It's not what you know, it's who you know.

It sounds like a cliché, I know, but this is, without a doubt, the best way for you to find business owners and marketing folks who are willing and able to partner with you.

It starts with one meaningful connection – with a fan, with a friend, with a business owner – it doesn’t matter who. It just matters that they think highly enough of you to recommend you to someone who has a budget and a business goal. It might surprise you how simple this can be, especially after tens, hundreds, maybe even thousands of unanswered emails and outreaches to companies, asking for sponsorship.

You never know who’s watching – be intentional.

Building meaningful relationships with those around you is the MOST important thing you will do for your race program. Let me tell you a story.

At the beginning of this year, I didn’t know Sasha, but by the end of the season, she’d landed our team a sponsorship for 2025. See, Sasha does the marketing for her daughter’s race program – Donuts for Eleanor. Eleanor competes in a 170 SXS and, although 2024 was her first full year of running with Champ Offroad, she had a few partners backing her already.

Creating meaning is done differently in every relationship, but it most typically happens by connecting on a shared interest. Throughout the year, I’ve gotten to know Sasha and her family, talking a lot about how they’re marketing their race program and sharing what we’ve learned through our own motorsports marketing ventures, including sharing some of the amazing resources we’ve got available through Racer on Demand. It’s been easy to build this relationship, but part of that is because both of us have made efforts to make it meaningful, connecting in ways that are mutually beneficial and authentic to both of us. And it only started with a casual introduction and Eleanor sharing that she wants to be me when she grows up (no pressure there, at all!)

This year, one of Eleanor’s sponsors approached Sasha, asking if there were any pro teams she knew of that would be open to partnering with them to grow their brand in the Midwest. If we’d have left our relationship at an autographed hero card and a “thanks for visiting,” she probably would have sent them elsewhere. But because we forged a meaningful relationship, she sent this sponsor our way. And let me tell you – a sponsor coming to YOU is exactly the position you want to be in.

It all came from building a meaningful relationship with a fan.

One thing leads to another.

Organic relationships are the catalyst, but once you start building a root system of authentic relationships, you’ll see a snowball effect. Marketing people and business owners know one another, and they’re oftentimes networked well outside of their industry.

Landing our Nexen Tire contract was a blessing in more ways than tires and a paycheck. Our marketing folks there have put us in contact with marketing people at other companies we had been trying to connect with for YEARS. I don’t have to tell you how guarded motorsports marketing folks are – even trying to get a call or an email through can be a nightmare unless you have an in. Knowing someone who knows someone has resulted in face-to-face meetings we never could have arranged ourselves. But because we have someone in the business vouching for us, they’ll entertain a meeting with us to see if it’s a good fit.

This never would have worked if we’d collected a check and sent a “Thank you for your support” memento once a year. No, these people are our friends. We ask about their family by name. We know when they’re going on vacation and to where. We join them for concerts, we send them birthday wishes, and we care deeply and authentically about their personal and professional success. In return, our partners care that we succeed, too.

Remember, the most powerful partnerships are born from meaningful connections – nurture them, and watch your race program thrive.