Latest / The Racer on Demand Show / Episode 10 | Know, Like, & Trust
Transcript
- Amanda Van Den Elzen: Hi everybody and welcome back to the Racer On Demand show. I'm Amanda Van Den Elsen and here with me today is Megan Meyer. We wrapped up the last episode with Josh Weesee. He gave us so much cool insight on budgeting. We talked a lot about social media, about the future of sponsorship, so what that all looks like. Today it is Megan and I and we are chatting about Megan: Hello. Amanda Van Den Elzen: knowing, liking, and trusting what it takes to get your program out there, get your sponsors out there, what people need in order to buy. But first, we haven't talked in a long time. Megan, last time we recorded just you and I, you were talking about going out to King of the Hammers and you've gone, you're back. What was it like your first time? Megan: Yeah. ⁓ man, it was cool. was like, we were very overwhelmed of how big it is. from when you like, you start seeing like, it was the Optima Oasis and a couple other like vendor and camping spots before you even got to the gate. And then once you like get into the gate where it like, welcome to Hammer Town sign. And then it's still like, what? a mile of like campground and we're just like, ⁓ my gosh, this like doesn't end. we're like, where is like the, you know, like the hammer town or like the vendor area and like the pits and there wasn't like much signage or anything. So we're just like kind of driving around. We're like. Is it like reserved spots or like, do we camp at? Like, we're just like, we don't know what to do. So we, but our friends, ⁓ which I think I might've said this before, but Miles Hasslequist, who is one of the announcers is one of Adam's good friends. So thankfully he gave us some direction of like, Hey, you don't want to park super close. ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: where like the vendors are and like the staging and all that because it's a little more rowdy up there. And, know, we've got Henry with us, so we want it to be quieter at night. So we parked further back. We were pretty much like the halfway point between like the gate and then where like the vendors and all the pits and all that were. ⁓ is funny because we still like, you we just pulled into a random spot. We're like, you know, this one's flat, so we'll just ⁓ right here. ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah, you just boondock somewhere. Megan: Yeah, yeah, but our neighbors were doing like EDM party music till like two o'clock in the morning and we're just like, ⁓ my gosh. So didn't get much sleep out there, but it was it was really cool. Like it's just a totally different atmosphere out there. Completely different than like drag racing world. And so ⁓ I think like, yeah, off road's kind of been. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Ha ha ha ha. Megan: totally opposite in some areas. So I think it's cool. It's for me, it's whole new experiences. ⁓ Good thing we did stop and get a rental car because we just had our motor home ⁓ or else we would have just been walking or like trying to hitchhike to get to like get to the places. So there's three spots that we really watched the race at. And we spent most of our time at Chocolate Thunder because that's what everyone talks about. And you get a really cool ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. ⁓ You Megan: viewpoint there and it was pretty easy to get to like with the rental car and so yeah, so I actually have I just finished editing my vlog for King the Hammers and our entire road trip because we stopped at Grand Canyon ⁓ We went to Lake Havasu. We went to Parker because that's where we were picking up the parts for Adam and And Flagstaff and all that stuff. So made a couple stops along the way. ⁓ we also went to the town. I think it's called segment ⁓ That's the town where the movie, the Disney movie Cars was inspired by. And I will say it was a little under expectations. So yeah, we thought there would kind of be some like, you know, like movie replica cars and there wasn't they were just like Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ no. Just nothing. Megan: ⁓ like a little close, like it was like a red Corvette that they put like the eyeballs on. And Henry's like, this is not, he's like, that's not Lightning McQueen. That's not Toemator. So not really worth it to go see that. Unfortunately, we were there for maybe like 15 minutes. ⁓ Yeah, but also another thing was like driving through the desert is different. Like we come home and we're just like, Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ ⁓ no. Megan: Like it's still brown here because it's middle of winter, but it's like, we didn't realize how much like we appreciate grass and like trees. Yeah. So yeah, that was like, cause yeah, it was like deserted and like, so like you'd, we'd be driving for like two hours and like, wouldn't see anything at all. Like it's just desert and we're just like, this is different. We're not in Kansas anymore. Right. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes, and just green stuff. Yes. Yeah. You can tap in your shoes together, your purple cowboy boots together. Megan: Yeah, yes. But yeah, so I've got on my YouTube Megan Meyer Racing. I got a vlog of our whole trip out there and we're cheering on our favorite teams, ⁓ Glien's Motorsports, Paul Wolf, you know, all the guys that we love to hang out with and see them race. it's just, it's crazy, like just how hard the course was and how like barely anybody finished it. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan: So yeah, it's Adam said he doesn't want to go back to hammers unless he's racing it or maybe Henry is racing it. But I have decided that I am not going to race at Hammers. I could not do that. So I'll just stick to short course. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah, Hammers, I mean, we watched the live stream quite a bit while we were sitting at home, not at Hammers, but yeah, it was so wild to see, you know, I would have never thought, ⁓ they have to shorten the course in order to get any finishers because they were running out of time. That's wild. Megan: Yeah. I think in four like UTVs, only like, if I read this right, I think it was like 25 out of like 120 only finished and that was on Thursday. So yeah, it's crazy. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Holy cow. That is crazy, crazy. Wow. I love too all of the recognition that Paul Wolf got. We know him from short course. He was pitted across from us for both of the Crandons. he actually, his wife, Christy won our annual chili cook-off this year. No, last year. Last year she did. ⁓ but yeah, so like, just know him from short course, but we always root for him, you know, out in the desert and in his ultra forest stuff. And it was so cool that the rest of the world got to see the Paul that we all know, you know, he's just this loving family man, so driven, but just such a normal guy that you just like talking to, you know, and for him to be recognized for just the person he is, I think is something that. Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah Amanda Van Den Elzen: all racers can take that away and say, you know, if the world just saw me in my vulnerable moments and saw how I respond, you know, people will relate to me and they'll love me and they'll promote me, you know, and it was really cool to see him get that. Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, I agree. When I think that's a great transition for today's topic to grow know, like, and trust factor with your fans and with sponsors. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yes. So the reason that we're talking about no like and trust today is actually I learned this from a real estate agent friend. I was at a networking event and he talked about no like and trust and he says before somebody will buy a house from me, they have to know me, they have to like me and they have to trust me. And it got me thinking and I was like before anybody buys anything from anybody. whether we're buying their trust, like their influence, right? Our fans need to know, like and trust us. Our sponsors need to know, like and trust us. And our fans need to know, like and trust our sponsors in order for us to make an impact too. So I thought that would be a really interesting thing just to talk about how can racers influence the way that people know, like and trust both them and their sponsors. Megan: Mmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, because sponsors don't always just pay for your results and how many wins and accolades you have. They pay for your influence and how are you able to convert people. but in order, like you said, in order to do that, you need to be likable. You need to have their trust. cause sometimes ⁓ it like, Maybe just like, know, when we're doing a social media post, like this past weekend, we did one with Blaster because they have a new product. And so they wanted us to do some content to promote it. so we've got that, that likeability and trust built with our fans. And so for them to see like just one post about this new product, it's got to be pretty high for them to go out and then buy this product that they've never seen. They've never sampled before. And so Sometimes I think racers might have it backwards and they think it's all about the podiums and the wins and the horsepower and all that type of stuff. But actually it comes down to, how can you influence their buying behavior because Sometimes I think racers might have it backwards and they think it's all about the podiums and the wins and the horsepower and all that type of stuff. But actually it comes down to, how can you influence their buying behavior because sponsors want more sales and more customers. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. And I love that, you know, you're talking about being on the podiums and winning races and stuff, because, you know, that is a way for people to know you and they might even like you, but they're not necessarily going to trust you until they get to know you and like you a lot more than just out there winning races. Right. There are, there are a certain few racers in our sport. can think of like the Greaves, right? Everybody knows the Greaves. They like the Greaves because they win all the time, you know, Megan: Yeah. Hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: there are those diehard fans and they may trust them, but that comes with time and exposure to them over and over and over again. And how do racers get that exposure to their fans over and over and over again? Like winning a lot can do it, but there are not a lot of people that are going to be able to consistently win. Megan: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: and be in front of people as much as it takes to really build a valuable program based just off of that. You're really only ever going to have probably one of those in a motorsport, you know. Megan: Yeah, and I think, you know, when you do win and you get podiums, like you have that opportunity to have more media to do more interviews. But if, you know, you're you kind of freeze up and you don't show your true self or you try to be like someone else, you're not authentic. You know, you might try to be too polished with it. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan: And it doesn't come across as who you truly are. think fans could pick up on that. And yeah, you might have this shot to kind of be in the spotlight and be able to share your personality. But if you're not comfortable with it, which I totally get, I am very introverted and it took me a long time to get comfortable in front of the camera. I practiced so much at home and I still do to this day. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Megan: but I've done a lot of reps with it. So I'm pretty comfortable in front of a camera, especially if it is just like a on the spot interview, but I always try to make sure I'm not like being fake or trying to be like too perfect with it. Like I still just need to be myself because yeah, when your personality shines through, that's when the fans can connect with you more. They'll... Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: Like we were talking about with Paul, he just is always authentically himself and he's very down to earth and relatable. so fans can really resonate with that because they see themselves in Paul. And so I think that's where, when you do get that chance, just be yourself with it. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah, you know, Chris did a video one time. ⁓ It was just like a short little blurb on his social media, but it was about how he has to go from all of this adrenaline and like trying to win the race, you know, and then from that to a podium speech in a couple of minutes and how hard it is to like make that switch. And I'm just thinking about, you know, yeah, you do get more interview time and whatnot, but like Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Is that really going to be the best representation of who you are in that moment? Because you are going to be spinning in your head. And how can you create moments that set you up for better success to have that FaceTime with your fans and with partners? And I really do think that social media ends up being that platform nine times out of 10. And to your point. Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. Amanda Van Den Elzen: recording yourself over and over again goes a long way. Megan: Yeah, it does. Yeah, yeah, like practicing in the shower. I mean, when I'm recording something, especially if it is something that is more scripted or like, I need to make sure I say like certain things like whether it is like for a product promotion, there's certain things that I needed to say that was the features of the product. And ⁓ I cheat and I write it down on a sticky note and I put that sticky note on the back of my phone right here. So it looks like like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: It'll be right here. So I can kind of see like I'm still looking at the camera or if I'm doing it on like a real camera, I'll use like a teleprompter because I get very tongue tied and like I just I mess up and I don't want it to take two hours when it just needs to take like 20 minutes. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yes, I saw something somewhere. ⁓ I don't even remember which creator it was, but one of the bigger creators out there basically said, I record myself three times before I even use a take. Like it takes me three times to get in the headspace of saying what I'm trying to say. And then I'll use a take after take three, you know? And I think that's so powerful. Megan: Mm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's a good point. Amanda Van Den Elzen: When you're seeing really polished social media, it is never the first take. So of course, that's going to feel really funky. I've been doing, ⁓ I know you've seen it, Megan, but I've been doing a challenge for myself. I've been reviewing ⁓ Instagram profiles for racers and looking at their profiles and determining if, you know, a sponsor would find something at fault with it. Like what would turn a sponsor on or off to an Instagram profile? Megan: Yes. Mm-hmm. I love that. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And I'm on day six and I started while we were in the RV. We're in the RV right now, but I started while we were in the RV. And so we're like in motion. I'm sitting next to Chris as he's being my bus driver. And ⁓ I took so many takes, especially because every single one of these is basically me saying the same thing over and over again. Yes. Megan: Yeah, but it's people you don't know, right? Like they're just random racers that have found you on Instagram, right? Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes, yeah. So the way I've been doing it, I've changed it up a couple of days. ⁓ But most of them I've just picked from people that are following Racer on Demand and have left a comment on the day prior. And once in a while I'll request that they repost. I'm just trying to drive engagement, you know, and get it to reach more people. ⁓ So I'll just pick somebody randomly from the comments. Megan: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: most of the days I asked Chris to pick a number like okay there's 92 comments pick a number one through 92 and I'll count down but ⁓ okay so today I recorded and just posted ⁓ day six in the first five days I've gotten 250 new Instagram followers yes I only had 587 a week ago you know and so it's like another 50 % on top of that it's working Megan: There you go. Wow. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, and I think kind of to tie it back to our topic, like these racers are trusting you and they like they are getting to know you and they want, yeah, like your real honest feedback. And I love what you've been doing because that's something that like I've tried to do in the past, but it takes time and I've just like never really gave it that much time. So, yeah, you're dedicated. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. ⁓ man, it doesn't take long to do. Honestly, it takes longer to edit than it takes to record. It's five minutes of recording, but then it's like, we had the discussion about Instagram edits consistently crashing, and now it's just doing weird things with captions. don't know. So if my captions look weird, that's why, is because I'm having to manually type in half of them. It's pain in the tush. it's 10 minutes of my day to do this. Megan: Yeah. ⁓ really? Amanda Van Den Elzen: I think that's something too, like racers need to understand is like, this is a high priority to get eyes on your program. Cause like I'm trying to drive people to racer on demand, right? I'm trying to build my business just like a racer is trying to build their business. And I recognized that once people got to me, they typically liked me and they grew trust pretty quickly, but I was having issues getting them to know me. Like how do I reach new people? And that's where. Megan: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I found that providing value to them really helped bring new people in. So that's why I'm doing this challenge. But, you know, I think our racers can really think about it. Like, how can I provide value that nobody else is providing to the audience that I'm trying to reach? think about, know, who your sponsors are, who is the audience they're trying to reach? What are those demographics? What kind of things do those people value or what? problems do they have and how can you solve them as a racer? You know, maybe it's, and this is some of the feedback I've been giving most people, maybe it's just behind the scenes of like, what makes you different and show that and show what it feels like and talk about that because they don't know what it feels like. They want to know that's valuable to them, you know? I think it's just making sure that you understand that it's not about you, it's about the audience. Megan: Mm hmm. Yeah, that's so true. And something that does really well for us on the Randy My Racing page is these segments that I call Ask Randy. And it's something we started doing like maybe four years ago. And it would just be like maybe I'd post it like five times a year or something like that. And so because my dad's been around for a while, like people know him. But, you know, a lot of our fans don't get to come to mini drag races or maybe they just come to like one drag race a year, whatever is close to their town. And Top Alcohol Dragster doesn't run at every NHRA race. So maybe they might not even see us, but ⁓ like ⁓ short course, every ticket is a pit pass. And so ⁓ fans are able to come up to the pits and see the crews working and ask questions and all that. So we would get some questions sent into our Facebook page. And just to start a new ⁓ for content, I would just ask my dad these questions. Because even some of them were very technical. like, usually if it's something easy, I'll respond back. And I think people know that it's not actually my dad on the Facebook page. I think they know it's me responding back to them. ⁓ some of the ones, ⁓ don't know. It's too advanced. I'm not. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: I'm not super mechanical or technical with the parts on the car. So, yeah, so we just started doing this a few years ago and it has just blown up. So now we do it every Monday is Ask Randy fans just love it. And ⁓ I think it's also helped us with sponsors, too, because some of ⁓ the fans on are other racers, but they're probably ⁓ racers that don't a race very often or they don't Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: race in the NHRA, they might be more nostalgia. So they're in different series, but they have kind of the same parts. So they're also looking for advice. But in turn, like one of the ones that always does really well for us is whenever we talk about oil, because we switched oil brands three years ago. And ⁓ when we switched to Maxima Racing Oils, we were able to get more life. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: out of the oil. So in drag racing, you drain the oil after every single run and then we would have to change rod bearings every run. And that's what we did when I was driving. And that was part of my duties because I did a little bit of work on the cars. And so I would help change the spark plugs and change oil on the car. And then we switched to Maxima three years ago and now we're able to get three runs out of our oil before we really need to change it. So that means on Like Sunday race day, we don't have to worry about that. We're saving time between runs and the pits. It's more time that the engine can just cool down, ⁓ less work that our guys have to do. And so a lot of the teams, like they ask a ton of questions whenever we post videos about that, because they're like, we've never heard of this before. Like it's new. Maxima is fairly new to the drag racing world. I know it's huge in dirt bikes and motocross and supercross and all that. And so. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: Yeah, like whenever we do like a sponsor promo post, but we tie it into something that's valuable for our fans and make it an educational post and not just a, Hey, come check out Maxima Racing Oils. ⁓ Yeah. So yeah, those do really well because I, yeah, it's like, it's hitting both. It falls under that no like trust and it has helped convert a lot of Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah, I'm unboxing some oil today, right? Yeah. Megan: our fans to be Maxima customers and Maxima is very happy and they're staying on board with us for this year. yeah, so that's just like one example of how we're able to keep that trust, build that trust with our fans, but then also tie it in with the sponsor. Amanda Van Den Elzen: That's so powerful because we were kind of talking about borrowed trust at that point, which I hear a lot about that in the networking space, right? You know, if you have a contact that you can tap into and say, ⁓ like, hey, I know this person, they already like, and trust me, but they have a connection in what I need to do. But that person doesn't know, like, or trust me because I have that person vouching for me ⁓ in between. Then I get to kind of the building aspects of that, right? They. ⁓ already kind of extend out that borrowed trust. And that's essentially what racers get to do. Like what you're describing with Maxima is you get to say, Hey, I already tested this. You guys already trust me. You know, like, and trust me. You've never heard of this brand, but I use it all the time and I'm showing you that it's great. So, you know, that is how racers can build value in what they're doing with their partners through that know, like, and trust. Megan: Mm-hmm. ⁓ Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ extending that out to the fans that already have that trust built in them. Megan: Yeah, well, and I want to add on to that. We didn't know how the fans would take it because we were with the other oil company for like, I think we were getting close to like 15 years. And so we've been really promoting that other brand, you know, saying it was the best. We use it in everything. And then. Then we just switch and, know, we flip brands and, you know, there's is some. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ yeah. Megan: politics and all that stuff involved. ⁓ It was not our decision to switch, but we are glad that we did because it is the product is better for our cars. ⁓ But yeah, we kind of had to like, we were like, yeah, is this going to jeopardize our trust with our fans because we've been telling them, hey, this other oil is the best. It's the best. And then next thing you know, we're like, ⁓ no, no, now this oil is the best. And I think sometimes ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Hahaha Megan: you know, sometimes it's not the racer's decision when they lose a sponsor and they do have to switch brands. ⁓ That, you know, that is always something that you could jeopardize is your trust with your followers when that happens. And, know, thankfully for us, we were able to really communicate and show that, you this one is better. But sometimes it's sometimes it might, you know, be be even across the board. But Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. you Megan: Yeah, that's always something to consider. I think with racers, sometimes they might switch just because ⁓ grass is always greener on the other side. And they might not take that into consideration of how it could ⁓ or hurt their credibility and their reputation. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah, that's so important. I think about that too. You know, switching sponsors can definitely erode our fans' trust in us and in the products that we're putting forward because if it just feels like, hey, I'm getting paid to tell you that this is good, like, they're not going to trust that. They might know you, they might like you, but they're not going to trust your recommendations. But, you know, I think that that also kind of Megan: Yeah. Mm-hmm, yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ties back to like everything else that you say and do, right? Because if they know you and maybe they even think that you know what you're doing on the racetrack or what you're doing with the products that you're using, but like if you're just kind of a dick, right? They're probably still not going to take your recommendations. If you're going out there and just not representing yourself well in general, that's probably still not going to result in them. liking you and therefore not taking your recommendations either. Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. When I think you can always tell when someone's like, just doing it for the money or like you could sell like they don't actually use the product and spoiler alert, a lot of pro teams in drag racing don't always use the products that they are promoting because they're just doing it for the money. And so, yeah, so you always yeah, there's a little caution there. But yeah, I think when. you can definitely tell when some or even not just racers, like any type of influencer that like is just doing it because they're getting paid to do it or but also if there's like if they're not showing any personality, like if it is just like a straight promotional ad, it doesn't come across as authentic. There's no storytelling. You're not, you know, immersing yourself in there or ⁓ maybe even like just completely ghosting after you do it. So that all kills trust ⁓ really fast. And so yeah, I think for racers, like it's not always about the follower count. It's about that trust and that quality that you have followers, ⁓ having strong engagement, having high credibility and just being authentic. And I think sponsors can really see that ⁓ online how you represent yourself. at the track or on the media. so yeah, so I think that's always just, we always need to keep that in mind to show our personality and be authentic. And it's not all about the numbers. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Yes, yes. know, Chris and I were talking, we're just kind of talking through this concept of know, like and trust and how it relates back to kind of like what you're saying, not just, you know, our racers, but our sponsors and, and the products that they're selling and all of that. And we were talking about how sponsors also are looking at racers, they have to know, like and trust a racer before they'll sponsor you just like you said, like this is all visible to them too. But it kind of goes both ways, right? Racers need to know, and trust a sponsor before they're going to sign on with them too. Chris had made the comment, Megan: Mm. Yeah. ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: that expectation of exists in both And he goes, I think it makes sense that a sponsor would need to do research on me before we walk into an agreement together too. And I said, well, yeah, but like that's your job is ⁓ to get them to know you, right? And I think that it of goes the opposite direction too, that sometimes we haven't heard of a company ⁓ that might sponsor us, right? And so we were talking about be a customer first, right? We talk about that a lot, right? But if a racer's never even heard of a product, how can you be a customer first? And I think that kind of comes back to the know, like, and trust as well. Like sometimes our job is to help people know that sponsor, you know, that brand awareness is really the first step. And Megan: Mmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Sometimes we can't use a product first if we've never heard of it. It could be very much like you find out about a brand, you recognize that nobody's heard of this brand, and they need help getting their word out. That's kind of what happened with us with Nexen. We didn't really know much about Nexen when we signed on with them. And it turns out the product is fantastic. We've been running them for five years. Megan: Right? Amanda Van Den Elzen: literally never had a tire failure during a race that wasn't our fault. There have been a couple of times, you know, we've had like a tie rod go through a tire. I don't think anything's going to stop that. you know, like a competitor makes contact with a tire and deep beads it or, you know, things like that. But we've never had like a punctured tire on the track. We've never had a blowout that wasn't our fault. ⁓ Megan: Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: But that tire is fantastic. But if nobody knows that, even racers that could potentially help to get that message out, that is part of the marketing funnel too that racers can help solve. So ⁓ I think that's just a perfect example of how a racer can help people know the product, then like it, then trust it. Because that's our jobs. That's really what sponsors are helping. Megan: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: you know, fund our programs, yes, but they're doing that because they're hiring us to solve that problem of not being able to get that awareness or product activation or even like that brand loyalty and brand trust out to the people who could buy their products. Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, and Josh on episode nine, he had a great example of that too, where ⁓ he didn't do like his research on the company and then found out it was fraud. Yeah, like so for us, like getting into short course, ⁓ yeah, there's a lot of new products and new companies that I don't know anything about, like wheels and tires, for example, because pretty much in drag racing, it's just one company. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Megan: And you know, everyone goes there and there's not any options. so coming into off road, like there's dozens of options you can choose from for wheels and tires of what brands to go with. ⁓ so yeah, so I had called up some friends and it was like, okay, what, what do you recommend? Cause you know, it came with the, the side by side we bought, you know, it came with, you know, obviously it comes with wheels and tires, but it's like, okay, we need to get spares. And so we were calling up. friends that we have in the off-road community is like, okay, what do you recommend for these products? Because we need to go and buy some and from yeah, like wheels, tires, communications, ⁓ you know, just some other little stuff that like, you know, I don't even think about, but yeah, so we did not know what to buy, but thankfully, you know, we got some good friends like you guys. ⁓ Jim Beaver was a big help for us of. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: ⁓ who he recommended and so then those were the ones that we went to even if it was a more expensive product, but it came highly recommended and so we went with those and and now trying to get our name familiar with them and ⁓ We've got you know, we did the application. So we're on some discount programs now for this year So that helps but yeah, we're trying to you know, keep it growing so we don't stay there and discount land like you say Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm-hmm. Megan: You Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yeah, product discount land is definitely a place to vacation, not a place to live. Megan: Yeah. Yes. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ yeah, no, I'm just thinking about ⁓ the way people buy products, right? As you're talking about this, you're talking about, well, I asked the people who knew better than I did. ⁓ it's funny think, you know, everybody does that, right? You're always asking people, hey, have you ever had to buy this thing? ⁓ You know, refrigerator did you buy? I know you purchased... you know, appliances recently, how do you like them, right? You know, you're always asking the people around you for those reviews. When you go to Amazon, the first thing you check are reviews, right? We trust what other people are saying about a product far more than we trust what the product makers are saying about the product. And so that's where as racers, we do turn into influencers by giving those recommendations and we can all tell when that's real and when it's not. ⁓ know, when you see when you see ⁓ a an Amazon review that says like this review was an exchange for a free product, you know, you might take that with a grain of salt versus the person who's like, I wasn't sure if I was going to like this, but I needed it really quick. So I bought it and I, you know, love it. ⁓ Megan: Yeah. Mmm, yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: And it's the same with racers too, right? If it doesn't seem like you authentically like this product and goes back to buying it before you get it for free too, right? If you can't turn around and say, hey, I'm sponsored by Nexen tire now, but I've been running their tires for six years prior to this because I loved them. You know, if you're just like, hey, I got sponsored last week, by the way, did you know these tires are great? Like that sounds a lot less believable and you don't... Megan: Yeah. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: You don't get that trust, just... you just don't. Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, the longevity helps build your credibility with the brands and with the fans. And I will say if Nexen made a side by side tire, that would be the first one we would buy. But they don't yet. Hopefully they do. Amanda Van Den Elzen: you I had, so Chris posted the other day something about, it was basically just saying like, we don't have to make an announcement that Nexen Tire is on board. Like we've been with them for five years, we're not going anywhere. You know, they're not going anywhere. ⁓ And so I had shared the post and basically just said like, this is what a great partnership looks like. We love being strategic partners for Nexen. One of our fans commented on me sharing it and said, we went out and put Nexon's on our vehicles because of you guys. And it was like the biggest compliment to just to know that we walked into a space where nobody even knows what Nexon tire is. And five years later, we've got people that are putting them on because they know, like, and trust us. And now they know, like, and trust the product enough to make a purchase too. Megan: Yay! Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: You know, ⁓ we talked with Josh about how we use affiliate links and things like that to track some of the data points of conversions, right, as racers. And I think that that is important, but I think the big problem there is it took us five years to build enough ⁓ knowledge, likability, and trust in Nexen tires to really see our fan base. you know, turning through the tires they already had on their vehicles. And now they're making those purchases within the last couple years, you know, if we're basing our success off of an immediate sales metric, like an affiliate code, or like a coupon code or something, we're putting all this work on the front end to build up the knowing the liking and the trusting, but that takes literally years. And so if two years in you still Megan: Mm-hmm. ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: don't have enough, you know, of those codes sold, you're still not measuring how much you've actually moved the needle on them knowing and liking and trusting that product enough to buy because that is something that does take a lot of time and not only racers need to be patient with that but they need to know how to gauge, you know, if that's working without some of those metrics of immediate sales I think. Megan: Yeah, I love that you just said that because yeah, it's it is easy to become an affiliate and accept an affiliate deal. I mean, I emails from just completely random companies like I don't even know what product I mean, and it's not racing products. It's like, you know, makeup or beauty products or food or whatever. Like it all gets emails from companies because it's all just like, ⁓ we found your Instagram. Like we want you to Amanda Van Den Elzen: You Megan: promote our products, even some of it will just be like, like guy products. was like, obviously you didn't even look at my name or my picture. I'm not a guy. Yeah. So it's, it's easy. Like, and it, you know, it feels good. Like, ⁓ you know, this company trusts me. Like they recognize me. Like they, they want me to be an ambassador, but yeah, like that affiliates is just so easy for marketing companies because Amanda Van Den Elzen: you Megan: They're not really dipping a whole lot into their margin by giving you a small discount or a commission. ⁓ You might make $2.50 off of a product and for them it's nothing. So they can have hundreds and thousands of ambassadors out there, they're still making a bunch of money. So ⁓ I do not accept affiliate programs anymore and... Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yep. Megan: You know, there was a time and a place when I did when I was trying to grow my name and grow my brand. And 10 years ago, I feel like it, it there wasn't as many opportunities out there to become an affiliate. So when one did come across my table, I feel like it was kind of a little bit better deal because it might have been some product and some cash along with a commission or whatever. ⁓ So, yeah, like I've done it lots of times, but yeah, they're just Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Yeah. Megan: Yeah, it's a trap. It's an easy trap you can fall into. And the company just wants you to advertise for them because it's cheaper for them to have ambassadors do it than to pay for ads or because ambassadors. Yeah. And you've got your audience base. Yeah. That you can influence to. And so, yeah. So I don't really do them anymore. But yeah, they still come across my table. But yeah, I mean, it's unless it's like Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah, because they get it for free. It's totally free then. Yeah. Megan: ⁓ a where, you know, it's a product that we would actually use or need. I will say the last one that I did was with a, it was a headlamp company and I did it just because I was like, I was like, ⁓ like that's something we actually need for our crew guys. And so I had asked for more product in exchange and cause they were just gonna like, you know, send me one. And I was like, no, I'm not gonna do. do a post for just like one headlamp. So they sent us a bunch and then I did the videos form or whatever. But yeah, like if it's something that I'm not gonna actually use or not gonna benefit me in any way, then I'm not gonna do it. And I think once you have enough experience with that, you kind of know like, oh, hey, like my value, because my influence is worth more. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: than this. And so, yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. I am okay. So Chris and I were talking. We had one of his friends who races reached out to him and said, Hey, can you look over this contract that this company wants me to do? They're giving me free product and it wasn't a ton of free products like I think I am grossly exaggerating when I guesstimate somewhere around $1,000 value. So we'll just put $1,000 out there. Realistically, it might just be a couple hundred dollars in value. But this company, for an entire year, wanted two posts a week, two stories a week. wanted on, yes, on race weekends, on top of the two posts a week, they wanted like Megan: ⁓ wow, for a whole year? Amanda Van Den Elzen: post with their product, a post with signage, a story with something like it was like three extra posts every weekend that you're out racing on top of the two for the week and it was just for this product and I looked at Chris and I said, racers need to understand that the amount of time they're putting in for this kind of a contract, they could be putting in for somebody who's going to pay them 50 or 60 or Megan: Thank Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ $100,000 a year and then they can turn around and buy this product for the couple hundred dollars, you know, like Don't fall into that. need this product So I'm just gonna do whatever they want like go make the money where you can make the money and then just Purchase the product your time is worth way more than that Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, Amanda Van Den Elzen: the issue is too, is that racers don't know this. And they are unknowingly undervaluing every single other racer out there because that goes, ⁓ this is what racers are willing to work for. ⁓ Megan: Hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: So that makes it that much harder to get an actual paying sponsorship. ⁓ I've seen so many posts from sponsors saying, ⁓ well, we don't do cash anymore because we've been burned, or we don't do cash anymore. We do an affiliate program or a discount program or whatever. it's because they can. You know, if racers are doing that, they're getting, they're getting what they want out of it. They're getting their free marketing out of it. And maybe, maybe that'll change, you know, as people start to learn a little bit more about what their actual value is, especially those people who really do have a lot of influence, but just don't know how to get the sponsors, the paid sponsorships. Like that's what it's really damaging. I think in motorsports marketing right now is that undervaluation. Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree 100%. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah, but we're changing that, right Megan? Megan: Yes. Yeah. I think that, I mean, kind of a common theme that we talk about, I think, in all the episodes is put yourself in the shoes of the brand or the marketing director or, whoever is the one kind of making those decisions. And I mean, just like what you're doing with your audits, like take a step back and think, if I was this company, would I sponsor me? Would I invest in what I am offering? And it could just be like, Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: by as simple as looking at your Instagram. And yeah, if you're not showing your character, your personality, why you're racing, then you might answer your own question. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes, yes. It's funny. Okay, so I've only been reviewing profiles of those people who are following me, but I'll go through and I'll check to see like who is and who isn't following me. And there's so many people that are commenting like, review mine, and I'll go and they're not even following me. But ⁓ so I click in through most of the profiles. And ⁓ there have been a handful on each of these posts so far that are private. profiles that are asking me to review their profile. It's like if if you just didn't even realize that a sponsor can't actually even see you. Like how are they supposed to know you and like you and trust you enough to pay you? Megan: Mmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that is such a good point. so I get like, if it's your personal ⁓ one and ⁓ you're showing more family stuff, so you want keep private. Like, I totally get that. But you need a racing page. Like, you need a public facing racing account. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. Yes, yes. And if somebody has to be approved to see it, that's a layer of friction a sponsor will never tolerate. Okay, so, ⁓ you we've talked about ⁓ knowing, and trusting a racer. We've talked about knowing, liking and trusting a sponsor's product. ⁓ Megan: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: What about, you know, the other way, a sponsor knowing, liking, and trusting Eraser? What do you think is necessary for that? Megan: mean, like what we just said, like you need to have a public facing account. You need to be able to show, ⁓ show your personality, show your character. ⁓ Don't make it just all racing pictures. ⁓ Like need to actually show your face and talk the camera. ⁓ You know, be authentic whenever you are on camera, whether it's just for your own account or whether you're doing an interview. ⁓ Amanda Van Den Elzen: you Megan: or any type of media. I know it's so nerve wracking, but it is true. The more you practice it, the more comfortable that you'll get with And yeah, like we were saying, no matter if it's just for yourself or not, if I know I've got an interview coming up, I will practice or I'll do my research on at least what is their podcast about or their platform. and make sure that it is something that I would be comfortable doing and that I could represent myself and sponsor as well. Is it something that like my fans even actually would be interested in listening to? So I always take that into consideration. Yeah. And then also, I don't think we talked about this, but like on our last episode with Josh, he talked about like trade shows. And I think we talked about this on like our episode about PRI, but representing Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes. ⁓ Megan: yourself and your brand well when you go to shows or networking events ⁓ or you're just going up to like a vendor booth at a track even and making sure that you represent yourself well there because if you're kind of you know hold back or you might have like this wall up then that's like the first that you're making to that ⁓ potential sponsor and they Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: just be like, ⁓ you know, in their mind, they might be like, ⁓ what's an immediate no, because we didn't have that like personal connection. yeah, so trying to break down those barriers when you are like in person ⁓ meeting with the sponsor or potential sponsor. But I mean, I think it all boils down to being yourself. No matter if you're goofy or you're more serious or if you're chill down to earth, like just be yourself. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: and that trust will be built over time and your influence and loyalty, all that will be built over time. mean, it takes time to do this, but yeah, as long as you're able to be yourself, you're not just doing it for the money or for the numbers or for the followers, you're actually showing your personality, you're telling your story, you're sharing value, then... Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: it makes it that much easier for sponsors to say yes when it's time for them to want to work with you. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I like that. you know, as you're talking about being yourself, I think a lot of people, and I've said this over and over and I will continue to like die on this hill, but I think a lot of people, fail to do the upfront work of defining who they are before they even get to that point. And like, that's, that's the number one thing that I see with racers is they will go out there and they'll try to be themselves, but they don't even have a definition of what that looks like. Megan: Mm-hmm. Amanda Van Den Elzen: They don't have their values mapped out. They don't know how to differentiate themselves from the other people. Like remember when we had Sarah on and she basically said like, wow, you did a great job of selling your series. I think about that all the time with like a racer going out there and like just posting videos of their race car over and over again does a really great job of selling that class. Megan: Yes, yeah. Mm-hmm. That's true. Amanda Van Den Elzen: but it does a really terrible job of selling that race. You know, like, okay, so what makes VDE racing VDE racing? Well, it's, you know, our family values and it's the way that we help our competitors and our friends alike. And it's the way that we, you know, make these authentic connections with fans. And it's the way that we innovate, you know, if you don't do the work ahead of time of determining like, Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Who are you actually? What is it that makes you different than the person racing the car next to you? Then what are you even trying to get people to know, like, or trust? You don't have a North Star. None of your posts are gonna work towards your goal because you don't have a goal. know? And I think it's just that foundational work. You just gotta pause for a moment. I know telling people who... Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Amanda Van Den Elzen: know, go from point A to point B as fast as they can to pause and do some foundational work is a little bit difficult. But that's what you got to do. You got to put in that foundational work. You've got to think about who you are. You've got to invest in who you are and take the time to capture that, document it, and be able to tell that story. Megan: Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. I do want to add one other thing that I forgot to mention. ⁓ But for for racers to continue building that no like trust with sponsors is once you have that deal, do not ghost them because you will lose your trust with them. Like if the only time you talk to them is when it's time for renewals, then Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Megan: you've lost your trust with them. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Mm hmm. Yep. Yep. I have seen that firsthand with some of the partners that we've worked with. They'll flat out tell us like this person hasn't even talked to us since last year. The only time they talk to us is about money. It's like, they don't trust you anymore. They think you're just there for the money. And, you know, a lot of times those people are just there for the money and it's not a good fit because of that. Really great point. Megan: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. we've covered all the points for our topic. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: I think so too, yeah. I can't think of anything that we're missing. yeah, we a cool guest coming on for the next one. We always have really cool guests, right? But ⁓ we have another really cool guest coming I think you guys are going to be excited about it. Megan: Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: ⁓ We are still looking ⁓ for reviews and comments. Just us how we're doing. know, you like the format where we go every other guest? Do you want to see more guests? Do you want Megan and I just to shut up and let our guests talk more? Or do you want to hear from us more? ⁓ you know. Megan: Yeah. Well, I think I had an idea. So I think I'm going to post on my stories or like in the Motorsports Marketing Tips Facebook group, like a poll or question box of like, give us some of your like frequently asked questions or like what were the areas that you guys struggle with. And I think we could do an episode where we're answering all those questions. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yeah. Love that idea. We should totally do that. Megan: Yeah, so maybe we could do that for our next solo one, maybe. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Yes, so watch the group and then I'll share it too because that's a public group, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I'll share it too on my personal Facebook and on the Racer on Demand one too so that you can find it easily. head to Facebook. Let us know what questions you have so that we can answer them for you on our next one on one here. Megan: It is public. Now it is. Yep. Yeah. Amanda Van Den Elzen: Other than that though, thank you for listening. We'll see you in a couple of weeks. Until then, we love you. Bye! Megan: Bye everybody.