Sponsorship Series - Meredith Miller, Sports Marketing Specialist at Shimano
Part 3: Marketing
Meredith Miller is the Sports Marketing Specialist at Shimano, working with athletes on the road, gravel, triathlon, and more. However, before having this role, Meredith had a 20 years career in cycling where she raced on teams on the road, and built her own program in cyclocross. The first half of this episode focuses on Meredith's experience in sponsorship as an athlete; we discuss money, women cycling, privateer VS team. We then talk about how she built her program Noosa Cycling from 2014-2016, and discuss some strategies she used to bring a return to her sponsors, and how she was able to sell cycling to non-endemic companies. Finally, we discuss her new role as Marketing Specialist in the industry, how her perspective changed on sponsorship, and the importance of being a good person and entertaining relationships.
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What is the state of sponsorship in professional off-road cycling right now? How has social media changed the landscape of sponsorship? How can an athlete evaluate how much they are worth? Are results and pure racing still valuable? How do company choose who they will work with? So many questions to ask on this subject that is not often talked about. The goal of this podcast series is to paint a portrait of sponsorship in off-road cycling by talking with different key players of the industry.
It will be a 4 part series where I’ll interview: 1- Athletes / 2- Social Media Managers / 3- Marketing Managers / 4- Agencies