For years mountain bike manufacturers have been sponsoring elite level riders as a way of promoting their brands. Everyone knows Lance rode a Trek so that makes Trek bikes cool. But does this really work? I mean, who is out there watching mountain bike races (on TV or otherwise)? I honestly couldn’t tell you what bikes the pros and semi-pros are riding these days but maybe someone knows…
Ok, since we don’t watch mountain bike races, we can at least see the riders and their bikes in magazines. But how much time do we spend reading mountain bike magazines? An hour once a month? That’s not a huge chunk of time, especially when compared to the latest time burglar: the Internet.
So at this point my motivations should be quite apparent since I am writing this to you via a blog located somewhere on the Internets. Yep, I would argue that mountain bikers are spending ALOT of their free time surfing the web to find out about hot new bikes, the best trails, and the coolest MTB gadgets around. Not only that but bikers can use the Internet to BUY stuff, something that magazines just don’t offer.
The point of all this is to say: Giving me a mountain bike is a good investment for your company. Or, if a bike is too much of an investment, how about advertising your goods and services on a hot mountain biking website like singletracks.com? The potential returns are incredible and your grassroots involvement in the online MTB community will be greatly appreciated by thousands of mountain bikers around the world. Online in 2007!
