by Adam Ross
If finding marketing partners for your racing career was easy - everybody would do it. Sure it’s not exactly the way the phrase was designed, but it applies. Every time I failed on the race track the same words fell out of my dad’s mouth; if it was easy, anybody could do it.
I can’t even describe the anger I would feel listening to it, but as time went by I understood what he meant more and more. As a young racer it’s hard to comprehend that you’re not as good as you’re going to get. In a sport that requires confidence to succeed it seems contradictory that you also need patience and humility.
Whether you race five times a year or 50 times a year I can assure you that you get more practice improving your racing skills than you do perfecting your marketing skills. Following that logic many racers never do succeed finding marketing partners because they never take the time to learn how. It’s not easy, and not anybody can do it. That’s precisely why you should learn how.
The phrase ‘Become the Opportunity’ was chosen as the theme for my series of blogs for a simple reason. If you change the way you look at ‘sponsorships’ (and I despise that word more every day in a racing context) you will realize that you’re not asking for sponsorships when you become the opportunity. When approaching a potential partner you are presenting an opportunity for them to market themselves. You are the opportunity, and they are the entity that will capitalize on you. You will receive their investment and offer them great return.
The entire process of creating a partnership takes time, and you have to invest energy, enthusiasm, creativity, and skill to make the partnership work. More than anything you need a plan, and your plan needs to have a goal. Whether you’re pitching an interview to the media, creating marketing partnerships, or even interviewing with a potential new team – you need a plan with goals. Why? How on earth will you know if you were successful if you didn’t set a goal and achieve it?
There are three basic steps you can apply to every relationship and every activity you create from a motorsports marketing standpoint:
1. Introduction
2. Call to action
3. Engagement
With your plan in place to nurture success you are ready to embark on your marketing journey. Media interviews, networking opportunities, trade shows, and daily activities will provide you ample opportunity to introduce yourself to potential partners. Without understanding that the introduction is merely the first of three steps it’s easy to shake a hand and walk away before realizing you left opportunity behind. Don’t leave opportunity behind.
Your introduction is the perfect opportunity to plant a proverbial seed. You not only want to introduce yourself, but you want to introduce a ‘call to action’. Simply stated – the call to action can be almost anything, but in this case you want the call to action to lead to further encounters. It’s hard to build a relationship when all you do is introduce yourself.
The call to action varies depending on the nature of the introduction, but it needs to lead directly to the engagement of your new relationship. If you are able to engage your new partner, then chances are you have earned the right to present an opportunity.
What’s your opportunity? That’s not for me to know, and it changes frequently. The opportunity is limited only by your imagination and the quality of the partners you have been able to harvest. What I can tell you is that the opportunity leads you back to step 1. When you ‘introduce’ the opportunity, it will again lead to a ‘call to action’, and once you are able to ‘engage’ your partner you can hope it lea
ds to a marketing agreement.
The knowledge here doesn’t help you as a racer. Knowing how to apply the knowledge is where you will be able to achieve more than you thought possible.
Become the opportunity. Understand your potential. Seek guidance, and then go out and harvest relationships that lead to achieving your goals. If it was easy, anybody could do it. Good thing it isn’t easy because it’s worth knowing how do to it effectively.
For more information on the topics discussed in my blogs, email me at adamrossenterprises@gmail.com . If you’re interested in the RACE 101 program where we teach these principles among many others, visit us online at http://www.race101.net/ . Stay in touch for upcoming seminars in your area! Until then, work hard towards Becoming the Opportunity.
I can’t even describe the anger I would feel listening to it, but as time went by I understood what he meant more and more. As a young racer it’s hard to comprehend that you’re not as good as you’re going to get. In a sport that requires confidence to succeed it seems contradictory that you also need patience and humility.
Whether you race five times a year or 50 times a year I can assure you that you get more practice improving your racing skills than you do perfecting your marketing skills. Following that logic many racers never do succeed finding marketing partners because they never take the time to learn how. It’s not easy, and not anybody can do it. That’s precisely why you should learn how.
The phrase ‘Become the Opportunity’ was chosen as the theme for my series of blogs for a simple reason. If you change the way you look at ‘sponsorships’ (and I despise that word more every day in a racing context) you will realize that you’re not asking for sponsorships when you become the opportunity. When approaching a potential partner you are presenting an opportunity for them to market themselves. You are the opportunity, and they are the entity that will capitalize on you. You will receive their investment and offer them great return.
The entire process of creating a partnership takes time, and you have to invest energy, enthusiasm, creativity, and skill to make the partnership work. More than anything you need a plan, and your plan needs to have a goal. Whether you’re pitching an interview to the media, creating marketing partnerships, or even interviewing with a potential new team – you need a plan with goals. Why? How on earth will you know if you were successful if you didn’t set a goal and achieve it?
There are three basic steps you can apply to every relationship and every activity you create from a motorsports marketing standpoint:
1. Introduction
2. Call to action
3. Engagement
With your plan in place to nurture success you are ready to embark on your marketing journey. Media interviews, networking opportunities, trade shows, and daily activities will provide you ample opportunity to introduce yourself to potential partners. Without understanding that the introduction is merely the first of three steps it’s easy to shake a hand and walk away before realizing you left opportunity behind. Don’t leave opportunity behind.
Your introduction is the perfect opportunity to plant a proverbial seed. You not only want to introduce yourself, but you want to introduce a ‘call to action’. Simply stated – the call to action can be almost anything, but in this case you want the call to action to lead to further encounters. It’s hard to build a relationship when all you do is introduce yourself.
The call to action varies depending on the nature of the introduction, but it needs to lead directly to the engagement of your new relationship. If you are able to engage your new partner, then chances are you have earned the right to present an opportunity.
What’s your opportunity? That’s not for me to know, and it changes frequently. The opportunity is limited only by your imagination and the quality of the partners you have been able to harvest. What I can tell you is that the opportunity leads you back to step 1. When you ‘introduce’ the opportunity, it will again lead to a ‘call to action’, and once you are able to ‘engage’ your partner you can hope it lea
ds to a marketing agreement.The knowledge here doesn’t help you as a racer. Knowing how to apply the knowledge is where you will be able to achieve more than you thought possible.
Become the opportunity. Understand your potential. Seek guidance, and then go out and harvest relationships that lead to achieving your goals. If it was easy, anybody could do it. Good thing it isn’t easy because it’s worth knowing how do to it effectively.
For more information on the topics discussed in my blogs, email me at adamrossenterprises@gmail.com . If you’re interested in the RACE 101 program where we teach these principles among many others, visit us online at http://www.race101.net/ . Stay in touch for upcoming seminars in your area! Until then, work hard towards Becoming the Opportunity.
