If you find a couple of extra minutes, you might want to take a peek at what your fellow competitors are posting on their Facebook page, Twitter Account or one of the popular Message Boards in your area. You can learn a lot from their mistakes which will hopefully assist you in landing that big sponsor!
I’m guessing that you will find teams that have sweet looking race cars but appear to have no concern for their personal appearance. In fact many will look like they are dressed no better than when cleaning out the shop. A clean, ironed shirt and a pair of Dockers make a better impression than jeans with holes in the knees!
Along with team members dressed poorly, you might find those same people being photographed after the races having a beer when surrounded by young kids. Remember, this image is probably not going to sit well with the decision maker at the company that you want on the side of your car.
When getting ready to post pictures of your racecar, review them carefully. The best time to shoot a good picture may be during daylight hours, when the grandstands are empty; however you don’t want sponsors to think that you perform in front of an empty house. Make sure that the background is not full of trash or uncut grass full of weeds. Be critical of every picture that you post!
Another bad idea is to go on a Message Board and make statements that can be misconstrued or slam the sport that you love. In Hollywood, they say that bad press is better than no press at all, but that isn’t true when on the hunt for sponsorship dollars. I know that your local race track will make decisions that will make you mad, but remember, once you hit that send/post button, it’s very difficult to unwind the wrong message. Take some time to cool down and think before you pound out the wrong message.
Social media can be your friend or it just might be the reason that a sponsor decides to sign with your competitor or even worse, decides that racing is not a good place to spend their promotional or advertising dollars.
How you use social media is up to you!