Feature Me!

By Brian C. Mackey

Forget about getting your name in the paper! Strictly from a marketing perspective, your name embedded in a related story is of minimal importance. While it may count as "publicity", it is part of a broader perspective of publicity and press relations that is often misunderstood. And if not misunderstood, it is misapplied to achieve objectives. Here is what I mean. We all understand that press relations is an important function for a team that is serious about sponsorship. However, getting just your name in the paper is virtually worthless!

From my standpoint as a marketer of motorsports, there is only one reason for press relations. Sponsors. You need publicity because your sponsors MUST have it. Publicity is the key building block to use in introducing the marketing benefits of your race team and pointing out to your sponsors, or prospective ones, the significant attention to be gained through publicity devoted to your racing program.

But by publicity, I mean, significant exposure. I understand the need for press kits, for information to be presented and available to press agents covering race events, etc. However, if that is the end of your publicity effort, it will likely produce little marketing valuable material. As a marketer, I am not particularly interested in gaining the team’s or driver’s name buried deep into a race account or race coverage. If press releases sent out to press outlets gain this limited type of coverage, as a marketer, it is of minimal interest. What I am interested in is FEATURE coverage. I want pictures. I need the complete spotlight on your team. I want the name and team story featured in a publication, any publication; newspaper, website, television station, or any other form of media. The bottom line is feature story. No other type of coverage can provide the valuable content of a feature story. Why? Because you want to use this information to attract sponsors, or to demonstrate to the ones you have that your race team is capable of this highly coveted type of "exposure".

Two things to consider. Should you focus on print or electronic? My simple answer is depends on the kind of presentation you prepare to introduce your race team to prospects. If you are like most grassroots level of professional racer, you most probably are creating a print type of presentation. It is cheaper, flexible and more easily produced. If that is the lead medium that you use, then focus on print feature coverage. If you are preparing a more electronic, computer or video presentation, focus on the electronic type of feature publicity.

Most importantly, gaining feature coverage is not all that hard to do. Not that you’ll find your team on the cover of leading national publications, but some form of feature coverage is quite easy to attain. With the plethora of media outlets in today’s wired world, the chances of success in gaining this kind of publicity is significantly easier. There are nearly limitless outlets. But concentrate your primary efforts on gaining feature coverage. It hardly matters what publication you are featured in, but rather that you are featured in the first place! It’s ammunition to present to sponsors. It’s credible background. It’s all very valuable in your search for sponsors. Use it at every opportunity. With this kind of publicity, and a constant renewal of more examples of it, your race team will immediately be more marketable and credible for sponsor consideration. And gaining sponsors is the primary objective in the first place!