January, 2009 Sponsorship tip of the month SOMETIMES LESS IS MORE
by Joe Verdegan

There is often a misconception in the motorsports world that drivers who are trying to land sponsors must list every top five, top ten, top fifteen finish, in points, feature finishes, etc. within their advertising portfolios.

The fact-of-the-matter is nothing could be further from the truth.   When we craft driver's portfolios at Elite Sports Marketing that's a point we want to hammer home.  You don't need to put a lot of that stuff in a package.

When I toiled as a full time news reporter in the radio business,  I was taught the "less is more" concept when writing my news stories.    You write much differently for the ear than you do for the eye.  Stories were often two, three sentences tops when writing a radio news story.

Those same principals applies when you're soliciting advertisers.  Do you really think Kwik Trip or Time Warner Cable, for example, care if Johnny Leadfoot scored three top ten feature finishes and an eighth in points in the bomber division the year prior?

Not at all.   They want to know what the car will look like?  What about team uniforms? What will they look like?  Where will you race?  Where do the race fans who attend your weekly track live?  What about car shows?  Parades?  Do you have a website?  If so, can we have a link to our business' website?  You get the drift.

Drivers should remember to put themselves in the shoes of the potential advertiser/sponsor. Many times the decision makers with regards to ad budgets are very busy people.  They likely get bombarded with proposals all the time.

Therefore, keep what your sending to them brief and to-the-point.  Don't bore them with a bunch of stats that really aren't relative.  While YOU may think you did great by placing eighth in the point standings, it really isn't relative to what the potential sponsor is looking for.

Right now we've got a New's Year's special cooking.  For the $150.00 for a portfolio we're going to throw in four additional marketing portfolios free of charge.  That's more than a $50.00 savings.

Thanks for reading.  As always, we're always willing to answer your questions.  Email us at jverdegan2@new.rr.com with your sponsorship questions.  We promise an answer.