subject: Using The 3 Nascar Marketing Secrets To [print this page] NASCAR is a powerful business and marketing machine. There is a lot you could find out about positioning your own dealership just by studying the lead-generating, profit exploding strategies of this racing giant.
You have 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 may not know the name Mike Bartelli. Racecar driver? No. But he is a guy who knows lots about speed. Mike is a marketing guy and when it comes to NASCAR and motorsports marketing he is, "the" guy.
Mike is a specialist in motorsports marketing, and as president of Millsport Motorsports he has assisted NASCAR see record growth in popularity and sponsorship. Today 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 since taken the ideas Mike shared and reshaped them to suit the car business. We are now serving them to you on a silver platter so you would 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 as you're about to go for wild ride.
NASCAR Understands the Power of a Celebrity Endorsement
In developing their own monster brand, one of NASCAR's key strategies was to make use of celebs 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 using a popular celebrity from film, television, music, sports, etc.
You see, nothing gets attention like celebs... Certainly NOTHING. Although NASCAR undoubtedly knows this, many dealers in this nation do not.
The goal of marketing is to get your prospective client's attention. So if nothing works better in getting attention than celebs, why not make use of it?
Demographics do not matter either. Rich investors, CEOs, credit challenged, blue-collar, white-collar they are all attracted to celebrities. We believe the reason is reach and frequency. Much like effective marketing is about reaching several people and a lot more importantly reaching them several times, celebs have an enormous amount of reach since their job is to be noticed and be heard.
Another reason why celebrities are powerful marketing weapons is based on the power of association. Individuals link you to people they see you with. If you are hanging out with celebs then you have to be one yourself. This is reassuring to your clientele and places you in a favorable light. And obviously prospective clientele would like aligning themselves with you as well, as they also want a piece of that celebrity pie.
Not to mention, consumers are more probable to refer business to the "cool" dealer that hangs out with celebrities 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 prospective customers will be chasing you down for a sale.
Think this doesn't pertain to you? Think you can't make use of superstars in your marketing because you can't afford Dan Marino? Well think again.
There's in fact a few low-cost ways you can begin featuring celebs in your marketing instantly.
One strategy we like is designing a mail piece with a full color envelope using images of three famous celebrities your target audience will resonate with... let's say, Barack Obama, Tiger Woods, Oprah Winfrey and YOU! You could use the headline, "What Do Barack, Tiger, Oprah and Mr. Dealer Have In Common." Next to your picture you would 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 purchase a celeb for direct sponsorship, endorsement or events. Of course most A-listers may be out of your price scale but there is always someone affordable that resonates with your target market. Older celebrities who are no longer in their hay-day or little known celebrities such as popular contestants on reality TV shows could usually be employed for surprisingly little.
Also bear in mind that the recession affects everybody. Even celebs jump at the possibility to make some extra cash. More normally than not it's our impression of celebs 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 information on almost any celebrity in a book by Jordan McAuley called the Celebrity Black Book available on Amazon.com or contact our office directly for celebrity broker recommendations.
