With the ability to become an internet personality with just a camera and a social media account, the ability to get recognition, or even a jumpstart as an athlete has never been more accessible.
There are many motivations for those wanting to gain attention for their athletics, and with that social aggregation, comes a great opportunity for sponsorships. Any sized business can benefit from the fact one individual or team of content producers can advertise your business. The best aspect of this is that consistent content creators, on YouTube, blogs, etc, build loyal fan bases, that oftentimes ritualistically follow these market influencers.
While sponsoring personal athletes building their career, they in turn give you the opportunity to market in the various formats of content they create from fitness, sporting events, training instruction, commentary, so on. You get a wide breadth to apply your brand to when supporting these influencers.
Here are some of the advantages:
You get to start at what level of sponsorship you want. From smaller unknowns to more popular faces that already have some recognition, whether it be in competition, or who are just active and having a strong social following.
Having a sponsored athlete pitch your brand is extremely effective on video sharing sites and during video streaming. The advantage here is that your brand is pitched directly by who you’re sponsoring, rather than being an advertisement roll. Allowing for more organic and genuine sponsorship.
Accessibility is an excellent factor, as there a numerous athletes out there, hungry for the opportunity to build on their goals. The internet take out a lot of the footwork, and can accompany any other method of finding athletes to sponsor.
Since most up and coming athletes are going to be of the millennial and younger generation, those who are utilizing the internet, their patrons more comfortable with purchasing from lesser known businesses, and even less mainstream or niche markets.
Finding prospective athletes
It shouldn’t be hard to find athletes interested in sponsorship, as you have a plethora of avenues to cover. YouTube, Facebook, and various live streaming sites.
Through the internet, you can inquire a wider range of individuals. It saves time, allowing you to build a better picture around them, and if they fit with your philosophy. The best prospects should have some footing in their recognition, if not a small following.
The most important thing to consider is finding those who have the integrity and consistent effort in holding a following and bringing more to that circle.
Definitely avoid those who are sporadic in their temperaments, and socially egregious, as even if they may be able to build and maintain a large audience (some are attracted to this). The probability of these individuals to be shut down personally or on social media can be an incalculable risk.
Why sponsor an athlete? Why not!
It’s not so much the “randomness” you go about finding an athlete to sponsor, it is the variability to find someone who may be relatively unknown, and help that prospect evolve into an excellent opportunity to expand your brand, strengthen the influence of your sponsorship, and become your own powerhouse. While at the same time, this opens you up to having a large pool to work with and greater control over the risks you take and overall approach. It’s a win-win all around.
