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KNOW IT ALL
By Brian C. Mackey

Motorsport marketing is not rocket science, nor is it simple. Most importantly, it is not easy. Sponsors don’t grow on trees and never call you asking if you know a race car that needs sponsoring.

I learned a thing or two last year. Having been in the business for over 15 years, I had found myself thinking that I knew what there was to know, or at least, most of it. Now, having attended several trade shows, I learned a lesson. New ideas are sprouting up all over and I need to keep myself abreast of the latest developments. So should you!

If you are serious about sponsorship, seriously consider getting properly educated. There are so many avenues that finding one should not be difficult. 

Last year, I attended the IEG (International Events Group) annual Sponsorship/Event Management Conference in Chicago. It is scheduled each year during March (too late to attend this year [March 9-12], but don’t miss next year.) It’s expensive, 3 days in cold Chicago, exhausting schedule and probably the best investment I have made in many years. It is attended by many sponsorship decision makers. It is not just a bunch of sponsor sellers (such as myself) tripping over one another to reach one or two sponsor buyers. While convention etiquette prevents overt and callous selling, you will find the networking opportunity alone is massive. You’ll attend numerous presentations and seminars from industry leaders on how they manage a successful program. Take these lessons learned and apply them to your motorsport marketing efforts. The result will be a far more professional and timely racing program.

I also attended Street and Smith’s Open Wheel Summit in Indianapolis. If you compete in open wheel categories, this convention should be on your list. This year’s event is scheduled for May 20-21, 2003. Again, some of the industry leaders will be on hand to advise, present and discuss with you success stories and the industry news for the coming season. 

I also attended a specialized advertising agency convention. I was amazed at what I learned. So much of what we have to sell must be formatted into a presentation that will create a response from advertisers/marketers (okay, call them sponsors) in a language they expect to hear. The buzz words, the industry’s peculiar and unique criteria needs to be addressed in your presentation if you want to get an answer you want to hear. If you don’t meet their marketing expectations, in their own individual “marketing speak”, you won’t be able to get them to see clearly the benefits of your program.  Again, this was an expensive three days in Miami, but jam-packed with education and timely news on what was going on and what expectation are in the advertising industry.

Finally, I attended a local oriented advertising agency seminar here in Atlanta. I am fortunate to be living in a major market so that I can attend these kinds of programs and sleep in my own bed at home each night. But the same criteria for learning and networking is available at these local/regional gatherings and probably are significantly less expensive. It won’t include the same scale of industry leaders but the regional seminars can be just as important, both in content and their networking capability.

When dealing in seminars within an event industry or racing industry, you will find that you can directly apply the topics covered to your own racing endeavors. If you are attending a related field, such as an advertising agency seminar, you may find that you will need to apply the lessons learned to your particular racing operation. You will have to think and be creative, but often you will soon find ways to apply the general marketing lessons to your own racing oriented program.

You may not be able to attend multiple seminars in a year. It may be cost prohibitive or at least, time prohibitive, but I am equally sure that education is a critical key to sponsorship success. If you can keep yourself attuned to what the “hot buttons’ are in event marketing or advertising/marketing in general, you will be far better prepared to produce the kind of marketing campaign that a sponsor is searching for. 

I encourage you to “get educated” at every opportunity. Newsletters help, but there is no substitute for hands-on live demonstrations. And once educated, keep going back for refreshers! I did and I can attest to their effectiveness. Once we are all better educated, we can both individually and as a group present the motorsport marketing option more effectively and convincingly. See you in class!
 
 
 

About the author: Brian Mackey is president of Mackey Marketing Group, Inc. The firm is a veteran motorsport marketing agency founded in 1986. More information is available at the agency website: www.mackeymarketing.com or at its sister website: www.priv8teer.com. Mackey can be contacted via e-mail at brian@mackeymarketing.com or by phone at 770-423-9593.

Article courtesy of Ernie Saxton’s Motorsports Sponsorship Marketing News, 1448 Hollywood Avenue, Langhorne, PA 19047. Phone: 215-752-7797, Fax: 215-752-1518 or on the web at www.saxtonsponsormarket.com. A one year subscription is $79.95.
 

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Kart Marketing Group, Inc.
Post Office Box 101
Wheaton, IL 60189 USA
Telephone: 630-653-7368
Fax: 630-653-2637
Email: karting@msn.com

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