Motorsport sponsorship is an entrepreneurial endeavor all its own.
If obtaining sponsors were easy, every driver on earth would be well-funded.
As a racing driver, there is no set “blueprint” to securing sponsorship. Rather, finding sponsorship depends on a driver’s mix of business savvy and knowledge of sales and marketing.
Fortunately, understanding why companies sponsor race teams – and approaching companies with the correct mindset – can help greatly improve your chances of securing funding through sponsors.
The jobs to be done framework can help racers effectively engage with potential sponsors.
Let's remove the racing context for a second. Imagine you are a business – any business. Customers spend money on your product or service because they have a problem to solve, or need to fulfill. For instance,
At its core, the expression, “jobs to be done” refers to having a deep understanding of what outcomes your customers aspire to have. Thus, your business’ product or service is what they “hire” to get this job done.
Seems straight forward, right?
So, if you’re a racing driver, what “job” do you fulfill for companies or brands? What is Company X, your client in this case, paying you to accomplish?
At its simplest, your “job” as a racing driver is to help your sponsor, Company X, connect with their target customers.
Companies purchase sponsorships with race teams to help them generate a return on their investment, or ROI – for every dollar they put in, they seek more than a dollar back.
To illustrate, Red Bull invests heavily across motorsports and live events to reach a very large set of consumers; generally, younger consumers. Red Bull sponsors (“hires,” in the jobs-to-be-done framework) everything from race teams to series and events to perform the following “jobs” for them:
With sponsorship, companies more often than not seek multiple “jobs” to be done – as a racecar driver, it’s in your interest to understand exactly how to help your sponsors achieve their business goals.
To succeed in convincing sponsors to fund your racing, you must understand why companies (large and small) “hire” racing drivers to represent their brands.
The crucial question you as a racer must ask yourself: how can you convince a company that an investment in your racing team will generate greater return for them, than if they purchased ads on social media or elsewhere online?
The alternatives “jobs” a company can choose are clear, but racing sponsorship offers unique value all its own.
For one, I’ve never met someone who is passionate about highway billboards or Facebook ads. I have met people who are passionate about racing – fans, drivers, crews, team owners, media, the list goes on. Racing has a competitive appeal that, with the right understanding, race teams can capitalize on and offer their sponsors value.
The bottomline: understanding sponsorship puts the long-term destiny of your racing career into your own hands. The jobs to be done framework can help racers in establishing their unique offer and value proposition to sponsors, while illustrating why a sponsorship can generate true value for their partners.
