How to reach outside of the existing racing community?

[shwah]

Contact Vortex Media Group.

They operate several online titles: subdriven.com, swedespeed.com, mwerks.com, speedarena.com, triplezoom.com, vwvortex.com, thecarlounge.com. Vortex is widely recognized as one of the top auto enthusiast websites, regardless of brand. Ask about how you can offer the book for sale in their forums which have hundreds of thousands of readers. Specifically see if you can post it up in the regional forums and in the car lounge forums so you capture a wide audience. Send them a copy to review, I think it is likely to happen.

They also have good relationships with C&D, R&T, etc - so if they like it enough there may be some networking advantage there. All of the jounalists see each other with some regularity at new car intros, so who knows...

Good luck.

[JamesB]

Actually he has a point. Vortex has a huge following and a small banner ad might be a good thing for you. I would talk to Jamie and crew at VMG. I would also talk to vendors you work with if you entertain going to shows and just ask if you can use a small area of their booth to be there. Setup the books and some collage of Video if you have something portable to show off.

Personally I think SCCA should be doing the same by regions asking sponsors to put up something with dates of all the SCCA events and keep a few memebership applications out where they can be seen.

The biggest issue I see with most club events is noone knows about them unless a friend races.

[gsbaker]

Dave,

Have you contacted Grassroots Motorsports? If not, I'd be happy to drop into their offices and make the pitch for you. They are in the Daytona area, where I need to be with Speedweeks firing up in less than a month.

You know how it is; work, work, work....

[spnkzss]

The first thing that needs to happen is the Regions need to step up and take control. The regions need to hirer a PR person (NO VOLUNTEERS), pay a PR firm to take control. Promote the specific Region. You get people into the Region and then it expands to SCCA. We dont' necessarily need a SCCA National PR attack. We need to get people in the seats which will in turn put them in the seats of cars.

[JamesB]

Spanky you are correct but PR companies cost BIG money even on the local level. Even a grassroots PR campain is better then no PR campain at all.

I got into autocrossing when I was 17 because I ran across a flier put up by the local SCCA in Long Island at a deli getting breakfast one day. Since then I have been involved. When I moved to Maryland it took me nearly a year to find out who, what, when and where for autocrossing (remember this was 1994 when the interweb was not as popular and search engines stunk) and it wasn't untill I went to join SCCA that I learned about MARRS from the WDCR website.

So any publication about the Dates of the MARRS series is better then me e-mailing only my friends a list of the schedule because they don't bother to pass on the information.

[gran racing]

I'll definately be contacting Vortex Media Group. Awesome idea!

Grassroots did a review on the book in their last issue, which was very cool. I imagine you were referring to having them print a review?

I also found a local authors & publishers association which hosts meetings with experienced individuals. I'll give that a shot too. When looking at some of the various associations, there's one which was recommended by some of the self publishing books I've read. One of the services they provide at a discount is various marketing tools, such sending out information about books to libaries, potential book reviewers, and book stores (which require that I use a wholesaler). Of course each of these have an associated cost. It's tough to evaluate what the chances are that the money spent would payoff or not.


Thank you all again for taking the time to help come up with some new ideas. It means a lot to me and I do sincerely appreciate it.

[gsbaker]

Of course each of these have an associated cost. It's tough to evaluate what the chances are that the money spent would payoff or not.[/b]

The marketing part is always risky. A friend of mine, a professional consumer marketer, likes to say, "I know I'm wasting half of my promotion budget. The problem is, I don't know which half."

[timrogers]

Contact Vortex Media Group.

They operate several online titles: subdriven.com, swedespeed.com, mwerks.com, speedarena.com, triplezoom.com, vwvortex.com, thecarlounge.com. Vortex is widely recognized as one of the top auto enthusiast websites, regardless of brand. Ask about how you can offer the book for sale in their forums which have hundreds of thousands of readers. Specifically see if you can post it up in the regional forums and in the car lounge forums so you capture a wide audience. Send them a copy to review, I think it is likely to happen.

They also have good relationships with C&D, R&T, etc - so if they like it enough there may be some networking advantage there. All of the jounalists see each other with some regularity at new car intros, so who knows...

Good luck.
[/b]

Additionally, think of all the popular makes in IT racing and place a classified add in the more popular on-line Forums that cater to them. Make sure you follow their posting rules, etc. (Duh...)
Emphasize the "Are you interested in racing but were afraid its only for rich people? Did you know that there are autocrosses / track events / and amatuer races happening within a few hours drive of your home on a monthly basis? Did you know that (Your Brand / Your Model) is competitive on the race track?" aspect.

[Doc Bro]

Dave,
how about looking into the karting industry. Many people in karting are young and into it -until they get their license. At that point autocrossing becomes a next step. Head them off at the pass. Try the karting rags and websites, also some of the local karting tracks (wallingford) may help you.

R

[JimLill]

Do you have a way to contact the people who did buy your book? How many of them plan to go ahead and take the plunge. What is their plan? Up above, somebody mentioned "only for rich people".... That is probably the #1 issue with the many people. So I'd be curious what people see as the minimum cost to do it.. My own guess is $5,000 and that assumes they have or can borrow a tow vehicle and trailer. I have an old time mentor that reminds me that the way to get people to do something is to "take their excuses away"... understand their problems, and fix them or give them confidence it can be overcome. I'm sure that's what your book is about but a simple Five Item list of "did you know that".. might help. That list needs to be part of any display etc you do...

[DavidM]

Sounds to me like this topic is really about how does the SCCA (and other organizations) attract new members. That's who the book is really for - new members or prospective members. Seems like an awful big task for one individual to attempt to attract new people to road racing. What should be happening is SCCA does the marketing to attract new people and the book is offered for purchase to those people interested. It could be on the website with a tag-line something like "Interested in road racing - read this book and find out how you can do it.".

I think the SCCA does a horrible job of marketing itself. I don't know enough about how things are run to know if national is supposed to do the marketing or each region or both or neither or who knows. All I know is that if you want to join the SCCA you have to be the one to seek them out and you already have to know what the club is about. It's not necessarily the Secret Car Club of America, but it's sure not easy to find.

Marketing ideas for the book (or the club):

- Set up a booth at racing events. I'm talking any racing event - drag racing, oval racing, drifting, road racing, karting, anything.
- Set up a booth at car shows. Again, all types of car shows.
- Flyers in import and performance shops.
- Adds on car web sites.

I still think car people are the best audience. You may get a few people from other areas, but the people that want to race have always wanted to race. I don't think somebody who has never thought about racing is going to see an add and all of a sudden decide to go racing. The idea is to reach as many of those people that have thought about racing as possible and show them how they can do it.

The book is really going to have to sell nationally in order for it to make any kind of money. There's only so many people interested in road racing in one locality. That means any marketing plan needs to involve national exposure. I think the only real way to do that on a limited budget is through the web. Try and get an add on as many web sites as possible to gain the maximum amount of exposure. Maybe even hook up with a few of the bigger ones and start a forum on how to go racing. The web is a powerful tool if you use it right.

Ideally, SCCA and NASA would pick up on the book and use it to help prospective members understand what it takes to go racing. I think that could be a very strong marketing tool. That may make too much sense, though.

David

[tbubar]

Have you tried setting up a MySpace page? It's a good way to reach a younger audience. There are a lot of folks on there who talk about "racing" (usually on the street) and there are even some communities that talk about SCCA events. It's free to set up a profile, and you could join a lot of the racing groups. My profile has gotten hundreds of hits, and it's just a picture of me holding my helmet in front of my race car. Just an idea...

[abreakey]

Hi - I would be happy to promote your book on my web forum. I don't have a huge audience but the one I have is active and loyal. The website is dedicated to autocrossing (www.autocrossforum.com) at the local and national level. There are many people on there that consider road racing to be too cost prohibitive and instead choose to stick with autocrossing.

let me know if you want to partner up.

adamb

[gran racing]

Adam - absolutely! (Check your messages here for my PM)

The MySpace idea is something I've considered in the past, but for whatever reason never did. The price is right though. You gave me the extra push; I'll have to create one soon.

I'll have to contact the karting place in wallingford.

There's only so many people interested in road racing in one locality. That means any marketing plan needs to involve national exposure.[/b]

I agree with you here.

The downside with setting-up booths or buying banner ads on forums or websites for someone selling one item, especially a low dollar ticket item is that it's tough to break even from it, no less make a profit. This summer I looked into this and for a banner on one of a few of the sites (nothing too expensive), it would require that I sell ~ 100 books to break even (not taking into consideration adding any dollar figure to my time).

Out of curosity, for other products companies sell to retailers, are they typically returnable for a full refund?

As I mentioned this before, this discussion is very helpful.

[Greg Amy]

I'll have to contact the karting place in wallingford.[/b]

You know the guy's an SCCA member, right? And you know we're doing our March annual tech there, right...?

[JimLill]

........... work with the HPDE guys... like here:

http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Begin..._to_track_days

[StevenS]

Dave - Have you tried to contact Larry Webster at C&D? He ran ITA in a CRX for a few years in CenDiv. In fact, his car was posted for sale recently on this board. Also, Tony Swan currently runs an S2000 nationally in T2. Both are really cool, down to earth guys...

Steve S

[gran racing]

I sent a review package to Tony and attempted to speak with him to confirm he received it, but was instructed that he doesn't do reviews. I'll have to give Larry a try - thanks for the lead.

[jamscal]

Ebay is a great way to advertise and get the word out. Put a listing for an individual copy on there, in several catergories. Put one under 'racing equipment' or similar in ebay motors...I don't know the exact name of the catergory... and maybe another catergory.

Bottom line is that it's very cheap, and with the hit counter you'll be able to see how many people you reached. I'd imagine it would be only a few dollars to reach several hundred people over the course of 7 days. And you might make a sell. You can put a link to your personal site in your listing.

I bought a Powder Coating oven from a guy who did this several years ago. He didn't expect anyone to bid on it via ebay, but he got more than enough orders from people contacting him looking for info, myself included.

Good luck.

-James

[spnkzss]

Spanky you are correct but PR companies cost BIG money even on the local level. Even a grassroots PR campain is better then no PR campain at all.
[/b]

I agree, but I'm thinking about this from a MARRS stand point. I know MARRS has the money. I also know that if someone was smart enough, they might get the local owner of a well known MARRS track owner, to help with the cost. Hmmmm...... help with PR=more people show up, more people show up=more money. It's funny how that works.

The trick is, DO NOT HAVE A VOLUNTEER DO IT. Pay for a non bias PR firm that has no affiliation what-so-ever with SCCA.