subject: 3 Nascar Marketing Secrets That Will Turbo Charge Your Success This Year Part 1 [print this page] NASCAR is a powerful business and marketing machine. Theres a lot you could find out about positioning your own dealership just by studying the lead-generating, profit exploding strategies of this racing giant.
Youve 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 man 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 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 techniques to NASCAR's Marketing Success. We've since taken the ideas Mike shared and reshaped them to suit the car business. We are currently 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 youre 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 celebrities and celebrity endorsements to reach new fan bases. The NASCAR approach honed in on target groups of potential fans that 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 Definitely NOTHING. Whilst NASCAR undoubtedly knows this, many dealers in this country dont.
The purpose of advertising is to get your prospective customer's attention. So if nothing works better in getting attention than celebrities, why not make use of it?
Demographics do not matter either. Wealthy 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 individuals and a lot more significantly reaching them many times, celebrities have an incredible amount of reach since their job is to be seen and be heard.
Another motive why celebrities are strong marketing weapons is based on the power of association. Individuals connect you to those they see you with. If you're hanging out with celebrities then you should be one yourself. This is reassuring to your clients and puts you in a positive light. And of course potential consumers will enjoy aligning themselves with you also, as they too want a piece of that celebrity pie.
Not to mention, clientele are more likely to refer business to the cool dealer that hangs out with celebrities over the guy theyve never heard of. Bear in mind, boring is safe, but it gets you nowhere. Leverage the power of celebrity and your potential clients will be chasing you down for a sale.
Think this does not pertain to you? Think you cannot make use of superstars in your marketing because you cannot afford Dan Marino? Well think again.
There is actually a few low-cost methods you can start featuring celebrities in your marketing right away.
One strategy we like is designing a mail piece with a full color envelope using images of three well-known celebrities your target audience will resonate with let us 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 image youd put your name and "owner of ABC dealership in XYZ town." BANG, instant celebrity tie in. And that's getting opened.
Or you could make use of your marketing dollars to purchase a celeb for direct sponsorship, endorsement or events. Of course many of the A-listers might 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 like popular contestants on reality TV shows can normally be employed for surprisingly little.
Also bear in mind that the depression influences everyone. Even celebs jump at the possibility to make some extra cash. More usually than not it's our impression of celebrities and our ego, fear of the unknown and apprehension created by star mystique that keep dealers from leveraging this super-charger of a promoting resource.
You can find contact info 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 agent recommendations.
