3 Nascar Marketing Secrets That Will Turbo Charge Your Success This Year – Part 1
NASCAR is a powerful business and marketing machine. There is a lot you will be able to learn about positioning your own dealership just by studying the lead-generating, profit exploding strategies of this racing giant.
You've probably heard of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. They are all pretty famous NASCAR stars. But a name you might not know the name Mike Bartelli. Racecar driver? No. But he is a man that knows lots about speed. Mike is a marketing guy and when it comes to NASCAR and motorsports marketing he is, "the" guy.
Mike is an expert in motorsports marketing, and as head of Millsport Motorsports he has aided NASCAR see record growth in popularity and sponsorship. Now Mike is chief marketing officer and senior VP of Petty Enterprises.
In a recent interview, Mike divulged some of the tips to NASCAR's Marketing Success. We have from then taken the ideas Mike shared and reshaped them to fit the car business. We're now serving them to you on a silver platter so you will be able to utilize them in your own dealership this year.
So print this out, grab a highlighter or a pen and put on your thinking cap because you're about to go for wild ride.
NASCAR Understands the Power of a Celebrity Endorsement
In building their own monster brand, one of NASCAR's main techniques was to make use of celebrities and celebrity endorsements to reach new fan bases. The NASCAR approach honed in on target groups of potential fans who normally will overlook the sport and reached out to them utilizing a popular celebrity from film, television, music, sports, etc.
You see, nothing gets attention like celebs… Certainly NOTHING. While NASCAR undoubtedly knows this, several dealers in this nation don't.
The point of advertising is to get your prospect's attention. So if nothing works better in getting attention than celebs, why not utilize it?
Demographics do not matter either. Rich investors, CEOs, credit challenged, blue-collar, white-collar they're all attracted to celebs. We believe the reason is reach and frequency. Just like efficient marketing is about reaching many people and more importantly reaching them numerous times, celebs have an enormous amount of reach since their job is to be noticed and be heard.
Another motive why celebrities are strong marketing weapons is based on the power of association. Individuals relate you to those they see you with. If you're hanging out with celebrities then you ought to be one yourself. This is reassuring to your clientele and places you in a positive light. And naturally potential clientele will enjoy aligning themselves with you too, as they too want a piece of that celebrity pie.
Not to mention, clientele are more likely to refer business to the "cool" dealer who hangs out with celebs over the guy they've never heard of. Bear in mind, boring is safe, but it will get you nowhere. Leverage the power of celebrity and your prospects will be chasing you down for a sale.
Think this does not pertain to you? Think you can't use celebrities in your marketing because you cannot pay for Dan Marino? Well think again.
There is in fact a few low-cost methods you can begin featuring celebs in your marketing immediately.
One strategy we like is designing a mail piece with a full color envelope utilizing images of 3 famous celebs your target audience would resonate with… let's say, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey and YOU! You can use the headline, "What Do Barack, Tiger, Oprah and Mr. Dealer Have In Common." Next to your picture you'd put your name and "owner of ABC dealership in XYZ town." BANG, instant celebrity tie in. And that is getting opened.
Or you can make use of your marketing dollars to buy a celebrity for direct sponsorship, endorsement or events. Sure most A-listers might be out of your price range but there is always someone affordable who resonates with your target market. Older celebs who are no longer in their hay-day or more obscure celebrities like popular contestants on reality TV shows could often be employed for surprisingly little.
Also remember that the recession impacts everyone. Even celebrities jump at the chance to make some extra money. More normally than not it's our impression of celebrities and our ego, fear of the unknown and apprehension created by star mystique which keep dealers from leveraging this super-charger of a marketing resource.
You could find contact info on virtually any celeb in a book by Jordan McAuley called the Celebrity Black Book available on Amazon.com or contact our office directly for celebrity agent suggestions.
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