Steel Challenge & Shooting Teams

The Steel Challenge is not a team sport but you wouldn’t know that from the large number of’ blue Smith & Wesson shirts on the range during the World Speed Shooting Championships.

With 13 members of their shooting team competing, and 9 titles won, I’m surprised you can’t buy “We Came. We Saw. We Conquered.” bumper stickers from the S&W online store. In lieu of bumper stickers we have this video…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9SKGFGgVR0

The success of the team – titles from Julie Golob, Janae Sarabia, Molly Smith, Rachel Crow, Jerry Miculek, Phil Strader and B.J. Norris – paints a clear picture of the importance of a company sponsoring a shooting team.

While less forward thinking marketing execs and CEOs dismiss the value of a shooting team, Smith & Wesson has artfully put the team to good use as a PR vehicle providing constant content for their expanding social media efforts.

If you asked me today which company I would want to shoot for it would be Smith & Wesson despite the fact that their firearms are not my first choice. If all you want as a sponsored shooter is a free gun – or one “on loan” to you as one big name company does, proving it’s name is big but it’s support is not – then pick any company to shoot for.

However, the smart shooter would go with Smith & Wesson because it has built a serious team you’d want your own personal brand associated with, and it supports its shooters through an aggressive PR and online promotion effort. The video above, promoted this morning to S&W’s nearly 31K facebook fans and other social media connections, is proof of that.

At some point the big name gun companies that aren’t taking shooting teams seriously will begin to if for no other reason than out of the frustration of watching Smith & Wesson lead the pack.