krusty_rusty Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 way to go mel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerjim2 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 TQJ3, A number of years ago a guy names Trace Alley gave a class to help racers with thier interviewing skills it seem to me that it cost about $250.00 he helped by vido taping some segments where we responded to questions that he had ask us off camera at the end of the course he presented us with a tape that put each of the students on camera with a nice voice over and a sales pitch along with the recorded answers to the questions he gave us.Trace since has passed away there were a handfull of people that attended that class myself , Joe Aremendia and Kenny Hurley and acouple of others. Granted the turn out was not a good a Nic's suspension siminars but some of his first classes were pretty small.Anyway ther needs to be a balance with the PR stuff just like it is with your car setup. Would like to see some parctial ways to chase sponsors when you work full time pluss and work on the car the rest of the time and try to have somewhat of a life with whats left.Iknow ever potential sponsor is different and you cant do one blanket proposal to cover everyone but if you help educate we racers to help us get seee some fruit of the pr business then there may be some that will invest in thier careers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 fish- think of it as looking in from outside the box. Kinda thought that if I was acting like someone outside the accepted circle of the racing community it might spark everyone into looking at things differently Makes sense except for the fact your not and everyone could tell right off...LOL TQ3- But you do need to change what you are doing. What, are you following me around or something??? LOL...but seriously, do you even know what I am doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 RacerX- How many press releases did you send out last year? To whom did you send them? Did you follow up with personal contact? I can remember sending over 40 press releases and talking to media on at least a weekly basis about a client in a year in which that client only ran about six or eight races. No, I don't think anyone around here is making that kind of effort, but the comment was actually directed at the racing community, not at any one racer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 Thank you for clarifying...I think you may be surprised this year... My sponsor last year did not do it for the PR value...he did it to make his best, smartest, and most handsome employee happy...from that statement you can surmise it was me, I don't employ very bright people, and as a group, we are not much to look at...LOL...most of my customers would not be impressed that I was engaging in an activity that they percieve as dangerous and might switch to another company beause they might think it puts their technology investment at risk...or that might lead them to this board and they would find out what a total idiot I am...either way, bad for business...so we'll hold off on that press release for a while... If nothing else, you can sure get people to post... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoom Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 it seems the only thing most racers think is holding them back is not having enough horsepower. OK, here is a sample press release. speed demon was only lapped one time this week and finished a respectable 15th out of 15 cars. He did race clean and was able to save his equipment. He used his great skill and a straightaway length of time to avoid a nasty 3 car pile up in turn 1. Nahhh, wouldn't look good. point is, if you aren't competitive, what are you going to put in that press release and sponsor search packet? "He is a good ole boy who drives hard and the only thing holding him back is not having your sponsor dollars"? And, I did want to take your seminar but you withdrew. I asked you about it. TQ, do you offer your services on a commission basis? You no produce, you no paid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildRacer5 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 OK, here is a sample press release. speed demon was only lapped one time this week and finished a respectable 15th out of 15 cars. He did race clean and was able to save his equipment. He used his great skill and a straightaway length of time to avoid a nasty 3 car pile up in turn 1. Nahhh, wouldn't look good. I'm gonna disagree with you zoom.(and others that think the same way) The art of PR has more do with how you say something, more than what really happened. I'm not saying lie, just put it another way. It's kinda like when your girlfriend tells you she just wants to be freinds. That's nicer than telling you to go jump in a lake. Try this sample re-release as an example For Immediate Release Speed Demon has Challenging and Eventful Night Speed Demon took to the track for another night of racing action. He had friends, family, and fans in the stands cheering him on for the exciting night of racing. Unfortanatly he also had some mechanical gremlins show up that were not on his guest list and make the race teams' night challenging. Even as the gremlins were making Demon's night rough, he was able to avoid being invloved in a multicar crashing spectacular at the end of fast front straight away going into turn one. Despite the gremlins attemp to end his night, Speed Demon avoided the carnage and was only one lap behind the leader at the end of the night with a 12th place finish. After the races Speed Demon commented "We had a challenging night, but we did finish the race. I need to find a company out there that can help us get rid of those pesky mechanical gremlins." Speed Demon is curently looking for sponsors for the remainder of the racing season. Please contact Speed Demon Racing at 555-1212. Now do you see were I'm comming from zoom? I didn't say anything different than you did (except where SD finished b/c of the other cars wrecking). Even if SD finished 15th you just same he came home with a top 15 place finish. The driver might be down on Horsepower but make the release work for you not against you. The new release makes speed demon sound like a winner. Not a winner of the race, but a winner of the battle. The other release made him sound like a loser who has no shot at winning anything. As alway these are JMO. Do your releases the way that you want to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 I remember last year the press release wild racer wrote for Terrible Tim Sowell even made him sound good!!! LOL j/k Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerjim2 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 wild racer I love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildRacer5 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 I remember last year the press release wild racer wrote for Terrible Tim Sowell even made him sound good!!! LOL j/k Tim WE ALL KNOW HOW HARD THAT IS TO DO!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 lol Exactly what I was thinking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyRodriguez Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 I bet Mel is thinking that as well !!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 WildRacer- Good thinking. You understand something about how this is done, though one thing you never do is solicit sponsorship in a press release. Not only is it unprofessional, it's counterproductive. (Remember, it's sportswriters and sportscasters who are going to read this, along with your existing sponsors and potential sponsors.) Zoom- I hadn't forgotten you, but, as I recall, you were the only one who expressed any interest. Work on commission? How would that work? I get paid only if I write the releases? I get paid only if the releases are used in some way? Actually, the answer is, "No." Too much is beyond my control. As I've said before, your engine and chassis builders don't wait until you win a race to get paid. Call a PR firm, and ask how much they would charge to write a couple of press releases a week. RacerX- I hope I do get surprised this year. Anyone who has followed these discussions knows I have said all along that everyone needs to do this in some way, and that I couldn't possibly work for all the racers who should be doing it. It would be good for racing if a dozen drivers, a couple of tracks and a series or two would start sending out information. I got nine press releases from TMS yesterday, plus one noting they had sent the other nine in case I missed their Media Day yesterday, so I'd have all the information. And don't start with "TMS has lots of money." It didn't cost them much to send those releases, and it won't cost them much to send the 30 or 40 I'll get in the month before the first Cup race, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 92 bottles of beer on the wall... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildRacer5 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 WildRacer- Good thinking. You understand something about how this is done, though one thing you never do is solicit sponsorship in a press release. Not only is it unprofessional, it's counterproductive. (Remember, it's sportswriters and sportscasters who are going to read this, along with your existing sponsors and potential sponsors.) TQ, Thanks for the compliment. However, many times on this board you stated that PR was key to finding additional sponsors. Many times you make it seem as though it will be the key to our racing salvation. With that being said, How do you get contact with new sponsors if you do not ask for it in a release. Do you make a seperate release asking for it? Or do you just put on the bottom of the PR please contact at 555-1212 for more info. Hell if that was the case, aren't most racers just trying to do that now. Waiting for someone to contact them to give them money. Isn't that what you say all racers ar doing wrong now? I'm not trying to be a smart ass but I'm getting confused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 WildRacer5- You're confused because everyone on this board tends to confuse PR with advertising and sponsor search or marketing. Public relations and promotion educate the world about you, your team, your track and your series through everything from press releases to personal contact to autograph cards (or similar materials). It's how you get the attention of the press, and help them cover your sport so it is familiar to the larger audience, the one that just might like watching WildRacer5 or coming out to Thunder Hill, if they knew either of those existed. Advertising should be simple, but everyone confuses it with either PR or marketing. You either buy advertising to advertise your driver or track or series, or you sell it to support your driver or track or series, usually both. We want to sell advertising on our cars, our track fences, in our programs and so on, but we also will usually have to buy some advertising in order to get the word out and show the press the event is important in their area. (One thing they use to decide if an event is worth their effort is whether or not the event is being promoted and advertised in their area. If not, they may assume it is of no interest to their readers, viewers and listeners.) Marketing and sponsor search involve assembling packages about your driver, team or track and using them to attract interest in sponsorship. Once you have their attention, you can tailor your "pitch" to them. Obviously, everything is made easier if the public and potential sponsors are aware of you, know who you are, and have a favorable impression of you. That's how doing PR and promotion makes everything else work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelyd13 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 tqj3, This is a personal invitation for you to join our FASCAR meeting Tuesday January 18th at Shoneys on IH35 N and Walzem @ 7:30 P.M. If your that serious about helping drivers promote themselves and their tracks you will have the opportunity to meet the drivers that will be there. I will bring you my driver portfolio so you can see what I have been using and for the drivers that don't have one them hopefully this will bring you some business. Most drivers race for fun and have no plans on making it to the big leagues but we still need to do our part in promoting our track. In order to do so we (drivers) must have a positive attitude about where we race. If I was a sponsor and my drivers tells me "oh so and so at the track pisses me of and I'm not gonna race there no more" I'm not going to want to sponsor this guy again if he can't guarantee me my advertisement. Before the season started last year I must have heard this same line from about 5 different businesses "I sponsored a car last year and it did not bring me any new business" What did that driver do to promote this business? Slap the name on the car and drive? That doesn't cut it. I'm in sales so I have that sales mentality embedded into my brain, for example with my new portfolio I was able to land Master Lube as my sponsor this year. I have arranged to get business cards, Koozies, caps and anything this guy has with his name on it to give to the fans. Trust me fans will support the business that support racing. The sad news is not every driver does this and I'm sure there are many reasons why but if we had someone like you to help lead some of these guys/girls in the right direction it would make a difference. Believe it or not there may be some drivers that are mechanically inclined but computer challenged. I have been using Master lube for several years now so now that the guys at the location I do business with know they are my sponsor they want to go to SAS to see me race and since I know they will have a good time they will leave there and tell their family and friends. It's a snowball effect. Let me know if you think you will be able to attend, would love to have you. Thanks, Kelly Earnhardt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tqj3 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 Kelly- All of your points are well-taken, particularly the one about drivers who "slap the name on the car and drive." I'll be glad to come to the FASCAR meeting. See you there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelyd13 Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 Thanks, look forward to meeting you if I don't already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rookie49 Posted January 15, 2005 Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 I'm not sure if I'm on the right thread or not but does anyone know how many teams will be represented in the latemodel class at SAS this year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyRodriguez Posted January 15, 2005 Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 you might PM Mel, he might be able to tell you ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racerx Posted January 15, 2005 Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 Welcome back Johnny...where have you been? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEGACY Posted January 15, 2005 Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 Hey Mel, How's this working for you,got a car count yet? Definition of ignorance[Doing the same thing today as you did yestereday and expecting a different result]HUH! Lloyd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel Posted January 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 Well lets see........ 2 Gentlemen Start Your Engines! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted January 15, 2005 Report Share Posted January 15, 2005 And don't start with "TMS has lots of money." It didn't cost them much to send those releases, So TQ. you're telling me Sarona, Gary, Brian and a couple others I'm leaving out, work for peanuts? I only wish I could make those same peanuts for things that I do related to racing. Career to date(8 yrs,) earnings for race-related stories, releases, etc.....$125.00. Mel, that was 2 correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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