Thread: Advertising Questions...Motorsport Related

I have some questions for business owners regarding advertising, what you all want, budgets, etc. I know this changes per business and what market you're in but anything helps to give me a better idea. Mods/Admins please don't take this as a hidden proposal, it's not.

I've been racing since I was seven years old and from my second season I saw immediately that sponsorship is needed to compete especially if you're not born into a rich family. This benefits me because I saw immediately sponsorship isn't a donation to a driver, racing is a business.

Here are some quick questions.

-What is your advertising budget? Do companies usually set aside their advertising budget yearly or do they do it in quarters?
-What type of advertising would benefit your business most? Such as television, newspaper, magazine, etc.
-Do benefits mean anything to you with an advertising deal. This includes special events for partners, employees, friends, etc.
-What type of "return" do you like to see most from an advertising deal. Is it a rise in sales?

Really I am trying to put a stronger proposal together and thought why not ask some people who know!

My first proposal was a joke compared to what I know now, it went from being a letter to a multi-page or even video proposal with photos and details. I've also quit with just the "I'll put your logo on my car" as I know you need a LOT more than that.

Like I said though, I still have room to improve.

Originally Posted by Simon Tibbett

-What is your advertising budget? Do companies usually set aside their advertising budget yearly or do they do it in quarters?
-What type of advertising would benefit your business most? Such as television, newspaper, magazine, etc.
-Do benefits mean anything to you with an advertising deal. This includes special events for partners, employees, friends, etc.
-What type of "return" do you like to see most from an advertising deal. Is it a rise in sales?

.

From the Entertainment Marketing/Advertising POV.

1. Advertising budgets very so much. For a big budget theatrical releases of millions of dollars to just a few thousand for an up and coming artist all the way down to barter/free. Budgeting for marketing (Entertainment to CPG to Auto to Retail) is set 2-4 quarters back.
Rarely do you find a larger organization planning 3 months out unless something unexpected occurs.

Working with the average agency for example, they are planning for Q1 of 2011, as of today.
No company plans yearly.


2. Again this question can very tremendously. Ideally you want a high CPM. The more exposure the better.
TV is great but dwindling quick (thx tivo/dvr) but the views at one time slot is not comparable to a large event.
This mostly comes down to demographics.
For the most part, Print is a waste unless that is what the demographic you are reaching uses for a source of info.

Internet is the most cost effective if you do proper research. Any sort of non traditional....

3. I don't understand what you are asking.

4. Advertising either brings new customers to a product thus providing a lift in sales, educates the consumer, or points them in a direction to purchase product.

Yes, it all comes down to money. Money is generated by sales. Money is spent on advertising. Thus...back to all your questions.

You are in autoracing. You know your demo.=

That is who you go after.

People will want a winning record to associate their brand with, alot of exposure (print, net, tv...) and if you deliver...you will get your advertisers.

Good Luck.

Wow, awesome reply! That really helped out a lot, it's great to hear it from the "other side" so to speak. Thanks!

np...feel free to ask more questions.

BTW...I suggest finding local music studios looking for publicity.
Even 100 dollar per race is 100 dollars more then you had before.

Look into the up and coming sports/energy drinks. There is a former sponsor on this board you may want to talk to. Do some research

Also look into non profits, muscle building supplement companies and of course anything auto related. Royal Purple just spent a shit ton of money on their cross promotion with the movie Salt.

If you have a nice looking car, nice looking website and gear with sponsor logos well integrated, that looks more appealing to potential sponsors. Going the extra mile to seamlessly blend their logos/branding/etc with your own image can really help your appeal to potential partners.

Bars, Restaurants, and Other local/semi-local public venues would be a good place to look as well. Racing fans gotta eat and drink right?

Thanks for the replies.

As for this question:

-Do benefits mean anything to you with an advertising deal. This includes special events for partners, employees, friends, etc.

I mean do companies care about these type of things? I offer a couple of free track weekends for the company to come out with guests and ride shotgun or even do a few laps in the car with an instructor. Is this worth anything to sponsors? In my mind I see it as a good way to build new relationships within the business or even build new ones depending on who they bring, but I'm not a businessman.

Other benefits include the obvious free hospitality and passes to events and that sort of thing.

I've currently been seeking local sponsors for my club racing program as I feel it benefits them more than a large company that benefits more in national racing, but many small businesses usually either say they're not interested or they've already met their advertising budget, hint my first question. I've noticed I always have better response at different times in the year so I was curious as to when these decisions were usually made.

I also have the issue of deciding which proposal to send to which business, a large corporation probably has no interest in a smaller series as would a local business so I try to keep it that way.

People would love that with the exception of the insurance risk. In sue-happy america I only see issues with something like this unless you have an insurance policy.

I'm sure that happens, but I honestly don't know how.

You don't want to be held liable therefore you would need the legal paperwork taking any responsibility of you or your team for a ride along.

Free track tickets are great but I think it would be a small niche of people that would be interested at your level right now. When you make it to the "big time" that would be a great idea.

Maybe a program aimed at kids.

For example on the PR side. You could bring troubled kids, inner city kids, handicap children. Then have your local press cover the story.
You find a partner that would like to be involved in that as well like your local restaurant (as mentioned above).
Maybe they co-sponsor this program and throw you 500 bucks or something. Just a thought.

At this point I would guess (but I may be wrong) that going outside your local area is pointless. Stay local. You may have to start out with free. Offer 3 months for free or something like that.

Maybe have flyers/coupons or something at your races. People come, they get the flyer and take it back to your local sponsor to redeem 5 dollars off or something.

Also put sponsors on your website.

What about contacting your local radio station?

Have you tried that?
Your radio station may also be able to bring you sponsors. I don't see this working in LA but maybe in smaller markets.

I've actually just started going locally to businesses as previous sponsors have all been larger national companies.

As for insurance I rent insurance when I rent the track. I see your point though.

Currently for just my SCCA club racing program I have a program for local businesses. I guess I can get into some of the details as I don't think anyone else on here is racing in Athens but it's based off of a Le Mans entry a while back. It's called "Racing for Athens" and the idea is to try and get as many local Athens area businesses as possible to fund the car and by having many small sponsors I can ask less. I am asking $100 for the full year 2011 and the rest of 2010 is free for them.

The car would have a checkered board layout of local businesses with the prime sponsor spot saying "Racing for Athens." My idea is to spread Athens as a whole with each individual business advertising the city. I think this could bring in visitors to the city, build new relationships as all the businesses are together, etc.

The down side so far however has been trying to get a business to join if they have NOTHING to do with racing. It's hard to get a flower business to advertise on a race car. lol

I do promise all of them though no outside businesses would sponsor the car, I still sell myself as a driver such as my suit and helmet, which they can take part of if they want, but it's limited and I ask $200 a season no matter where or what I am driving. The car aside from part sponsors and the required series decals would be nothing except Athens area businesses though.

As for my "other racing" AKA renting rides it's much more difficult. I get a lot of opportunities but have never been able to put together large sponsor funding in a short amount of time. I also can't decide if someone interested in sponsoring would want a more expensive yet more media covered approach or if they would rather spend less with lower but still good benefits.