NASCAR is a powerful business and marketing machine. There is a lot you could find out about positioning your own dealership simply by studying the lead-generating, revenue exploding techniques of this racing giant.
You’ve probably heard of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart. They’re all pretty famous NASCAR stars. But a name you may not know the name Mike Bartelli. Racecar driver? No. But he is a guy that knows lots about speed. Mike is a marketing guy and when it comes to NASCAR and motorsports marketing he is, “the” guy.
Mike is an expert in motorsports marketing, and as president 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 secrets to NASCAR’s Marketing Success. We’ve from then taken the ideas Mike shared and reshaped them to fit the car business. We are now serving them to you on a silver platter so you can make use of 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 building their own monster brand, one of NASCAR’s key techniques was to use celebs and celebrity endorsements to reach new fan bases. The NASCAR approach honed in on target groups of prospective 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… Absolutely NOTHING. Though NASCAR undoubtedly knows this, several dealers in this nation don’t.
The goal of marketing is to get your prospect’s attention. So if nothing works better in getting attention than celebrities, why not use it?
Demographics do not matter either. Wealthy investors, CEOs, credit challenged, blue-collar, white-collar they’re all attracted to celebrities. We believe the reason is reach and frequency. Just as efficient marketing is about reaching several people 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 powerful marketing weapons is centered on the power of association. Individuals relate you to those they see you with. If you’re hanging out with celebs then you must be one yourself. This is reassuring to your clients and places you in a good light. And naturally potential clientele will enjoy aligning themselves with you as well, as they also want a piece of that celebrity pie.
Not to mention, customers are more likely to refer business to the “cool” dealer that hangs out with celebrities over the guy they have never heard of. Remember, boring is safe, but it gets you nowhere. Leverage the power of celebrity and your prospects would be chasing you down for a sale.
Think this does not pertain to you? Think you can’t make use of superstars in your marketing because you can’t pay for Dan Marino? Well think again.
There’s in fact 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 utilizing pictures of three well-known celebrities your target audience will resonate with… let’s 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 you would put your name and “owner of ABC dealership in XYZ town.” BANG, instant celebrity tie in. And that’s getting opened.
Or you could use your marketing dollars to buy a celebrity for direct sponsorship, endorsement or events. Of course most A-listers may be out of your price scale but there is always somebody affordable who resonates with your target market. Older celebs who are no longer in their hay-day or little known celebrities like popular contestants on reality TV shows could often be hired for surprisingly little.
Also bear in mind that the recession affects everybody. Even celebs jump at the chance to make some extra cash. More normally than not it is our impression of celebs and our ego, fear of the unknown and apprehension created by star charisma that keep dealers from leveraging this super charger of a promoting resource.
You can find contact information on virtually any celeb in a book by Jordan McAuley called the Celebrity Black Book available on Amazon.com or contact our office directly for celebrity broker recommendations.
Jimmy Vee & Travis Miller are the authors of Gravitational Marketing: The Science of Attracting Customers and founders of the Rich Dealers Institute. They help dealers double their profits in as little as 118 days. Receive a free copy of their special report & video presentation, The New Rules of Automotive Marketing by visiting http://www.RichDealers.com/special
Tags: Auto Motive Advertising, automotive advertising, automotive marketing, car dealer marketing
