still unsure about social media’s place in the sport or are outraged by what some tracks are doing. They came to me through two questions: What do you think of the controversial ‘social media policies’ that some tracks are adopting, banning or fining those who share negative opinions about the track on social media? What do you think of industry members – fans, teams, media and tracks – who criticize the sport on social media? I loved taking part in these discussions – mostly because they were asking the questions in the first place. Most of those asking knew that social media was a powerful tool, had heard the arguments of those who fear the effects of social media and were open to a discussion on the opposing side, which was very exciting to me. Some were even looking for tips on what to say to their peers who supported...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Feb 12, 2016 | Racing Social Media
Next week, I’ll be making a quick trip down to Florida for the RPM Promoter’s Workshops, where I’ll be speaking about social media and how to use it well to promote your racing series or track. (Note: I’ll also have a booth right outside of the meeting room – stop by, say hello and grab a little gift if you’ll be there!) Particularly, I’ll be talking about Facebook – since that’s where the majority of our fans spend at least some of their time – and the recent technical changes that have been causing post reach and engagement to plummet. I’ll also be talking about how to own your audience instead of allowing Facebook to control access to your current and potential customers. Those who listened to my talk in Las Vegas, Portland, or Indy, you heard about the scary reality that is the new Facebook. The old Facebook worked really well, with only a little bit of time, strategy or financial investment. That’s no longer the case for two reasons: the Facebook algorithm and the Facebook IPO, which allows Facebook to monetize with advertising. The Facebook algorithm – a mathematical equation made up of more than 100,000 factors – works to decide whether to show your content to your fans, in what order and how often. We talked about how to work technically with the algorithm to increase the amount of content that your fans actually get to see. Basically, all of that advice boils down to this: give your fans what the want to see, how they want it, and when they want or need to see it. But what do your fans...
by Kristin Swartzlander | Dec 31, 2015 | Media and Public Relations, Mindset, Motorsports Marketing for Tracks, Teams and Businesses, Racing Social Media, Racing Sponsorship
As we close out 2015 this week, I encourage you to take some time to reflect on the past year. We all experience successes and failures in life, work, and racing, and I’m no different. Last week, I shared the powerful impact of 2015, both on me and on the community, and how grateful I am for the progress we’re making. You can read that here. Today and tomorrow, I’ll be in the office attempting to close out 2015 and plan 2016. (I’m only three months late on my October ‘2016 Planning’ target. If you’re behind, you are not alone!) We have a lot of fun things in the works for next year that I hope to announce in January and February, but we do have one coming up SOON: Sponsorship Marketing Workshop: Crafting Effective Sponsorship Proposals – Live on Sunday, January 10th. On-Demand Forever. Details Here. We had a great response to the first sponsorship marketing workshop on crafting and value the perfect offerings (you can get the on-demand version here if you missed the live event), so I’m adding more workshops just like it to the calendar. This is something that I’ve always thought could bring value to the community with a lower price point than private coaching, so I’m excited to share that we’re planning on releasing at least one workshop per month going forward in 2016. More details on that later, but if you want to weigh in on the topics and content, please feel free to share your thoughts with me here. Some of you are new to this blog (sign up for the free newsletter if so!),...
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