Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Technology and Sponsorships

It is a fact that is openly accepted, and lamented, by all race teams that sponsorships are drying up. A recession tends to do that.



That leads to the question of how do teams keep existing, and acquire new sponsorships? Well, fielding a winning team does wonders. Unfortunately, most teams are not "names" in the sport, at least yet, in some cases. But still, there are sponsorships out there ripe for the picking. The problem is that they are not always aware that they need to sponsor a team, even if it isn't a well known organization.



For the most part, the disconnect occurs in the relating. The one thing that every sponsor, or potential sponsor, wants is return on their investment. So, how can a team provide that return? One way is to learn about how the potential sponsor wants to use their sponsorship dollars. Most of the time, it's reserved for advertising. That means that the team must provide a wider means of advertising than this money would buy without their assistance. NASCAR does tend to provide a wider access to a more [marketing] favorable demographic, but that's only a part of the potential advertising reach teams have access to. It is now almost mandatory to have an internet presence as well.



Any team that wants to have a realistic future as a legitimate racing contender absolutely, without question, must have a website. (I happen to have a sponsor ready, willing and able to provide a professional website design and hosting costs for anyone interested.) It seems that a good number of potential sponsors like to use the websites of their assets to further promote their story.


Think of it like this - A company has a product. The company creates a "story" about the product through their advertising. In order to gain more interest in the product's story, they take out a sponsorship. The sponsorship's ad is a tease to gain interest in the product's full story, so the sponsor places a link to their website on their asset's website to further the story.


If the asset doesn't have a website, then the story can't be told. That is why a website for a team is so necessary. The team must become an asset to the sponsor. The alternative is to be a detriment.


At least, that's my opinion.
Tracy

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