A question concerning dirt sponsorship

skippy05

skippy05

Twitter.com/Brandon_Mudd
For you racers, would you pay for the opportunity to go to a seminar provided by a motorsports marketing team who works for NASCAR and other racing series as well as motorsports media AND would provide you with a personalized marketing plan to successfully obtain sponsorship for the 2004 season? I am trying to get something put together and am wondering what the overall feeling is on this subject...The seminar would include tips on who to target, do's and don'ts when trying to get sponsorship, some role-plays, as well as a marketing plan, including a PowerPoint presentation, modeled specifically for your team. Any thoughts?
 
I'd like to hear more about this. I'm beginning to look for sponsorship for a local team. Please keep me posted.
 
How many sponsors have they approached, and how many have they signed? Before going to a seminar, and paying, thats what I would want to know. No offense, but I would need to know how successful they have been before signing up.
 
t.nie

I wouldn't expect any less. If this gets put together, there will be a website explaining our creditentials and how you can benefit from our service.
 
This is a really good idea. It is tough to find sponsorship money in our area at times and what I have learned from trial and error has helped alot. But I feel that their still must be a better way. I work in professional sales and I still find it tough to sell in the racing market. It seems to be a completely different animal. Everything from presentation to the way you look when you walk thru the door of a potential sponsor... My question is this: With the shift in the economy, how difficult is it to find sponsorships at the NASCAR level on which you work? With the economy the way that it is... (and getting better I might add) is it a direct reflection on the teams ability to sell and market itself, when you are unable to land "the big fish"? Your competition is high as well, going against 100+ other teams that carry names like ROUSH, Hendricks, etc. At this level of racing we look for a couple of hundred dollars - to a couple of thousand dollars ~ where as you are in search of hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
 
inline

It hasn't been easy. The economy is slowly coming back and advertisors are beginning to remember that to make money, you have to spend some money. The biggest thing to remember is patience and persistance...for every 10 no's, you'll find a yes...usually...
 
So the basic 10% rule applies here. I know there is a ton of money in the ST Louis area... it ia just a matter of getting it. Alot of companies are willing ~ you just have to know how to find them and present to them. When will info be available for what you re offering? The 2004 season is around the corner and we need to jumo soon, because businesses are setting budgets, etc NOW! And we on the local race circuits do not have mush time. DOes any one agree with me on this one?
 
inline

I will be one of the instructors and I should know around 1 JAN when this will be done, what it will entail, where it will be, and what the cost will be. I will be placing advertising for it here at STLRacing.com as well as posting information for it in the forum.
 
I rarely post but wanted to jump in on this topic. A seminar devoted to marketing and sponsorship is a great idea. I was caught off guard at CJ Rayburn's recent chassis seminar when asked to say a few words relating to smaller dirt racing teams and how they should seek sponsorship. Unfortunately I didn't have anything prepared for that but I stated that teams need to create proposals that are team specific and not replicated from a larger scale or different industry. I have prepared my share of proposals and reviewed even more for a variety of motorsports and the ones that are well written and do not attempt to oversell are often the best. NASCAR is a completely different monster as I am sure the thread starter can attest.

With this said though, I must agree with inline6 that the timing will not benefit for 2004. Both in NASCAR and dirt, sponsorships are addressed and mostly settled by December and those which are not are often near the end of negotiations.

Best wishes to all,
~Michelle
 
michelle

While I agree with you concerning the timetable of getting sponsorship, we all also know no one is going to turn down money just because it's the middle of the season. I've seen a lot of dirt racers also get sponsorship in the spring because since it's usually local business, they want to promote their business in the spring since people are out and about again after the winter and the closer it gets to summer, the more people are out and spending money. This seminar would give tips that are helpful no matter what time of year it is...
 
Much agreed skippy but I was just referring to the part with customized portfolios and powerpoint presentations. Well presented general information on the do's and don't's of motorsports marketing should be able to help a lot of teams build a nice proposal but as we know traditional marketing tactics and sales don't apply when it comes to motorsports since the marketability cannot be tracked other than some exposure stats in NASCAR.

Again, a topic that should be covered more but it will be a huge undertaking for you since approaching a potential $50,000+ sponsor is a different animal than a $500 associate sponsor. So I wish you well in your undertaking.

Tip #1 for any team - don't give price levels in prelim/introductory materials. :)

Best wishes to all. And skippy, drop me a line if you guys are down here at Lowe's again and I will keep my eyes peeled for your team.

~Michelle
 
Michelle, thank you for your part in the written end of the Rayburn siminar. The information you present both here and on 4m keeps some of the speculation to a minimum, and helps to keep alot of people in touch with what is really going on in this sport. There is not near enough people posting on the various message boards who are actually involved, especially 4m.
 
Dean

Dean,
Thanks for the message and glad to hear you enjoyed CJ's seminar - they always work to improve it every year. I was going to prepare additional materials (including some speaking points although I stated I wouldn't talk... I should have known :) ) but I got behind reconciling General Mills budgets and another project. Everything presented in the sponsorship segment has been used in my work and in some of the more memorable proposals we have received. In fact, the proposal that impressed me most this year was a similar "resume", one page of scanned photos and a well written intro letter in a folder. So an impressive portfolio can be created for $5/ea as long as the right pieces are there.

I haven't posted a lot simply due to time constraints and other interests now but I do appreciate your comments. I have gradually drifted out of the dirt world but some of the great people are what keep me coming back.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help with,
~Michelle
 
dirt sponsorship

For those of you with concerns about budgets already in place for potential sponsoring companies, my experience is that any somewhat large scale sponsorship should be in place between september and december the year previous to the campaign.
This does not really apply to the small business end of it,though.
You can find the local "mom and pop's" businesses anytime, most don't have an actual budget for advertising laid out ahead of time.
I agree with Michelle.......the written proposal is important. It should be put together with great attention to detail, with pictures and a plan. The potential sponsor is more interested in what you can do for their dollar than what you have done on the track so keep that in mind.
With my UMP mod program (when racing), I always try to supplement any primary sponsor or large associate sponsor with as many contingency sponsors as I can get. One particular year I had 23 sponsors in total, and only 3 were cash paying sponsors. The remaining twenty gave some form of support both in product and services in exchange for a small decal. The sum total of these sponsors make a big difference in how well your racing program can run so don't overlook this important part of getting sponsored.....
 
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