Belinda Riseley [00:00:02]:
Hello crew and welcome back to the Motorsport Coaching Podcast. I am your host, Belinda Risley from Motivate Training, your one stop shop for maximizing your performances on and off the track. If you're a first time listener, thank you very much for joining us. And if you're a long time listener, thanks. I appreciate you too. I know there's lots of podcasts out there that you can be listening to, but hopefully you get some virtual available takeaway gold today from our episode which is called how many hours should I spend on sponsorship and how much time should I spend in social media? That is one of the questions I get asked all the time. But the honest answers team, they pretty much go hand in hand. Then the next question is kind of what kind of split? What is the right split? My focus is always going to be on sponsorship team, especially when you're starting out.
Belinda Riseley [00:00:57]:
So kind of a simple rule of thumb would be around about two to four hours, focus each and every week on sponsorship, on your strategy and with your social media, roundabout, one to two hours. But obviously if you've got more time, that is great. But ideally quality and consistency, massive more than hours Now, Tim, why consistent sponsorship seeking is critical is because it's not just about finding a sponsor, it's about building a consistent sponsorship strategy. Something that I'm very, very passionate about. So my question to you today team, there will be a few. Number one is do you currently have a sponsorship strategy? I can't even speak today. If not, if you scroll down to the end or look into today's show notes, there is a free checklist that you can download and just go through and do self audit and see how many you actually do or how many things that you have put into place. But ideally team, when it comes to seeking sponsorship, each and every week you should be basically researching for new prospects, reaching out to them, whether it's cold calling, whether it's reconnecting with old connections that you have made, following up on those previous contacts, updating your sponsorship offer based on feedback.
Belinda Riseley [00:02:17]:
So, so with that one team, this comes down to your sponsorship proposal. So quite often, obviously we're going to get more nos than yes, especially when we're grassroots and we're starting out in the game. So what I always highly recommend is that on a spreadsheet that when people are saying no, that you are writing down those objectives. Why are they saying no? Is it because of your packages? Is it because of the price? Is it because of the time that you're asking them? But basically once you get that feedback in maybe it could be on that office specifically that you go back in and update your proposal or you definitely just again having that spreadsheet on hand that you can start to make a list and then improve on your proposal or improve on your social media content. And also when you're doing that, that helps you with your media as well. Tracking your conversations so again I spreadsheet. Do you have a spreadsheet that you're tracking all of those kind of conversations that you're having with prospects, with your current spons, with the man that you met on the airplane, any kind of contact that you have when it comes to sponsorship, making sure that you have all into one place. So a spreadsheet is really kind of easy, whether it's on Excel, whether it's on Google Sheets, but please set up a spreadsheet again inside of the Motorsport Sponsorship Club team.
Belinda Riseley [00:03:42]:
We have all of these kind of resources available for you and then also creating touch points through your socials and email updates. So people aren't generally going to email inbox you saying hey I've seen you your socials and we're interested in working with you. Those kind of things will generally come through your dms. But basically a sponsorship strategy is what is your process for each of those steps? So what is your process in cold calling? Or what is your process in researching connected with new prospects? What is your process in following them up? What is your process that if they've said yes, what how do you look after them? Or what is your process that if they've said no, not right now, that how are you going to continue to nurture them? Again in today's episode at the bottom there's a free checklist that you can go through and do that self audit to see where you're at. But team, when it comes to that sponsorship seeking process, think of it like training. As you would physically train to get yourself out into the track, you wouldn't only do it when you feel like you need to make it part of your weekly routine so that it does actually compound into something. So my next question to you today is team, how many hours realistically per week can you allocate to seeking sponsorship? But I guess the answer is going to come down to how important is sponsorship for you? Do you really really need it then? If your answer is yes, then you really really need to put into the work to do it. Sponsorship is hard, especially when you're a grassroots amateur, especially when you're starting out and that you maybe not have SP specifically Large social media following or maybe you don't necessarily have those roast results.
Belinda Riseley [00:05:26]:
And that's okay because there is sponsorship available for everything and everybody, but it's a matter of putting in that effort. And again, I've been in this game for a very, very long time and I've seen a lot of very skilled, race orientated athletes that haven't really progressed within their career because they haven't taken sponsorship seriously enough. So again, what is that question? How many hours per week can you commit to seeking sponsorship? Now, team, the role of social media. Because let's be real, sponsors are going to check your socials and hence why I again recommend that you have two sets of platforms or two different accounts for your social media. You need one for your raising and one for your personal. Now team, if you're going to have a personal account, please make sure that it's locked and it's private. Because again, if sponsors are going to research into you, which they probably will depending on the size of the organization, but definitely the larger organizations will research into you. They don't really necessarily need to see what you're doing on the weekend away from your track because again, that is personal.
Belinda Riseley [00:06:39]:
And we want them to see your racing accounts that are going to come across to be very professional and again, have a purpose. So social media is a fantastic tool, tool to build your brand, to get yourself more media exposure and for sponsors to do some research into you. But we want to be able to showcase who you are, what you stand for. So what are your values? Because at the end of the day, social media is kind of like your digital resume. It's also going to show sponsors how you show up and more importantly, how are you going to promote them? All right, so that is the next question. Team, how is your social media platform. Sorry, how's your social media platform being utilized to showcase not only you and your brand, but also your sponsors. And don't worry, you don't need to have thousands of followers.
Belinda Riseley [00:07:36]:
You just need to be able to shop consistently, be professional and highlight the journey that you're going to take people on and clearly identify those values. So let's get one thing clear. Social media and sponsorships are not the same thing, but they should absolutely work together. And again, social media is a tool and a platform to promote your you and your potential sponsors. So social media, it's going to be able to help you build your visibility, your credibility and more importantly, team connection. So remember the social part in a social media tool, you want to ensure that you are Also being social media, social on the tool and that it's not always just about racing because people invest in people. So it's important that you also show a little bit about what you do on the weekend, what makes you excited, tell your story basically and give your sponsor a glimpse of what it would be like to work with you as well. But a sponsorship strategy is a plan, so that's the difference and so that's intentional and it's targeted and it's how you go from hoping someone notice you to getting real funny.
Belinda Riseley [00:08:45]:
That support hurt your racing sa it so team just to go into a little bit more details. A lot why social media matters in your sponsorship journey because it isn't just for your highlight reels or race day photos. It is one of the most powerful tools you have to attract and retain sponsors. So it is your digital storefront, as I mentioned, or your resume. So before a sponsor replies to your emails or agrees to a meeting, they're almost always going to check your social media. It gives them a first impression of your profession, your personality, values and potential outreach. But it also builds trust. So sponsors want to work with athletes who are visible, engaged and consistent.
Belinda Riseley [00:10:44]:
When you show up regularly on social, share your journey, thank your supporters and tag your businesses that you ideally want to work with or of course that you are currently working with, it shows you're active and you are reliable. So it's really important that you actually have a social media content planner. And again, we recommend that you're working four to six weeks out that you can batch that content. And so batching means that you can maybe sit down for a whole day or half a day and do all the content at once. Schedule and forget also proves that you're an influence in the sense that again, you don't need to have thousands of followers to be valuable. But what matters more is engagement. So are you talking to your audience? Are you promoting products or services in a way that feels authentic, that that's what sponsors are looking for, a connection to real people and not just numbers. We know that the social media algorithm is always changing team.
Belinda Riseley [00:11:40]:
It's not now about lines. The algorithm now is more about saved and shared. So when you are doing your post or your social media engagement, make sure that you are promoting, please save this or please share this to to your family and friends to get that more rate within that algorithm. And then of course with the social media, it makes activations a lot easier. So when you have a strong presence online and it becomes much easier to deliver value to Sponsors, so you can do things like do giveaways, tag them, erase content, you can feature them in stories or reels, drive traffic to their page or stores and help them reach your audience. So at the end of the day, that's part of the sponsorship strategy is having a clear identified demographic. So who are people that follow you, what are their likes, what are their dislikes, what is the breakdown from females to males? This all kind of data is what sponsors want and need to know in order to sponsor you. So in essence, team social media helps you show what you can offer sponsors, not just tell them.
Belinda Riseley [00:12:55]:
It brings your sponsorship strategy to life and it helps turn a maybe into a yes. So why? Your sponsorship strategy is what drives the plan, your social media is what backs it up. It's the proof, the visibility, basically it's the heartbeat of your personal brand. So together that's your off track advantage. So this week team, I'd love for you to set aside specific hours to research, pitch and follow up with your sponsors. So again, start off with two to three hours if you've got some more time. That's fantastic. Ideally we'd like to build it up to five to six hours, five to six hours per week as you're progressing within your motorsport career, but then also set aside one to two hours to batch your social posts.
Belinda Riseley [00:13:44]:
So those things are like your race updates behind the scenes, those sponsors shout outs or dedicate one to two days at the beginning of each month to do that. Whatever it is, team, whatever is going to work with you, with your lifestyle, be consistent, track it, have those spreadsheets and always keep your online presence fresh. So just to wrap up today's little short episode, that sponsorship isn't always about the pitch, it's about the full package. And yes, social media is part of that package. So, so what are you going to do inside both your sponsorship strategy as well as your social media and of course team. If you want any hope streamlining both your outreach and your online content, come join me inside the motorsport sponsorship club. We've got all those templates. We do weekly coaching call, you get personalized plans and other Medicare athletes and parents that get what you're going through.
Belinda Riseley [00:14:37]:
If you're not there yet, feel free to download the free sponsorship Kickstart checklist and do a little bit of an audit where you are with your social, sorry, with your sponsorship, but I also will include a social media audit as well. So make sure you race over and download those free checklists to see where you you are currently at. Team, you have got this. I look forward to speaking to you next week in the episode, if there are any episodes. So anything that specifically you'd love me to cover, please get in contact. And of course, if you did or didn't enjoy today's episode, we really appreciate if you can race over and leave us a review until next week, team, stay safe.
