#BestPractices For Winning The Indianapolis 500

In the spirit of all of those marketing articles you click on and then wish you hadn't, here is a list of best practices for winning the Indianapolis 500.

By Vic Montana, Industry Marketing Consultant

The Indianapolis 500 is one of the most prestigious races to win. Steeped in tradition, many men and woman devote their lives in an effort to drink milk in the Winners Circle.

Unfortunately, most race teams make mistakes, and those mistakes cost the race teams the opportunity to win. I have compiled a list of best practices that, if you follow them, will give you a better chance of obtaining a coveted victory.

Obtain Sponsorship. Racing is expensive. If you can convince a major brand to part with ten or fifteen million dollars of money, you will be able to invest in better equipment. Watch television commercials. The brands that spend the most on television are the brands that may be willing to give you money so that you can pursue your dream. This isn't a loan. You will not have to pay back the funds given to you. You may have to sit in a hospitality suit during a golf tournament and consume crostini with company Executives in exchange for a check with seven zeroes on it, but that is a small price to pay for a chance to win a race. Think of sponsorship as Kickstarter for racing.

Take A Class. Learn from the experts. Take a twelve-week "crash course", and build your skills on ovals, road courses, and city circuits. You'll be "up to speed" once you immerse yourself in the racing culture for a few months.

Qualify Fast. Cars that start the race at the front of the field have a much better chance of winning the race than cars that are slow. Be fast!

Where Possible, Pass Cars. In order to win, you have to run at the front of the field. Cars that are not in the top five during the race have a lower chance of winning than cars that consistently run at the front of the pack. If you find yourself running in 17th place, try harder. Be excellent.

Use Pit Stops To Your Advantage. Eventually, you will need to fill your gas tank. Much like pulling your Corolla into the Shell station for fifteen gallons of 87 octane unleaded fuel, your car requires frequent refueling of 85 octane ethanol-infused gasoline to get to the finish line. While refueling, take the opportunity to change tires. Adjust a wing! Make sure you have the best pit crew in the business. But don't pay the pit crew a lot of money, because every dollar spent on the pit crew is a dollar you cannot spend improving your equipment.

Engage With Your Fans. During cautions, you are only driving fifty miles per hour. This gives you a great opportunity to interact with your fan base. Fans are going to have a lot of questions. "Are you going to win the race?" "What is it like to drive for a beloved brand like Verizon?" "Are you hungry?"  So feel free to tweet a handful of messages during cautions. Say something like "We're loose in turns three and four and have too much drag down the straightaway" or "I can feel your energy, keep cheering for me!" Connect your cell phone to the rear wing and take a Periscope or Meerkat of the race - your fans will really appreciate an unfiltered perspective of the event. You may not win the Indy 500, but you can win the Engagement Race with your fans!

Don't Quit. Just because you came out of the pits in eleventh place with twenty laps to go, don't get down on yourself. Quitters never win, and winners never quit.

Use Your Rear View Mirror. Many drivers will attempt to pass you during the race. You do not want to fall further behind. Use your rear view mirror to thwart off the competition.

Have An Omnichannel Strategy. To win today, you need to be successful in all channels. Complement your on-track success with a sound digital strategy. Make sure your fan site is mobile friendly, so that you can win the digital race as well.

Pump Your Fists When You Win! As you cross the start-finish line, thrust your left fist in the air, while steering with your right hand at 190 miles per hour. Thank your spotter, pit crew, and owner. Tweet something to your loyal fans - always put the customer at the center of this magical experience. You are a customer-centric brand driver.

2nd and 3rd Place Pay Well, Too. Only one driver out of thirty-three can win the Indy 500. However, second and third place pay well, and offer the driver the opportunity to stand on "the podium", giving your sponsor considerable marketing exposure. If you are lucky enough to be sponsored by Pepsi or Coke, be sure to have a can of cola in your hand, and take a long drink from the can of cola before answering any questions from the "gotcha media" who roam pit road in search of a larger narrative.

The Next Race Is Only A Week Or Two Away. In the unlikely event that you do not achieve the greatest honor of your career, do not despair. The racing calendar offers nearly twenty opportunities to earn a hard fought victory. #KeepTrying

If you follow my best practices, you, too, are likely to achieve your dreams of winning the Indianapolis 500. #MakeItHappen!

Must Read, Now, Especially The Comments!

You must read this article, right now.  Drop everything you're doing.

• http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/9067-lings-cars-the-art-of-persuading-visitors-to-buy
• And visit the site:   http://www.lingscars.com/

More important, please read the comments.

AGAIN --- READ THE COMMENTS!

You see, this business owner is doing things in a non-traditional manner.  Not following best practices.  Having success.

Many of the commenters struggle to accept this fact.  They want the business owner to change, to conform, to merge her methods with established best practices.

Think about your business.  How often do you try to sand off the rough edges of your business?  How often do you try to make things beautiful?  How often do you try to conform to the "right" way of doing things?  Does that strategy work?

Your thoughts about the article?

Michael Jackson and E-Commerce

There's an unlikely combination, huh?

My position on best practices is sometimes misconstrued. I'll support best practices in many instances ... as I always say, if you're failing at something, and you want to become average, employ every best practice in the book. Business results will improve, and your pursuit of best practices will prove fruitful.

The real challenge, however, is the risk/payback involved in best practices vs. the risk/payback involved in creativity/innovation. Best practices are low-risk, and yield modest payback. Creativity and innovation are very risky, failing almost all of the time. But when creativity and innovation work, watch out!

MTV arrived on the scene in summer 1981. The videos represented an odd collection of artists. You might see Gerry Rafferty singing while playing a piano, or you might see A Flock of Seagulls. In fact, if you were a music executive, you'd be well served to follow the best practice of hiring an aspiring band from the UK, and then couple a synthesizer-infused melody with a low-budget video about a band member losing his girlfriend, only to get her back (in this spoof).

The formula worked. Many, many bands followed this best practice, and experienced success.

Michael Jackson employed creativity and innovation. This is a link to Thriller. And Beat it. And Billy Jean. You see elements of best practices forming the foundation of his videos. But on top of all that is raw creativity and innovation. Nobody ever suggested that Broadway-like production was the ticket for a music video.

I am not endorsing, and I am not criticizing Mr. Jackson's alleged lifestyle. However, I do want for you to understand the fundamental difference between passion for best practices, and passion for creativity and innovation. Passion for best practices yields the first video. Passion for creativity and innovation yields Billy Jean, Beat It, and Thriller. Modern e-commerce, in my opinion, lacks passion for creativity and innovation.

Best Practices

Assume you attend a conference. The speaker gives you six techniques, 'best practices' as she calls them, that are guaranteed to improve the ability of an e-mail message to drive sales.

The speaker is an expert, and has mined information from numerous companies to develop her point of view.

Do you take her advice? Do you go back to your company, and implement her ideas? Or do you discount her expertise, because you perceive her ideas "don't work" in your culture, or don't work with your customers?

I get perturbed when somebody who doesn't work at my company tells me that my company is not employing best practices.

And yet, if you assume that the presenter is pure of intent, there's a good reason the presenter shared these ideas with you ... they probably work!

How do you filter the ideas you hear from presenters at conferences?