Part of growing your brand and earning funding is adding sponsors to your roster. But how do you go about finding new sponsors? One helpful tool is conducting competitor research to see who already supports motorsports. But simply tracking down other teams’ sponsors and asking them to also help you out isn’t the best tactic when it comes to research. In fact, it’s best to stay away your competitors sponsors all together. You want to track them down to know who to stay away from!

As Alex Striler says in this blog post, “I discourage everyone from going after any brand that is already in motorsports. That company is married. It’s invested. Leave it alone.” The brands that have already committed to other teams are locked in and trying to poach them is not just a waste of your time, but is bad for motorsports business as a whole. 

Striler also says: “Soliciting another team’s sponsors hinders the industry’s growth. Moving money from one team to another keeps all valuations depressed.” When you focus on bringing in new brands and new corporate funds, then both industries wins (including you). 

So what’s the point in competitor research, then?

Like I said, you want to know who to stay away from and not poach companies that are already in a committed relationship. Instead, find new potential sponsorships by checking out those brands’ competitors. For example, if Walmart sponsors another team, consider pitching Target and KMart if they aren’t involved in motorsports.

After creating your list of new sponsorships to pursue, it’s time to craft the right pitch. Fortunately, since one of those brands’ competitors is already in motorsports, you can use them as a case study to help convince your new sponsorship of the value of adding motorsports to their marketing roster.  

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