What Does a Motorsports Marketing Program Need to be Successful

Welcome back to the thirteenth edition of the Motorsports Promotions newsletter. In the previous editions we have spoken about Motorsports Promotions, why motorsports marketing, the types of cars, series and Return On Investment.

Today we are going to talk about what your motorsports marketing program will include by default and what needs to happen to create a viable, trackable outcome.

Let us look at the basic components of a motorsports marketing program.

Track and/or Series

Team

Collaboration

Conversion

Hospitality

If your motorsports marketing program does not include these basic components, the probability of a successful outcome is marginal at best.

Track and/or Series

Choosing a track or series needs to be the priority in creating a successful motorsports marketing package. The track or series a company chooses to be associated with will go a long way in all aspects of a motorsports marketing programs success. The reasoning behind making the correct choice in partnering with a series is, geographic coverage. If your business has a national footprint your ROI is not going to be as you expected if you are choosing a more localized marketing program. Subsequently if you are a local to statewide company a national package will not have the correct ROI.

As much as there are 100s even thousands of series running throughout the US, finding a series that aligns with your marketing goals is just as important as choosing a radio station to spend marketing dollars on. If you are attempting to reach people that are triathletes you are less likely to spend your radio budget on political talk radio than the sports channel, motorsports series are no different.

Where does the series run, is this series a headlining series or a support series? What is the attendance, what other businesses participate in the series? Matching your geographic coverage goals with a series is the first step in choosing a series. The geographic coverage of the event locations is the base from which to work from.

If you are basing your program on B2C as a CPG or DTC, the next aspect of choosing a series is where are those attendees coming from and who are they. This is the opportunity to focus on your geographic goals with the ability to extend your information reach to the peripheral geographic areas beneficial to your company's brand.

When looking at the B2B opportunities within a series, you want to know what other businesses are involved with the series, what other companies are partners of other teams. This is the information that will position your company to have those successful B2 B relationships. If you are marketing foodservice equipment and the series has only two or three restaurants associated and six lawncare or construction companies associated, is this a good B2B fit?

Series and tracks have great followings of their own, the history and the teams that have been and are associated. Good series and teams have great media exposure through their own Facebook, Instagram, twitter and even LinkedIn feeds. The websites are the modern-day weekly newspaper with news, standing and entry lists for events. With website and social media, a good series will be generating a million impressions with the ability to create tens of thousands of clickthrough for your brand.

As much as the team your company chooses will carry your message, the series that team is associated with is the platform for that message.

The Team

The team is the basis for the entire program, this is your moving billboards, billboards, plural. There is a transporter with your name, logo and message emblazoned on three sides.

Companies spend 10s to 100s of thousands of dollars each year on stationary billboards. Depending on the series your company becomes involved with this billboard could travel as few as two thousand miles in a year to over 10,000 miles in a year.

A billboard company here in Wisconsin sells a specific billboard for $10,000.00 per month because it generates 1.2 million impressions per month. If that transporter is generating 4 to 6 million impressions per year, the VALUE associated with the team is approximately $40,000.00 annually.

The team in its entirety is a continuous name recognition exercise, transporter, popup tent, crew members, and race vehicle with your name and logo positioned to have your name and logo seen continuously throughout an event.

The team itself has an identity; we all choose teams in all types of events. We have favorite college and professional teams. We cheer for our children’s high school. These teams are identified by a mascot, in the case of motorsports the identity is YOUR brand and your spokesperson in combination. This is what generates the loyalty and the desire to be like the athlete that is being cheered on. If Jake or Brett drinks that brand of beverage I want to also, Hanna or Danielle uses that skincare product I want too also. That is where the lifestyles come together and create the culture your brand is seeking.

Media and your team, we have spoken about the billboard aspect of the transporter, now we have a multitude of media platforms generating impressions. Pre-race media, this mostly consists of social media outlets, Facebook, Instagram, snapchat. Websites of the team itself generate 100s of thousands of impressions with click through opportunities. Team websites and social media posts generate another 2 to 4 million impressions per year. In a raw form these impressions have a value of another 10 to 20 thousand dollars annually.

The correct team is also key in conversion. Those impressions are great and are attainable through parallel channels, however a stagnant billboard has limited capability to create conversion. A motorsports team that in engaged with the partner and the attendees can drive that conversion, speaking about the product, the autograph card with QR codes, websites and product tracking codes are the tracking mechanism that can and will show proof of conversion. Is your team engaged enough with your marketing program that they are at the front gate when it opens to sign autographs or hand out the hero cards for autographing later? Do you have a sample or information booth at that entrance with a schedule selfie with the driver time slot? The value of this is almost immeasurable, it does however make all the difference in the outcome and the renewal of your partnership from both party's aspect.

Collaboration

Excellent everyone has signoff to create a motorsports marketing program, now what? What is this going to look like? Who is involved?

Collaboration on so many fronts, collaboration with the graphics department, sales, merchandising, executives, human resources, the team, and series.

Collaboration needs to start early, this is not just about a few logos on a variety of locations, this is a plan that is dynamic and will need to be adjusted from time to time to continue to create the desired outcome.

Marketing is already on board, now to the graphic design group, here is what the vehicle looks like, here is the size of the website banner. We need a popup tent and here are the associate partners that need to be integrated into this popup. Are cardboard cutouts of the vehicle, driver or product being created with a distinct motorsports theme.

Now comes merchandising, with the cutouts are they going to be used at retail outlets, bars, trackside? Merchandising collaboration with the sales team, the tracks to display this new motorsport themed program. Collaborating with the team for marketing videos and photos at tracks and retailers. Merchandising building displays utilizing banners, cutouts, premiums, and product with the motorsports theme.

Sales is going to be held accountable when it is all said and done, do they have retailers on board to buy in to make this successful. Did sales collaborate with a retail partner and now a buying threshold has been created and met so this retailer now has access to the hospitality event. Is the sales department itself having a contest and the top so many salespeople sell the product out to retailers now attend a hospitality event. Does the promotion involve the customer buying an amount of product at a specific retailer to gain a pair of general admission tickets?

The executive level of the company needs to be involved throughout the process. Thinking about the level of collaboration needed with and for the executive level of the company you are partnering with. If you are collaborating with a large corporation, you need to think about what information they need and want. Some executives even with a board of directors are still very hands on and want to be a part of the design and schedule creation, others want a biweekly report on progress and others yet want to sit in the racecar. Make sure you know your executive and on what level to collaborate.

Why would we need to collaborate with human resources? Human resources in many cases coordinates events. They have access to everyone’s contact information and therefore can disperse the information about the new company marketing initiative and there are ways everyone can get involved. Human resources in many cases are responsible for apparel, that new racing swag is now available. The general admission tickets are available through human resources. Human resources may need to be involved if off site scheduling to manage an information point is required.

Get Everyone involved early and often, the collaboration and resources available are greater than you think.

Conversion

This is the measuring stick for Return on Investment, this is the single word that will equate to success… conversion.

Motorsports marketing has so many points of conversion available, this multi-faceted approach creates the saturation and conversion desired.

The transporter can have a website or QR code on it to drive people to a POS or POI. Clothing, beverages, convenience stores, travel centers, home improvement; this is just a microscopic list of product lines that can and/or have benefited from the traveling billboard known as motorsports transporters. With the elevation of QR codes, a passenger can easily scan a QR code telling these people where to stop next for whatever they may need.

The race vehicle itself should have a QR code on it again driving people to any point your brand desires. This car is seen by thousands each race day. It is seen before, during and after these events a website is easily accessible while the car it in motion to activate people to go to that website. The ability to scan a QR code pre- or post-race while interacting with the driver can tell that attendee where to find that product or service.

Different conversion points throughout the event, the information or sample booth at the main entrance, the selfie station located in the grandstand area, and the hero card are all activation points for your brand. Create a unique promocode to go with each conversion point to track exactly what is creating the outcome you desire.

We spoke about the websites, clickthrough from a team and series website. One and a half million impressions, what amount of clickthrough conversions would make a marketing program a success?

Conversion is the part of the motorsports marketing program that the company is going to have to take the most ownership of. This is your company information at these conversion booths.

If you are recruiting people, do you want to leave that to a third party paid spokesperson or would it be better to have a company representative there to speak about the company opportunities and benefits?

Are you sampling a product, people want and need information. Ingredients, allergy information, etc.

If it is as simple as information or coupon dispensing, third party brand ambassadors could manage this.

The supplying of product for sampling, information or promotional items needs to be supplied by the company.

Hospitality

Hospitality outings are one of the most under-utilized tools in all of grassroot motorsports, this can be a reward, a sales tool, a recruiting tool.

Hospitality as a reward, everyone over 5 years of service is rewarded with a day at the races, swag, tours, recognition. Rewarding sales goals internally or externally. Did several members or the entire sales team reach a goal or milestone, send the sales team to a “Day at the Races” A hospitality outing could consist of a learn and drive experience early in the day to go with the food, beverage, and selfies with the team. Setting a sales level for your outlets, each outlet that buys at that or above that level get a few tickets to your exclusive hospitality event, again swag, interact with the team, recognition over the PA system all extremely rewarding.

Hospitality as a sale tool, you are attempting to get your product into a few new retail outlets. Invite those stakeholders to a Day at the Races in your VIP suite, bring your 2 or 3 best customers already and let them sell the new outlets as to why your company is the best.

Recruiting tool, bring your recruiters and department heads to a day at the races, have the first twenty people to sign up for an interview at the track get two free tickets for interviewing trackside before the races.

Hospitality as a branding opportunity, brand a VIP suite or pavilion with your brand for the season. Your name on a VIP or Pavilion, pictures with your name and logo on the track website, information about your organization permanently displayed within the VIP suite or Pavilion. Are you a CPG or DTC brand and want samples offered to each suite or pavilion attendee? Do you need to drive traffic to a dealer network place information or premiums in these outlets to create an additional conversion point.

A hospitality outing is only limited in use by your imagination and need. From fun and entertaining to generating that next business deal, the opportunity is awaiting your idea.

No matter if you are a company wondering if motorsports is right for you, or if you can afford a motorsports marketing program, or what will the ROI be with a motorsports marketing program, understand this is not just about a decal on a car going around in circles.

A motorsports marketing program is a dynamic living evolving marketing program that involve multiple stakeholder and platforms.

Motorsports Promotions understands that society as a whole, does not engage in things, they have little knowledge about.

Motorsports Promotions assures you, if you do not have these five items identified and mapped out your motorsports marketing program most likely will fail.

Track and/or Series

Team

Collaboration

Conversion

Hospitality

Do you want to learn how to use this tool?

Do you want to be an industry category leader?

Contact Motorsports Promotions today to learn about motorsports marketing. We will invite you to a free Day at The Races.