An educated customer can be an ideal spokesman, particularly when it comes to selling fluids used in motorsports applications, such as oils, lubricants, and brake fluid.

It’s been said many times that the only thing saving an engine from destruction is a film of lubricant, a few thousandths of an inch thick, that keeps crucial moving surfaces from impacting each other and seizing. Or the only thing that makes brakes work is the fluid that courses through their hydraulic system.

For such absolutely essential products, promotion is paramount. The means for doing so have evolved considerably as the media landscape has changed in the past decade or thereabouts.

Manufacturers that serve the motorsports community have similarly adjusted their marketing strategies for race fluids in recent years. The performance properties of lubricants and other fluids are enhanced by research, development, and testing at the manufacturer level. From there, it’s a process of getting the products into the hands of racers who can see boosted performance and better results from using the product. Ideally, the newly competitive racer will then see the value of extolling the fluid’s virtues for fellow competitors via a variety of communications channels. It’s a never-ending process for manufacturers that continues as new products are introduced.

One could say that today’s procedure for marketing racing fluid effectively comes down to Three Es: experiment, evaluate, and then, exclaim. Getting the product known involves a whole range of tactics that are being continuously upgraded and fine-tuned to meet the sales moment.

“Different people respond to different branding and marketing activities, so you want to factor that into your approach,” said Dawn Cross of Schaeffer’s Specialized Lubricants, St. Louis, Missouri, which produces lubricants for engines plus gear lubes and additives, among other products. “A combination of in-store displays, paired with digital or online efforts, is ideal because you’re reaching potential customers when they encounter you at various touchpoints.”

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