DenInfo.com

NASCAR is a powerful business and marketing machine. There is a lot you can find out 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 may 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 president of Millsport Motorsports he has aided NASCAR see record growth in popularity and sponsorship. Now 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 since taken the ideas Mike shared and reshaped them to suit the car business. We’re currently serving them to you on a silver platter so you can use them in your own dealership this year.

So print this out, grab a highlighter or a pen and put on your thinking cap as you’re 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 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 will overlook the sport and reached out to them making use of 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 advertising is to get your prospect’s attention. So if nothing works better in getting attention than celebrities, why not use it?

Demographics don’t matter either. Wealthy investors, CEOs, credit challenged, blue-collar, white-collar they all are attracted to celebrities. We believe the reason is reach and frequency. Just like effective marketing is about reaching a lot of individuals and more significantly reaching them several times, celebrities have a huge amount of reach as their job is to be noticed and be heard.

One more reason why celebrities are influential marketing weapons is centered on the power of association. People link you to those they see you with. If you’re hanging out with celebrities then you ought to be one yourself. This is reassuring to your clients and puts you in a good light. And of course potential clientele would enjoy aligning themselves with you too, as they also want a piece of that celebrity pie.

Not to mention, customers are more probable to refer business to the “cool” dealer that hangs out with celebs over the guy they’ve 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 cannot use celebrities in your marketing because you cannot afford Dan Marino? Well think again.

There is 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 pictures of three renowned 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 could use your marketing dollars to buy a celeb for direct sponsorship, endorsement or events. Of course most A-listers may be out of your price range but there is always someone affordable that resonates with your target market. Older celebrities who are no longer in their hay-day or more obscure celebs like popular contestants on reality TV shows could usually be employed for surprisingly little.

Also keep in mind that the recession affects everyone. Even celebs jump at the possibility to make some extra cash. More often than not it is 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 could find contact info on nearly 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