Pre-Race Prep - The Sponsorship Plan of Attack
Racing Sponsorship Overview
As you make your way through these sections and begin preparing for your search for sponsors, keep the following bullet points in mind as they provide a good overview and background of what racing sponsorship is all about:
- First, the economy is more or less improving and sponsorship spending is increasing.
- Annual sponsorship spending by North American businesses is projected at over $11 billion.
- Many new companies are jumping on the sponsorship bandwagon.
- Businesses are still looking for a good Return On Investment (ROI), thus it is important for race teams to have a unique program that can deliver measurable results.
- Sponsorship is about the sponsor - not the race team.
- Your sponsorship package must help the sponsor increase business - you do this by exposing the businesses products or services to the customer in the dynamic, exciting arena of racing.
- Sponsorship can also help build company morale and sales incentives among its employee group through racing-based promotions and events.
- NASCAR and its racing teams are the epitome of full-blown sponsorship programs that maximize all the benefits available to a sponsor.
- The local race team that develops their advertising, marketing, promotional and customer service skills like a NASCAR team will be miles ahead of their competition.
- Race teams can be a key driving force in a company's growth of sales and building of relationships within its industry.
- Basic business needs that involve increasing brand awareness and sales:
Increasing awareness of product or services
Rolling out new products or services
Getting the word out about product improvements
Comparisons to other business
- A winning combination in a potential sponsor is finding that business which is highly competitive and has a love of motorsports. Deliver a solid motorsports marketing program to a company like that and you should have some of your most loyal fans as well as someone who will help you pay the racing bills.
- Sponsors can also provide products or services instead of cash. Some race teams have all the parts on their race car covered by various product sponsors.
- The sponsor is one of the key elements in the operation of a race team - they provide the basic operating capital for the race team business.
Advantages of Motorsports Marketing
Motorsports marketing has many advantages over traditional marketing and advertising methods. Infuse these in your racing program proposal and conversations with potential sponsors using the same intensity you race with, and you should have fantastic results in acquiring sponsorship. Here we go!
- It's one of the most cost-effective forms of advertising, marketing and promotion out there.
- The exposure that can be provided by media coverage of a motorsports event can have ten times the value of the cost of traditional advertising.
- Auto racing attracts more sponsorship dollars than any other sport
- No other sport provides as many different ways to promote a sponsor's affiliation with a race team
- Unmatched excitement generation in delivering the advertising message for maximum impact on a sponsor's potential customers.
- Race fans exhibit one of the highest levels of brand loyalty.
- A small business can develop a Fortune 500 image through sponsorship of a local race team.
- Businesses can use the racing sponsorship for exciting and rewarding employee programs, entertaining clients and networking with other companies.
Branding and Creating Loyalty
Part of the whole motorsports marketing and sponsorship equation is helping a business build its branding. Want to know what branding is - just look at the AFLAC duck or McDonalds "golden arches". Repeated exposure to a unique "brand" can create a strong memory association in the mind of the customer. With enough of this "brainwashing" repetition, a customer is molded to select the brand that is most familiar over any other, many times without even consciously thinking about it.
So how is this important to your motorsports marketing program? Unlike an AFLAC commercial that someone may see ten million times just during one 30 minute TV show, you may get only one shot at providing an exposure for your sponsor to potential customers at the racetrack. How can you compete with that type of advertising?
I don't know about you, but I think most us that love racing are in a pretty excited emotional state when out at the track or even around race cars. So mix together some excited race fans with your sharp, professional promotion of your sponsor, and you've got a dynamic recipe for creating long-lasting brand awareness.
Once a race fan knows about your sponsor, they are also more likely to support them due to the fact that race fans are just about the most loyal consumers out there. They may have only seen "Joe's Heating and A/C" logo a few times on the side of your race car, but who do you think they will call first next time their a/c breaks down? That's the power of motorsports marketing over traditional programs.
Now that you have a basic background on what racing sponsorship is all about, let's press on to the next section and start putting together your sponsorship plan of attack!
Next section: Set Your Goals and Plan Your Attack - Go there now!
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