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SPONSOR SEARCH
SPONSORSHIP SCHOOL
By Milt Gedo
 

The goals set forth in the column are ambitious, yet simple. I want to help every racer who is serious about sponsorship, achieve their goals. I have spent nine years in the business of racing sponsorships, and have learned by trial and error, by trying and failing and trying again. Therefore, my first advice would be – don’t give up! Too many racers contact one or two sponsors, get the door slammed in their face (figuratively or sometimes literally), and proceed to give up, often making up some excuse as to why they have failed. Let’s apply this same attitude to racing. If you went to the racetrack once or twice, failed to qualify, crashed in the first couple of laps, or lost in the first round, what would you do? Would you sell the race car and trailer, admit defeat and quit? Or would you adjust your chassis, tweak your tune-up, practice your driving and return to the racetrack again, and again, and again, and again… until you became competitive and maybe even won a few mains or events? I know which option I would choose, and I promise there are racers going through this process every week of every season in every type of racing series across this great country. Why should we approach sponsorship any differently? Think about it.

In general, sportsman or hobby racers don’t have the budget to hire a marketing company and usually don’t have the resources that most professional teams do. Thus another goal of this column is to help racers understand the business side of racing, and hopefully remove some of the mystery and misconceptions about finding sponsor for your racing efforts. I have always believed that a racer who is committed and makes the effort should be rewarded with sponsorship. Additionally, every time a new company becomes involved in racing via sponsorship, it makes my job of finding sponsors easier! 

What is sponsorship? If you’re like many sportsman racers, your definition of a sponsor is “someone who pays you to go racing”. That definition is not necessarily wrong, but it is uncommon in today’s marketplace environment. I prefer to define sponsorship as “a tool used by a company to market their products or services”. While there are companies whose marketing strategy is based mostly on a racer actually competing at race events, you’ll find the vast majority of sponsorships are based on off-track or even off-site actions.  One example that comes to mind is a chassis company who gets ten orders for new racecars every time their driver wins a race event. Since this chassis company is getting that kind of response from on-track performance, it is in their best interest to have that driver compete at as many events as possible. Conversely, a company trying to sell their soft drink products will have a completely different marketing strategy, since it would be tough to tie on-track performance directly to their products.

A majority of companies depend on other means of reaching customers and race fans besides on-track performance. The methods, or actions, used to reach these customers can vary immensely between different companies. The savvy racer discovers what actions his team can offer a potential sponsor, and the goes about finding companies that are interested in these actions. When a good “fit” is found between the actions offered and company interest, our savvy racer is 75% of the way to getting sponsored!

Sponsorships can take many forms and are not always cash. Sponsorship can be an exchange of services, free or discounted products, or any variety of valuable offerings. A race team, particularly a new team or un-sponsored team, should keep an open mind when it comes to sponsorship, and get stuck in the ‘cash-only” mind set. I have actually seen racers turn down free product from a company and say to them, “We are only interested in cash sponsorships.” This is a BIG MISTAKE! You never know where a products sponsorship can lead, and there are countless racers who have converted a product sponsorship into a primary or major sponsorship. If a company is offering you free product, and it’s a product you can use in your racing operation, it’s as good as cash because you can now spend the money you would’ve spent buying that product on another racing need.

The competition for sponsorship dollars is fierce, and as racers we are competing not only against other racers, but also against all types of sports and events. Organizations seek sponsorship for art festivals, parades, community events, etc. To be a serious contender for a share of this sponsorship money, you must raise yourself above the fray. As a racer, when you get serious about sponsorship, you must start thinking “out of the box” and offer actions that are unique and effective! If the only thing you have to offer a potential sponsor is signage on the car (kart) or trailer, you’re in big trouble!

There’s a scene in the movie ‘Dead Poet Society’ where Robin Williams instructs his students to climb onto their desks and look around to “get a new perspective of the world”. I encourage any racer who is serious about sponsorship to do the same, that is, get a new perspective on sponsorship. Think of companies not currently involved in motorsports and what types of actions your team might offer to help them sell their products or services. 
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Milt Gedo has been involved with motorsports sponsorship for nine years, and currently campaigns a Super Comp dragster, which is fully sponsored by Goodyear Retail and American Racing Wheels. As one of only a handful of Sportsman racers who actually “races for a living”, Milt assists other racers in their quest for sponsorship via seminars, personal coaching and more. For more information, go to www.sponsorship-101.com or call 303-857-9292.
 

Article used with permission and 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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