Belinda [00:00:07]:
Hello, crew, and welcome to another episode of the Motorsport sponsorship podcast. I am your host, Belinda Risley, and this week we are deep diving into the accelerating world of motorsports, and we're tackling a crucial aspect of a motorsports athletes career. Can you guess it, team? Yes, we are talking about securing sports sponsorship. Whether you're an aspiring driver or seasonal pro or just curious about the business side of raising this episode is for you. So let's hit the gas and get started. And yes, for those that are listening for the first time, the motorsport sponsorship podcast. I do love a great motorsport pun. So buckle up.
Belinda [00:00:46]:
All right, team. So, understanding the importance of sponsorship, we are, we know, we understand that sponsorship is the lifeblood of our sport. It is unlike any other sport. The cost with motorsports is so high, it's ridiculous. Of course, that covers things from maintaining and upgrading vehicle costs to covering travel, entry fees, the financial demands. It can be really, really overwhelming, especially if you just study out in this wonderful sport. However, of course, that is where sponsors come in, but that is also where our planning and processes play, play a major part. But we love sponsors.
Belinda [00:01:25]:
Of course, we know that they're necessary in funding and in funding and of course, resources as well to keep us onto the track and of course, to keep us competitive. So, of course, as this is called, the motorsport sponsorship podcast, we'll be focusing on our sponsors. So when we get started, when we are getting started with motorsport sponsorship, obviously there's lots of steps to get started, started. And as I've just mentioned, the number one step is being prepared for sponsorship. So the first step is seeking sponsorship is preparation. That involves several key components. So number one is building a personal brand. How many times when I've been working with motorsport athletes, and we'll go, okay, like, what's your brand like, what are your values? They'll be like, what? What are these words? What do, why are they important? And what a relationship does it has with seeking sponsors? Basically, team that as a motor sport athlete, your brand is your story.
Belinda [00:02:24]:
It is what sets you apart from all the other athletes that are trying to seek sponsors, especially from that one sponsor. This is where you get to develop a compelling narrative that highlights your journey, your achievements, the personality. Basically, who do you want? Who do you want to know about you, and what do you want people to know about you? You can use platforms like your social media to showcase your skills, engage with your fans, and to build your online presence. So having a brand is really, really important. As an athlete, that is the number one step. And it's pretty much the time where you need to spend a lot defining exactly what you want to be known for as an athlete. They were the words I was looking for before. What do you guys want to be known for as a motorsport athlete? Because obviously that is going to help shape what kind of teams you work for, what kind of engineers want to work with you.
Belinda [00:03:23]:
All of that kind of directory is all based around your brand and your personality. So please do take some time to perfect your brand. Inside of our current free Facebook group called motorsport sponsorship, very, very unique. And also our Instagram channel, also called motorsport sponsorship, we are currently looking at developing your brand. So if you're new to the world of motivate, welcome. Each month we pretty much focus on one aspect of building your career. So we cover things like branding, we do social media, we do stuff specific to sponsorship, we do public relations, we do media interview techniques and some miscellaneous items as well. So if you're not a fan already, I'd love for you to race over and join us over on that free motorsport sponsorship Facebook group or over on Instagram, on that free Instagram channel.
Belinda [00:04:19]:
All right, team. So number two is about creating a professional portfolio. So this portfolio is basically something that you keep on gave up. I was just hesitant there because I was going to say, hey, back in the branding, one of the great tools, a great free tool that you can utilize to help build your brand, and building a brand means identifying your colors, identify your logos, as well as identifying who you want to be. But more from the aesthetic type of view, is utilizing a tool called canva and creating a professional portfolio. You can also utilize canva to do this. This is where you're going to have things like your media kit, your sponsorship proposal, your racing achievements, you can develop your reels in there. Basically, the media coverage that you previously have received, you can upload it into that and make social media content out of that.
Belinda [00:05:20]:
So number two about getting started, of building, of seeking sponsorship, is creating a professional portfolio. The number three is to understand your audience. So knowing that when it comes to social media, you need to know which platform you need to be on. But also, and we've previously done a whole podcast around choosing the right social media platform for you, and I will attach that in today's show notes. But the other thing is around about knowing that when you're talking, so when you're developing your social media content, then making sure that your voice and who you're targeting is your right targeting audience, so are your friends, young people are your fans, parents are your fans, older? Are they more grandparents age? Until you know the demographics. And again, this is what your sponsors are wanting to know, is who are your demographics, who are following you in your sponsorship journey? All right? So it's really important to understand and know who your audience is. So understanding who that audience is is obviously, as I just said, is what sponsors are looking for. That is the data that they want to know more.
Belinda [00:06:32]:
So, about how many likes you have, they wanting to know who is following you, where do they live, what sex are they, what are their kind of general interests? So it's really important that each and every month that you do an audit on those social media, if that's your main platforms, we do have a free social media audit. So if you're interested, wherever you're listening, you can just put in an audit. Or of course, within the motorsport sponsorship club, our membership site where we work on all of these aspects of building your brand, developing your social media strategy, gaining you more exposure, helping you get more pr. Each and every month we do an end of month audit, as well as provide you with a social media content calendar. So, again, if you're new to motorsports, you're not really quite sure what to post, how to post again, whatever kind of platforms you should be on. I'll put that link to the motorsport sponsorship club in today's show notes, and please race over and check it out. Of course, you can race over to motivatetraining.com dot au for all of our services. All right, team, so the next thing around that we need to do when we're seeking sponsorship is obviously to identify our potential sponsors.
Belinda [00:07:47]:
And again, if you are new and you're just setting up, there are a lot of processes that go to seeking sponsorship. However, I do assure you team that once they are established, that they are very easy to update and to leverage for each and every contact or prospect that you get going forward. All right, so as I mentioned, that we're going to be looking at identifying potential sponsors. So obviously that is one task, but under that one task, there's a lot of actionable steps that come with it. And the first one is to research companies. So I mentioned earlier in today's episode, that's really important that you understand your values. So what are your values? What's important to you helps when it comes to identifying which sponsors you actually want to work for or work with. Sorry.
Belinda [00:08:38]:
So look for companies that have a history response to motorsport. That is also a good tip. But also, if you've kind of, if you're more seasoned and you've kind of exhausted all of that list, start to look at things that you use every day. So what kind of products or services are you using on a regular basis or that you love or that you're interested in working with and do your social media demographics, that data that we just mentioned aligned with the market, that those brands that you've just identified that you want to work with align. All right, so check that out. And again, when it comes to seeking sponsorship, just as I said, don't just think about motorsport related brands. There's definitely a lot of other products and services, affiliation, links, ambassador, programs that you can be a part of where they may be looking to get into motorsport. Or maybe you have not even thought about the opportunity of motorsport marketing because no one's actually ever spoken to them about it.
Belinda [00:09:39]:
All right, so number two is leverage your current network. We know the old saying goes, in motorsports, it's not what you know, it's who you know in motorsports. So yes, there's a lot of stigma around about motorsport just being for the rich people and they all have the great connections, but there's nothing to say that you can't make connections if you commit your time to actually doing that. I have come across so many athletes throughout the many years that I have been during this role that just refuse to go to the racetrack if they're not racing drivers. That is not the right attitude. You are going to make the most connections at a racetrack, especially when you're not racing, because you do have more time to network, to meet, to greet, to invite sponsors, to show them around, to actually entertain them, to set up meetings. Maybe with an actual. Maybe it could be a motorsport related sponsor or it could just be a sponsor that's local to the area.
Belinda [00:10:40]:
So leverage your networks. Find out when and where you can actually meet up with them. Whether it's actually at the racetrack or maybe it's an industry event, maybe it's at the local small business chambers of commerce event. And then also don't be scared to utilize your personal and professional connections. So if you do have a small business, or if mom and dad does have a small business, you know, maybe there's opportunity. That way you can do some pro radar business opportunities. So have a look into how you can leverage your current networks. And if you are a grassroot motorsport athlete and you're starting to get, you're just starting out and all the time I again get that question about who do I contact? First of all, it's always best to think local.
Belinda [00:11:30]:
All right. So don't overlook the local businesses. They might not have massive bad debts or multinational corporations, but they can have. They can have, and they will provide you with valuable support and often have a vested interest in supporting local communities and talent. All right? So normally they are more inclined to support local athletes because it's part of their ethos, it's part of their values to give back to the local community. So once again, think about the local businesses that you use every day, like the butcher or the local mall or the local bakery. Maybe that's your first stop to sponsorship, is just actually having a conversation with them about are they interested in marketing with you and how you can go about that. Coming up, I will be doing an episode around about local sponsorships and best how to engage them and the kind of benefits that you can offer them.
Belinda [00:12:24]:
So stay tuned for that one, Tim. All right. And then our next steps when it comes to securing sponsorship is. Well, it's not really the proposal, but I always put it in there because they're the words that everybody loves to hear. But team, again, if you're new to my world, you will understand that the proposal is the last step, the last process in actually securing sponsorship, or there's about 15 other steps prior to that. Sorry. I'm sitting outside today. It's a beautiful winter's day.
Belinda [00:13:03]:
I'm sitting outside recording this podcast, hence my hesitation sometimes because I'm getting excited just like looking at the birds fluttering around and hearing the cows. So I do apologize, team. Anyway, back to you guys. All right, so with the proposal, yes. Everyone always will contact me saying, hey, Belinda, I'm needing some sponsorship. Can I do a proposal? And I'd be like, great. And generally we'll go through about these five, eight top questions around. Have you actually spoken to them? Do you know what they want? Do you know their values? What kind of benefits can you offer them? Are you looking for a state? Like a per round thing? What kind of costs are you after? And you can answer all of these questions or know the answers to all these questions.
Belinda [00:13:46]:
Is it very, very hard to actually put a proposal together? However, in the world of motorsports, we have just been groomed to talk about having a proposal. At the end of the day, as I said, it's the last step. And obviously, when it comes to developing proposal, there are some great steps. And I've previously done an episode around what should go inside that proposal. So again, I will attach that so I don't have to talk too much about it. But briefly, team, you need to make sure that they're all personalized. You need to highlight the specific benefits that you can offer for that sponsor. It is okay to have generic benefits such as like a logo on the car or logo on the vehicle, logo on your merchandise, but you need, you do need to have some specific benefits specifically for there, of course, that those clear metrics are that data information that would, that I just mentioned, whether it's just your social media as well as if you have information around about the track data, eg, track attendance and ticket sales, any kind of activations that you can do at the track or you have done at the track for previous sponsors and really like testimonials as well.
Belinda [00:15:03]:
Again, people buy from people and people want to know what it's like to work with you. So make sure you include some testimonials. And yes, guys, if you are interested in working with me at motivate, please head over to my homepage. I've got some testimonials pretty much on each of the different pages. And of course, if you are looking for some more, just simply write testimonials wherever you're listening to today's episode and I can send some more out for you. Right. And so once we send out that proposal team, and we've pretty much covered all, everything as far as what our marketing opportunity is, what our membership request is. So our sponsorship request is, and how we operate, what we're going to say to them that we can deliver, hopefully we're going to over deliver.
Belinda [00:15:53]:
And under what does that say? Over over promise and no, over deliver and under promise. That's it. All right. So when it comes to developing again, I'll just go through some tips about that sales process is that obviously, once you're starting to negotiate the contract going forward, a, you want to make sure that you do have a sponsorship agreement put into place. So if you haven't already invested the time or money, it's really important that you do have professional sponsorship agreement that you can give to your prospective, which is going to clearly outline the key objections and basically the KPI. So the key performance indicators of both parties sponsorship is not a one way street. It is a two way partnership or a two way relationship. So depending on which word you use, it's really important that you do have a sponsorship agreement.
Belinda [00:16:47]:
And again, I've previously done an episode about sponsorship agreement, so I'll add that also to today's show notes, and I'll probably do a new one to actually go through how to actually update that sponsorship agreement coming forward. But again, when you're starting to negotiate, it's really important that you can show professionalism. So people buy from people. Businesses want to invest in business. And as I say again, for those that are new, follow me. That motorsport is a business. So treat every interaction with potential sponsors as a business meeting. Okay, so you want to be punctual, you need to be prepared, and you need to be respectful.
Belinda [00:17:26]:
Part of that sales process is that you want to know objections. You need to have a list of objections you have heard and that you can work through, and that if you've new to having objections. So if you're not even sure what an objection is, it's basically when someone has says no or not now or I'm not interested, that you start to write down why what they said and why they said it. So no because of X or not now because of Y, and you start to build that database up as to overcoming those objections. And so next time, when you hear that no or not now that you have factored in and you've come up with a plan b to answer those direct questions. All right, being punctual. So again, it's a business meeting. Make sure that you've confirm the meeting.
Belinda [00:18:16]:
You might send a text message, depending on how personal or small the business is, making sure that you are dressed well, obviously it's like a job interview team. So you dress to impress. If it's a big organization, yes. You could probably wear a suit. If you're going to see the local bakery, then you wouldn't wear your suit or your race. It. Think about the type of business it is and the type of brand that they're trying, or the type of people they're trying to attract and wear clothing appropriate for that business. And of course, be respectful.
Belinda [00:18:53]:
Listen, listen, listen. When it comes to that first meeting again, that's a process again, that we develop with inside that sales system that we go through with inside the motorsport sponsorship club. You need to listen. Listen to what they're saying to you, listen to what they want to get out of this sponsorship. Listen to what benefits there are wanting. And then that is how you can either, a, redefined your proposal, or b, then start to negotiate and go, oh, okay, well, actually, I submitted this proposal, but after having this clearer conversation with you now, I'd love to also add x, y, z. So listen and get the answers that you need to give them what they want. And as mentioned, that sponsorship is a two way street to know your values.
Belinda [00:19:44]:
So many athletes that I've worked with, especially the grassroots, you know, come sometimes to grow to not like their sponsors pretty much because they feel like the sponsors just want, want from them and they can't keep up, they can't keep up with this demand from that sponsor as well as maybe the other five or six sponsors that are requiring their time. So a, that's why it's important to have that sponsorship agreement put into place so those clear expectations of both party are put into it. But also that you don't see sponsorship to be a troll, that you see that there's value in what you're providing to the sponsor, that you get excited to provide them with social media content, that you get excited to want to attend their workplace. When they maybe have a new pop up store coming in, you can take your race vehicle down. So don't be scared to put a price on what your time is worth as well when it comes to these agreements slash proposals. All right? So it's important that you know your value. What is your hourly worth? Again, I've got a spreadsheet and it's a really, a worksheet that you can work through to identify what is your worth when it comes to social media content, when it comes to creation, when it comes to posting, when it comes to interview, all of this is identified within that worksheet. So if you're interested, simply put value or DME or email us and I can send that out to you for free.
Belinda [00:21:13]:
All right. And then of course, just wrapping up here is that the best steps is obviously maintaining our relationships. So again, team, there's another process that goes around that. So how, how do you maintain a sponsor once you've, once you've been successful in obtaining that sponsors, what do you do to nurture them? What do you do to keep them on board? What do you do to keep them engaged? How do you communicate with them? How do you know when payments are going to be made from them? How do you renegotiate your contract? All of these goes into a process, as you can hear. So it's really important that you maintain that relationship. Obviously you want it to maintain it to be a positive and ideally long term. And I think that's another thing when it comes to proposal writing, that a lot of the athletes write the proposals just for the next twelve months. Well, ideally you want your sponsor to come on board for a long period of time.
Belinda [00:22:12]:
So when you are developing these proposals or in your cover letter write what are your racing aspirations? Right, that, yes, maybe next year I'm going to be racing the Australian Kiting championship or I'm going to be doing round one of the mini series over in the UK. But yet, next year I'd love to go to form affords and next year I'd love to be racing the BMW series. Like get them involved, get them emotionally attached to what your aspirations are, what is your planned journey? As mentioned, it's really important to keep them regularly updated and these are the things that go into your process. How often do you keep a sponsor updated? If they pay you $5,000 and they pay you dollar 500, what is your communication plan with each of those sponsors? Do you update them after each race meeting? Do you update them once a month? Do you update them weekly? That is going to come down to you and your processes and how basically you want to set up your business as a motorsport athlete. Obviously the things that you want to update them about is your progress, your race results, your achievements. Any new sponsors come on board? And on that note, it's just a great time to point out team, just make sure that when you are seeking sponsorship, to make sure that there's no sponsors, they're going to have a conflict of interest. Okay? So make sure they're not competing brands. Make sure that they're, and as much as I hate to say it, but their political views are aligned.
Belinda [00:23:39]:
Make sure that that basically there's not going to be any issues for you to secure a new sponsor if you haven't disclosed already the ones you have on board. So that's a really important tip to keep on board and make sure that you deliver on your promise. And once again, that agreement will showcase and outline exactly what you're going to do for that sponsor. But if you're going to say that you're going to post four times a month for that sponsor, make sure you actually follow that up. Make sure you fulfill all the commitments outlined in your agreement. And again, this could include just simple things like your brand placements, social media mentions, tags, hashtags, appearances, attending their events, all of those kind of things. Whatever you guys have set out in that sponsorship proposal, or in that first meeting or after your negotiations, you need to adhere that you are delivering on those promises and of course show appreciation for that sponsor. At the end of the year.
Belinda [00:24:44]:
A lot of the athletes do send out their sponsors gifts, which is fantastic and I understand it is a course to actually do that, but I really highly recommend that when you're sending out gifts to sponsors, make sure it's applicable to them. Make sure it's something personable, something that they have actually possibly spoken to you about. And I'm talking little things like they don't have to be expensive, but for example, say a sponsor may have bought out their family to the racetrack and you might have had a photo with all the family around your race team. Print that off and send that to the sponsor as opposed to like you in the car and the race vehicle. All right. They're going to have much more pride in that gift then. I shouldn't say much more pride. They may love it, guys, but I say they probably appreciate that fairly.
Belinda [00:25:37]:
Photo with them in the race car with you standing beside it and signing it, then just of you. All right, so just think about that sponsor obviously over the commitment, the time, whether you it, maybe it's like a and do you present a Christmas gift or if you're new speedway and you finish mid year, it might just be a thank you gift. Again, I've got a free download. I think there's about 20 ideas around thank you gifts to give sponsors. If you're interested, just write thank you or send me a DM and I'll be happy to send that out to you. But think about the sponsor, think about who you've been working with over the last twelve months or two years and think about what gift is going to resonate with them and really go, oh, wow, like belinda really knows me. Like, and it could be something fun and quirky as well. Maybe it could be that your sponsor has said they really like donuts and simply just getting them like twelve donuts.
Belinda [00:26:32]:
Or maybe you make cupcakes and they're like, yeah, I love cupcakes and you've made them cupcakes. Like that is more impressible than having to buy them something that's potentially just going to sit there and collect us. So really put some thought around about your appreciation. Thank you gift. All right, team, so there you have it. Some tips about securing sponsorship, getting started. It's a challenging process, but with the right preparation and strategy and of course, your attitude, you can find partners that you need to propel your career forward. So thanks for tuning in, guys.
Belinda [00:27:11]:
There will be a free guide to go with this, so I'll upload pretty much all of the steps into a bit of a checklist for you. So if you're interested, race over to today's show notes and it will have race checklists. My goodness. This week there's going to be lots of links, but of course, please do race over. And if you do enjoy these episodes, I would love it if you could write a review. If you haven't already subscribed, write a review. We do have a monthly draw that you can go into that would be fantastic. And, of course, share it with your racing family and friends.
Belinda [00:27:47]:
Until next time, keep your engine driving team and keep your eyes on the prize. I am Belinda Risley. Good night.
