3 Nascar Marketing Secrets That Will Turbo Charge Your Success This Year - Part 1

NASCAR is a powerful business and marketing machine.  There is a lot you could learn about positioning your own dealership just by studying the lead-generating, revenue 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 might not know the name Mike Bartelli. Racecar driver? No. But he is a guy who knows a lot about speed. Mike is a marketing guy and when it comes to NASCAR and motorsports marketing he is, "the" guy.

Mike is a professional in motorsports marketing, and as head of Millsport Motorsports he has aided 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 tricks to NASCAR's Marketing Success. We have from then 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 could utilize them in your own dealership this year.

So print this out, grab a highlighter or a pen and put on your thinking cap because you are about to go for wild ride.

NASCAR Understands the Power of a Celebrity Endorsement

In developing their own monster brand, one of NASCAR's main strategies was to use celebs and celebrity endorsements to reach new fan bases. The NASCAR approach honed in on target groups of potential fans that usually would overlook the sport and reached out to them utilizing a popular celebrity from film, television, music, sports, etc.

You see, nothing gets attention like celebrities... Certainly NOTHING.   Though NASCAR undoubtedly knows this, many dealers in this country do not.

The goal of advertising 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. Wealthy investors, CEOs, credit challenged, blue-collar, white-collar they are all attracted to celebrities. We believe the reason is reach and frequency. Just as efficient car dealer marketing is about reaching several individuals and a lot more importantly reaching them many times, celebrities have an incredible amount of reach since their job is to be seen and be heard.

Another reason why celebrities are influential marketing weapons is centered on the power of association. Individuals link you to those they see you with. If you're hanging out with celebrities then you have to be one yourself. This is reassuring to your consumers and puts you in a favorable light.   And naturally potential clients will like aligning themselves with you too, as they also want a piece of that celebrity pie.

Not to mention, customers are more likely to refer business to the "cool" dealer who hangs out with celebrities over the guy they've never heard of.  Remember, boring is safe, but it will get you nowhere.  Leverage the power of celebrity and your prospective buyers would be chasing you down for a sale.

Think this does not pertain to you? Think you can't utilize celebrities in your marketing because you can't afford Dan Marino?  Well think again.

There's in fact some low-cost means you can begin featuring celebrities in your marketing immediately.

One strategy we like is designing a mail piece with a full color envelope using images of 3 famous celebs your target audience will resonate with? let us 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 image 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 buy a celeb for direct sponsorship, endorsement or events. Sure many of the A-listers may be out of your price range but there is always somebody affordable who resonates with your target market. Older celebrities who are no longer in their hay-day or more obscure celebrities such as popular contestants on reality TV shows can often be employed for surprisingly little.  

Also bear in mind that the depression impacts everyone. Even celebrities jump at the chance to make some extra cash. More often than not it's our impression of celebrities and our ego, fear of the unknown and apprehension created by star charisma which keep dealers from leveraging this super-charger of a promoting resource.
You can find contact info on nearly 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 suggestions.