Building Brands in Motorsports: How Heather Wilson Increases Visibility in Motorsports

 Visibility at Full Throttle!   Heather Wilson, a motorsports marketing consultant, shares how she helps racers, event organizers, and sponsors boost their visibility and revenue in the competitive world of motorsports. Learn how her passion for riding and marketing expertise come together to drive success for her clients.

Become The Visible CEO: https://thevisibleceo.com/becoming

Connect with Heather:
Website https://highgearsuccess.com/
Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/highgearsuccess

Don't forget to share this episode and tag me @itscrissyconner on Instagram and @crissyconner on Facebook to be entered to win!

Transcript

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I'm so excited to chat with another one of our visible CEOs, and today you can see with me that I have the one and only Heather Wilson, who is a motor sports marketing consultant and expert like I'm adding that. She didn't tell me to say that, but I'm adding that. But Heather, I would love to just give you the floor for a second and the stage, the virtual stage, and just have you do a quick intro of you and who you are and what you do. Yeah, absolutely. So as Crissy said, I'm Heather Wilson. I'm a motor sports marketing consultant, so I help racers and event organizers and motor sports companies get noticed and increase their revenue. And this is something that I'm really passionate about, because I grew up in a motorcycling family. I've ridden since I was a kid, and now I get to apply my communications and marketing expertise to an industry that I really care a lot about. And this is, I think, the most interesting thing, and I was thinking about this before our our lives started. You took something that you would have to say is, like, one of your favorite things to do, probably a hobby, right? Like, that's been ingrained in your life, and you incorporated it into what you do. So I would love to chat about that, because I'm sure that there are a lot of people in this world that wish they could do that, that wish they could take their hobby that they do for fun, right, to chill and to relax, and you took that and created a business out of it. So can we talk about that a little bit? Yeah, I've always said that I wanted to really work in an industry, whether it was, you know, in the corporate world, or in my own business, that I cared a lot about. I didn't want to be marketing, I don't know, pencils or phones or, you know, some object that I didn't really have a strong connection to. So I was really blessed to get to work in the motorcycle industry for almost a decade before I started my own business. And now I get to kind of choose what everyday looks like for me and support my clients. And I love the clients that I get to work with. And yeah, there's not a day that I wake up and I'm like, Oh, I don't want to do this. I don't want to go to work. I love what I do. So it's really enjoyable every day. What is the reception that you get when you tell people, oh, yeah, I've been riding motorcycles since I was out of diapers. I don't know if that's how long you've been, but I think it's pretty close, since I was five. But I feel like a lot of people have preconceived notions or stereotypes in their heads, especially if they're not a motorcyclist, of what a motorcyclist looks like. A lot of this is coming from, you know, what gets portrayed in TV shows and movies, and the bad biker and the leather and all that kind of stuff. And that is just like one very small genre, or like segment of motorcycling. And I grew up riding dirt bikes as a kid, and now I ride both dirt bikes and street bikes adventure bikes, which is kind of like a crossover between the two. But there are so many different people from so many different backgrounds, so many different interests, that are riding motorcycles, and we're not like big, bad, scary bikers. So I think it's shocking sometimes when people see me and then I tell them that I ride motorcycles too, or even like I get to teach motorcycle safety classes in the state of Ohio, and sometimes people are surprised when they show up to class and I'm their instructor. I think it's so interesting. I think it's so fun. So funny side note, Heather taught me how to ride a dirt bike. Yeah, do that? October? October, yeah. So it was the most interesting thing. So she may say she's like, not this big, scary biker dude, but let me tell you, she takes motorcycle safety so serious. So when she's teaching you, and you're like, you don't know what you're doing, and she does, I will say she's big and bad she's totally a badass when it comes to that. So she may not own that, but I'm owning that for her, because I've seen her in action. Okay, so let's talk about you mostly work with in marketing. When it comes to marketing, you're working with racers. So they could be motorcycle racers, or, I can't remember, all the Yeah, UTV racers, motorcycling, some people raise off road trucks and series. So it's kind of grown over time. Motorcycling really was like where I started, but it's grown in other disciplines as well. Yeah, and you also work with event sponsors of these motor sports events. Again, they can be a variety of events. And so one thing that I love about your business and your business model is that in order for these racers to get sponsorships, in order for these event sponsors to get people in the seats, or butts in the seats, spray ticket sales, people gotta know about them. They they get to promote their visibility and. So I'd love you to chat about that, about how that's so important in your industry. Yeah, absolutely. From a racing perspective, of course, everybody wants to get sponsorship to kind of reduce the expense of racing, because it can be a very expensive sport to get into. So naturally, they want to get sponsors, but it has to be, you know, mutually beneficial relationship. Sponsors aren't just going to give you money out of the goodness of their heart. They have to get something in return. So you have to really build a brand, build a personality, and deliver a return on the investment for those companies. So a lot of times, racers that I'm working with. They're busy training. They're busy racing. Some of them have full time jobs on top of it, so they don't really have the time to commit or the expertise to marketing and communications. And that's where I can really come in and help them out. We can do develop a sponsorship strategy, talk about how those things are going to be delivered. So maybe they don't have the time to do all the marketing. That's where I can help them out. So they can hire me to help them write race reports, to help with social media, to create a sponsorship deck, really like the whole strategy behind it, and then the fulfillment on the back end. So that's kind of how I help racers on that side of things. And then for event organizers, the people that are hosting the events, of course, they would love to get sponsorship as well, to kind of reduce their expenses in producing the event. So we talked through strategy there as well, as far as or as in addition to also getting people to their events, like you said, making sure that there are racers, there, there are spectators, there are fans, and a lot of the organizers that I've dealt with have been around for a long time, but they just haven't really evolved as technology and marketing has evolved. So they're still producing great events. At the core, they're laying out great courses. They have great facilities, but they're not doing as good of a job as they could be about telling people about it and getting people to the event, which is where you come in, yeah, yeah. So they can do it themselves, and they can decide to create all this brand awareness and visibility and and, you know, get eyes on what's going on, or hire you to do that for them. Yeah, absolutely. So as far as the one thing I want to talk to you about too, because I think this is really important, your business is very niche. You don't go around and you're not like doing social media and marketing and PR for just anyone it is in your industry. How has that made your business? How has it helped your business grow? But also, how, like, overall, do you think it's made it easier for you or harder for you? It made it a lot easier once I decided to niche down, because when you're first starting out as an entrepreneur, like, naturally, you're like, Yeah, I can help with that. I have the skills for that. I can do that. And people ask you, because they know you, and they're you know them from different, you know, segments of the industry, and it's challenging to work a lot of different industries, if it's healthcare, if it's, you know, a B to B thing, if it's something outside of my discipline, it takes more time and effort for me to go do research about that specific industry, to even, Like, get up to speed, to speed, to be able to help them with the marketing stuff. So really, being an expert in one field is very helpful, because I know about motor sports and and motorcycling and marketing, so I don't have to research. I don't have to spend like, hours doing that, because I know it. So you can just start right away and really be niche. Like, that's what people get to know you for, so they can recommend you to other people. And the majority of my business is referrals, which is really awesome. And I love that. And anytime I was just joking about this yesterday, anytime I feel like, Oh, I'm going to finally have a little bit of downtime to, like, do some more marketing for my business. Yeah, exactly. You start laughing, because then here comes another lead from Google, or Here comes another referral from somebody else. So you're always busy. You can never be born in marketing, that's what I say. And another thing that I want to touch on, because I You just brought this up, is that your business, along with referrals, you are very searchable, which I believe is another form of visibility, being able to find you when they need like someone like you, because I know you get a lot of race or resumes because people they put it in the Google search bar and you show up. Can we talk about that a little bit and how that really supports your overall visibility strategy? Yeah, absolutely. So I've had my website for a lot of years, and it's gone through a lot of evolutions, but I feel like where it really started to take off was, of course, Google's always looking for content to comb right? It's always looking for new content. And the cool thing is, being able to feature my client work on there, whether it's, you know, race reports or. Press releases that I write for event organizers, or even me co hosting a podcast. Now those episodes are going on there, so there's constantly new content being generated, and it hits on all those motorcycling keywords that people are probably searching for. And I have really learned to kind of like hone in on the SEO side of things. So I used to avoid it like the plague. I didn't know anything about SEO. Don't ask me to do that. And it's really not that hard when you get, like, the basic understanding of it. So I feel like that has helped by adding, you know, meta descriptions and keywords into your writing. Yeah. And I think also when you're really niched, like you are too. That also makes it easier. And then they go to your website, they see, Hey, she's a racer too, or she's a motorcycle rider too, right? And they see all of your past, like clients and testimonials and things like that. I think it makes it just like, it creates this almost instant, like, this is the person that can help me. Yeah, a lot of times people will purchase products or services online without ever having spoken to me. And when on my form, I ask how they found out about me. You know, it might be from a family or friend, but a lot of times it literally is a Google search and they've never spoken to me and they purchased the product or the service, which is really cool. And then, you know, sometimes I'll get requests to, like, get on a phone call before they purchase and most of the time, that's just like them wanting to validate that I am a real human and I'm not a scam online. So that sometimes is comforting to people, to be able to hear my voice and understand where I'm coming from and and today, today's day and age, that's probably not a bad thing to have your guard up a little bit. So, so let's talk about that. Because along with that aspect, if they went to your social media, they would also see that you're very visible, that you show up on video, you also do these are they every other month? The Yeah, the feel for thought, yes, let's chat about that, because I know that supported your business too, and it also supports these event sponsors. Yeah? So yeah, I host a feel for thought, virtual meetup, basically, and I do a short, like, 15 minute training on a topic. So it could be about email marketing, it could be about securing and working with event volunteers planning a banquet, just like a marketing checkup for your organization. So we meet every other month. Usually, I think it's like 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern. And if you're an event organizer, it's completely free to jump on from any genre I do the training you get the training materials that I use, and then we have open discussion and collaboration between other event organizers. And there's been a lot of really great ideas shared across the country between organizers that you just want to think about unless you're talking to somebody kind of outside your normal circle. So that's been really effective. I love that. I love these events because I always get to see, like the behind the scenes stuff going on. So it's so exciting to see you get to support those event organizers. And you know, it's a free service, right? And if they realize in that process, I need more help, they have multiple ways that they can hire you, or have some, I think you have some digital products and things like that that they can purchase from you, too, if they decide I want to DIY this first. Yeah. So a lot of the resources that I've done, the trainings on for the fuel for thoughts, are now living in my online store. So on high gear success.com there is resources for event organizers so they can purchase those PDFs that I've developed and really take the time and apply them on their own a little bit lower price point. But the goal is eventually there will be an entire manual of like, how to run and market and operate a motor sports event. And so if you're new or you just need a little bit of evolution in your organization, you can purchase this manual and really have a great foundation for having a successful business. And yeah, if they don't want to do it on their own, that's where I come in, and I can do the done for you services and kind of take that stress and time off of their plate. So we assume that everyone in the world is on social media and that they love posting on social media. But I think it's not always true, especially when you have racers, right from different types of racing Do you ever get like pushback for them not wanting to be visible, but then they also want all of this sponsorship to pay and cover all of their costs? I don't necessarily get pushback for them not wanting to be visible. It's just the time, the effort that it takes, and a lot of reminders. Sometimes. So yeah, they want, they want the reward of having sponsorship, but sometimes don't realize how important it is to put in the work. And it, it definitely is work. It, it does require time and effort. So it's not something like I said. They're not just going to give you money and and check the box and move on. There's a lot of stuff that you have to be doing. Luckily, you know, I have really good relationships with the customers that I work with, and I can bug them and text message and say, like, hey, I need this, or hey, don't forget to do this, or kind of help them out. So you're saying it's a consistency issue, yeah, if there's an issue. It's a consistency thing. Yeah, do, how do you stress to them the importance of that consistency and showing up consistently? Yeah. I mean, sponsors and fans want to see you. They want to get to know like and trust you, and the more that you show up, the more that they can get to know you. Of course, that's going to grow your follower numbers, which is going to be helpful to your sponsors, because then they're going to have a larger audience doing their products or services that you're promoting. So yeah, social media is important. Another aspect and another avenue of that is kind of the public relations side of things, where I'm writing race reports or press releases and pitching them to media, whether it's another podcast, whether it's an online, you know, magazine or website, those are other ways that they can get visibility and use somebody else's audience that's already pre existing, rather than just their own social media accounts. Like, that's the best way. That is the best way. So speaking of and kind of transitioning a second, you said, building that like know and trust. And I think that's one of the things, even as a business owner, you've done really, really well by showing up again, whether you're searchable or visible or doing these every other month events. And we have a program, I have a program coming up next week that's called become the visible CEO. Can we chat about for your own business, like, how important is it for you to stay visible and top of mind and allow your audience to see who you are, that you are this real person, right? And that you show up for your business and you are who you say you are? Yeah. I mean, there's been so many events that I've gone to, especially in this past year, where people come up to me and they're like, Hey, are you Heather? And I'm like, yeah. And they're like, Oh yeah, I follow your stuff online, or, Oh, I saw you were just here. You were doing this. And like, people pay so much more attention than you think. Sometimes, yes, even if they're not commenting, there are a lot of what we always call lurkers that are watching your stuff, and they know all about it, but they may not be engaged from like, a commenting or even liking your post perspective. Um, but that does show me that people are seeing my stuff. People know me because of it. Um, yeah, there's just staying visible is important, and sometimes I have to be reminded of it, because I get really busy with client work, and I put my head down and I'm just working, working, working. And then I have to remember, like, oh, and I still need to remember to post for myself and make sure that I'm still staying visible and not just working on my clients work. So I think it's important to note too, because we always stress, you cannot market to everyone. You truly are not marketing to everyone. So when you decide to put a video up, when you decide to put out a post, you know that there's a lot of people that this post isn't specifically for, right? It's not written for them because they're not in motor sports industry, or they're not a racer, or they're not an event organizer, but also remembering, and I think this is important that they all know someone, they all have a network, right, and even if they're not your ideal person. And so I love that you just said that the lurkers are there because they're seeing and it has brought you a lot of opportunities, podcast opportunities, speaking opportunities, and anything else that you feel like visibility has brought to your business. Yeah, I mean, opportunities is like the best word to describe it, because there have been speaking engagements that I've been invited to, to give presentations, to sit on different committees. Yeah, there's been so many things that have come just from staying visible. And like LinkedIn is another way that I stay really visible for my business, and I do get a lot of feedback and conversation from that, not necessarily only like clients, but just a lot of industry people that I can connect with there. So that's a important piece for me. Yes, I love it. So if somebody was on the fence about coming to the free event we have next week, what would you say being visible is like, like you've said it's so important, it's so important to continually be doing it, and like to have a strategy behind it and not. Just be like, throwing up a random picture that doesn't really have an intention behind it. Like, sure you might be sharing some photos of your life here and there, and that's a glimpse that people want to see, but they also need to know that you're running a business and what you offer. A couple years ago, I used to have a lot of people that would say, like, I know you're doing something in motor sports, so what exactly do you do? So that was that was a big key to me, that I wasn't being effective and telling people exactly what I was doing. So now I make it, make it a point to really say and like outline in bullet points. Here are some of my services. This is who I serve. This is what I do. So people can have a really clear picture the art of repeating yourself, the art of repetition, like, over and over and over. We think everybody knows, but they really don't. And I think that's that's a great like, segue into reminding people, how can they work with you? Like, what are the ways that they can work with you? And how can they get in touch with you to find out more of what works for them? Yeah, definitely, call call to action are really important. So for me, a lot of times it's directing people to my website, which is high gear, success.com or directing them to the DMS, or just getting that conversation started. Yeah, so if someone wanted to actually work with you, can we talk about what that looks like? Yeah, a lot of times, like I said, it starts with a discussion. So whether you want to reach out via email, via the website, you can schedule a call with me, just getting a good understanding of, like, how I can help you. If you're not sure, sometimes people come to me like, I feel like you can help me, but I'm not even really sure, like, what I need help with, and we can kind of just generally talk through it. And that's what I love, is like being able to kind of strategize, and I have such a good understanding of the industry that I'm able to do that pretty quickly, off the top of my head, and really understand how something's going to be effective. And I was just talking to a potential client yesterday, and it's important too, that like when people come to me for a specific service, I really do take a step back and look at everything more holistically. Because if I'm just helping you with this one little thing, but all these other pieces aren't working correctly or as good as they could be, then it's really I'm doing you a disservice, because it might be a little bit effective, but it's not going to make the impact that it could. So that's where my kind of consulting expertise comes in. And we have to fix all the pieces of the puzzle, maybe not at one time, but, um, all the pieces of the puzzle to go together. Yes, yes. I love that. I love that so. And also, if they're not ready to go all in working with you, one on one, you have resources that they can kind of dip their toe in the water and just kind of basically DIY their own Yep, absolutely Yep. Those are available on my website as well, or they can come to those feel for thought, virtual meetups, which I plan on doing next year again. Do you have the dates for those yet? I do have them in my calendar? I have not publicly announced them yet. I'm actually working on getting a press release out to kind of explain those I love it. I love it. Is there anything else that you want to share before we go? I know I don't always ask all the questions, but if there's anything we missed, or anything you want to reiterate, I can't really think of anything. I mean, if people are in motor sports or know somebody who is like, definitely connect us, even if you don't have an immediate need for services, like, I would just love to add a connection to my network. And, you know, maybe there's a time and a place where I can help them out, or they need services from me, and I would be happy to do that. So good, so good. So if you're watching this, tag someone, or just reach out to Heather and say, hey, I want to do an introduction with you, and she can take it from there. But I think that's a great, a great way to segue into thank you all for watching and supporting these, this live series that we're doing, and make sure if you're not connected with Heather. Connect with her, because, again, even if you're not specifically her ideal person, maybe you like motorcycle or you like any type of racing, right? But maybe you have some resources, or know some people, that's another great reason to go ahead and connect with her, because then you can tag them in her content that she puts out that has to do specifically with what they do. So thank you so much for watching and again. Don't forget to connect with Heather today.