NASCAR is a powerful business and marketing machine. There’s a lot you can 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’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 a lot 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 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 tips to NASCAR’s Marketing Success. We have from then taken the ideas Mike shared and reshaped them to suit the car business. We’re now serving them to you on a silver platter so you can 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 techniques 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 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 celebs… Absolutely NOTHING. Although NASCAR undoubtedly knows this, many dealers in this nation don’t.
The purpose of marketing is to get your prospective customer’s attention. So if nothing works better in getting attention than celebrities, why not utilize it?
Demographics don’t matter either. Wealthy investors, CEOs, credit challenged, blue-collar, white-collar they all are attracted to celebs. We believe the reason is reach and frequency. Much like efficient marketing is about reaching many people and a lot more importantly reaching them several times, celebs have an enormous amount of reach as 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 connect you to those they see you with. If you’re hanging out with celebs then you have to be one yourself. This is reassuring to your consumers and puts you in a good light. And obviously prospective customers would like aligning themselves with you as well, as they too want a piece of that celebrity pie.
Not to mention, clients are more probable to refer business to the “cool” dealer who hangs out with celebs over the guy they have never heard of. Bear in mind, boring is safe, but it will get you nowhere. Leverage the power of celebrity and your prospective customers would be chasing you down for a sale.
Think this does not apply to you? Think you cannot utilize superstars in your marketing because you cannot afford Dan Marino? Well think again.
There is actually some low-cost methods you could begin featuring celebs in your marketing immediately.
One strategy we like is designing a mail piece with a full color envelope making use of pictures of three famous celebs your target audience would 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 image you’d put your name and “owner of ABC dealership in XYZ town.” BANG, instant celebrity tie in. And that’s getting opened.
Or you can use your marketing dollars to purchase 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 someone affordable that resonates with your target market. Older celebs who are no longer in their hay-day or little known celebs such as popular contestants on reality TV shows could usually be employed for surprisingly little.
Also keep in mind that the depression impacts everyone. Even celebrities jump at the chance to make some extra money. More usually than not it is 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 marketing resource.
You can find contact info 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
