NASCAR doesn't simply rely on big names to endorse and market their organization. Rather, they create and promote their own celebrities to carry the brand. Mike attributes DALE EARNHARDT JR. and his development into the sport's first true cross over legend as one of the factors for NASCAR's dramatic growth in the first part of this decade.
Based on that idea, if you can't find a celebrity to endorse your dealership, you can just become one yourself. Think it's impossible?? Well in the age of YouTube, Social Media and the net, it's really not.
Make yourself a local celebrity by beginning a blog, writing articles for your local publications, speaking before local groups, hosting seminars about smart car buying or credit strategies, hosting your own weekend radio show, etc. You can get a book or take class on DIY PR and start getting your name in the media as a featured expert. Use social media to garner "fans" and build your celebrity status that way. Every little bit counts.
NASCAR Understands the Power of Cross Promotions
You may be a small guy in a big dealer pond, but you absolutely don't have to promote like one. Actually, you could play a bigger game in this area simply by associating yourself and your business with several other famous entities in your area. When done right, this can assist boost the potency of your message and insulate you from being hurt financially and emotionally in the case of a failed promotion.
To break this down further, cross advertising means teaming up with other businesses and advertising one another. At times you see this in an auto mall, where multiple dealerships will pool their marketing dollars to create a larger splash in the market. Sometimes you see this with multiple, non-competing businesses in a tight geographical area, where they pool their marketing bucks to bring consumers to the general vicinity.
But if you want to cross promote like NASCAR... you'll have to do what these other businesses are doing and take it to the MAX.
So forget auto malls and tiny marketing collaboratives... doing it the NASCAR way means partnering with famous (celebrity-like) businesses directly from the beginning. For instance, Tag Heuer, the watch brand, already has Tiger Woods secured as a celeb endorsement. Possibly you can hook up with a local jewelry store that is a Tag Heuer retailer, to offer a Tag watch to one lucky winner on Father's day. Your marketing could feature you and the jeweler (and Tiger). You could either share the expense of the marketing, or ask the Jeweler to offer the watch. You then have a big event, the jeweler is on site with a cut out of Tiger wearing a Tag watch, you have a putting contest (of course, you can even tie in a golf course or country club for this, split the marketing 3 ways!), you give away the wristwatch, you sell few cars, and everybody goes home happy.
Realizing that there is power outside of yourself is the key element here. You ought to expand your thinking to allow the opportunity of working with others and leveraging their existing celebrity connections. Not to mention, you would be paying less money for greater exposure as you learn to pull your resources and share the expenses of these amazing campaigns. Here are some of the great ideas that you may need to think about.
You could tie with local celebrities such as news personalities, local authors, radio DJs, local musicians, etc. Again, promote them and ask them to promote you. Maybe propose to pay for a printing of the next batch of CDs produced by a local popular band... with your logo and offer on the CD or inserted inside. A friend of ours recently offered to host a reception in his coffee shop for a group of young pageant contestants. The result was the current Miss America came by to visit the contestants, signed autographs, tasted his coffee and declared, "Best Ever." Now he has a portrait of Miss America drinking his coffee that he can use forever.
You begin seeing lots of opportunities all over when you begin expanding your thinking on this. You just need to look through the lens of the power of celebrity to start seeing them all. You could come up with more than ten great ideas when you begin to focus on this subject for an hour. Or, plant the desire in your subconscious by writing it down on a piece of paper and carrying that in your pocket for a week. In time, the ideas would pop right into your head whilst driving in traffic, or standing in the shower, or after getting up in the middle of the night.
One of the most strong and leverageable activities that could make you rich is focusing on this element of your business. Whilst most individuals are moving cars around or writing on windshields or brewing coffee, you could be working on SPEED and quickly moving your business into the fast lane, while drafting behind the existing success and celebrity of someone else. That is the true power of NASCAR!
Author Resource:-
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 Get a Unique Version of this ArticleArticle Marketing
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