FIRE SALE SPONSORS GOOD, BAD, or INDIFFERENT

Good morning to all my loyal followers, I am so grateful for the 1500 strong that have subscribed to this newsletter and the 470 plus that are followers of the LinkedIn business page. As the following of the Motorsports Promotions newsletter and LinkedIn business page continues to grow, I hope the information provided to the businesses seeking information about motorsports marketing continues to be valuable.

As I stated in the last newsletter, I was going to attempt to enter a bit of personal insight as well as just business aspect of motorsports. The month of October is a great and terrible month all in one, it is the month of the Oktoberfest Racing week, 53rd annual this year. Campers started parking today, practice starts Wednesday, with competition starting on Thursday. Over three hundred competitors, over one thousand camping sites, one of the best marketing opportunities as well as one of the most prestigious wins a person in the Midwest could add to their resume in any division. We will celebrate, we will remember, and we will sit by the campfire and tell stories of racing past, it is one of the greatest racing weekends.

I want everyone also to remember today, eleven years ago the racing world lost one of our dearest friends, Scotty O. Scotty lost his battle with depression on this day eleven years ago and took his own life. This was a crushing blow to me personally and THOUSANDS of people throughout Wisconsin and the upper Midwest. Scott helped people in life, business, and racing. We all have a Scotty O in our lives, and we need to pay closer attention.

Depression is a life-threatening illness, if you feel like you need help reach out, family friends, professionals WE ALL WANT TO HELP. If you think someone is struggling reach out, they may be to proud to ask for help, they may feel embarrassment, DO NOT LET THEM FEEL THIS IS A BURDEN.

As we race door to door with each other this week compete hard, however do not let competition define friends. We travel 20-40 weeks a year with these people, they are our friends, they are our family let us make sure they are there next week to compete against.

FIRE SALE SPONSORS GOOD, BAD, or INDIFFERENT

I feel like motorsports has had and continues to have a fire sale mentality. Undervaluation by all parties involved is a major problem in motorsports. This undervaluation is not on the national level, when we are speaking about IMSA, NHRA, Indy Car, NASCAR, and others of this level these entities understand their value and it costs hundreds of thousands per event to be involved.

I am speaking about the regional series down to the local level and the valuation of this level of racing. I understand and are thankful for every $500, $1000, or even $5000 motorsports sponsor that has brought us to where we are today. Many would never be in racing without these, HOWEVER, motorsports in most cases are no longer a hobby asking for contributions to get a signed eight-by-ten for the friends bar or office. Motorsports need to value itself as the marketing opportunity it is, millions of impressions, scores of thousands of in person attendance and generational loyalty.

Let us think about the average motorsports team and the investment these BUSINESSES are making:

Item???????????????????Low-end????????????High-End?????????????Marketing Comparison??????????????Value

Transporter???????$200,000??????????$1,000,000?????????????Billboard???10s of millions of impressions

Racecar?????????????$85,000?????????????$250,000?????????????Spokesperson?????????????Lifestyle conversion

Building?????????????$350,000??????????$2,000,000???????Office????????????????????????????Creation of events

Apparel?????????????$5,000???????????????$50,000?????????????Street Team??????????????????Lifestyle conversion

Booth????????????????$5,000???????????????$15,000?????????????Trade Show?????????????Conversion to customer

Marketing?????????$3,000???????????????$10,000?????????????Brand Influencer?????????Website, social media

Total??????????????????$648,000??????????$3,325,000?????????????Marketing agency???????Drive Customers to your brand

Companies need to understand the ability to convert between 50 and 100k in person attendees to paying customers, integrate that brand lifestyle into a sports group's lifestyle with unmatched loyalty. The millions of second level fans that are reachable through the multiple media platforms.

So how do we keep the local business that can only afford to be involved at that $500 -$5000-dollar level and create real valuation for the teams, series and the businesses involved.

First communication with the sponsors you have, treating them like a business partner, explaining to them what goes into keeping your “Marketing Agency” going.

Next, understand what the sponsor wants to get out of a sponsor/marketing program and what goes into creating that value. If you are a rights holder, a team, series, or track, understand that if a company give you what your value is they will be expecting a Return On Investment.

Next is understanding the sales cycle, asking for the $500 -$5000 to be on your car or sponsor a night at your track or series can be conducted and finished in a lunch or two. If you are asking for $50,000 to $500,000, several people are going to have to sign off on this and it may take weeks to months to finalizes.

Targeting the correct size business is the next step in the process of finding a sponsor/partner. Understanding how much a business can spend in a specific area of marketing.

From the company side, motorsports is a complex sport, it is not as straight forward as stick and ball sports, motorsports is wildly interactive. Drivers and team members come to the spectator areas with regularity this is unlike any other sport. Stick and ball sports do great with apparel, motorsports people wear this daily integrating your brand directly into their daily life. Motorsports information from the teams, series and tracks are dispersed daily about brands and the plans of these teams. Drivers make themselves available for autographs and pictures throughout an event day or days. No other sports personality is available multiple times throughout an event competition day, when was the last baseball player to come and sit next to you between innings, football player, basketball player, hockey? They are not available to interact with YOUR customers.

Is there a place for the $500 to $5000 sponsor, the answer is yes. Understand your ROI is an 8x10 photo and a thank you card, please do not expect that team track or series to drive customers to your business for that, those amounts are a donation not a sponsorship.

Teams, Tracks, and series start valuing your product and service at the level it has

Companies do not just talk about differentiation from your competitor, act upon it, investigate motorsports.

Do not know where your local track is? Do not know about racing? I will be glad to lookup a track near you and give you 30 minutes of my time to answer any questions you have about motorsports in general or motorsports marketing.

Email [email protected] to setup your half hour Q & A

Thank you

Jim Naumann

Motorsports Promotions