Athlete sponsorships and how to find them
Let’s talk sponsorships. A big reason why I started Cejih Explains was to demystify the world of sponsorships and sports agents. Sponsorship is a topic that is not easy to find detailed information on how it all works. Below are three tips that any athlete (or agent) can use to begin filling the sponsorship funnel with deals.
Know your brand profile strengths: Sponsorship is like online dating - it’s all about matching profiles. The better you know your personal brand profile and your brand strengths, the better position you will be in to succeed. Narrowing down your profile will help you identify which companies you would be a good match with.
Develop story on why you connect to that sponsor: Sponsors are inundated with emails, DM’s and Tweets from athletes and influencers wanting to be sponsored. Need help standing out in the crowd? Uncle Yung has your back. Here’s what you do: Come up with one very authentic short story about your connection to that specific company or product. Talk about how you discovered their brand, how their product has helped you, who you’ve shared it with and the results you’ve seen. If their brand connects with you on a personal level, then lean into that big time. What you are doing is two fold: 1. Showing authenticity; 2. Making it easy for them to see how they can market you.
Now put that story out there: Getting sponsors attention is a team effort between athlete and agent. An agent can make cold calls until they are blue in the face. However, if an athlete is able to assist by tagging a potential sponsor in a few posts - this makes a powerful combo.
Time for a CG Sports E! True Hollywood story: We were in the early stages of pitching Jacob Pebley to Clif Bar. Jacob’s athlete journey and Clif Bar’s company journey matched up perfectly. However there was some risk for them - Clif Bar had never sponsored a non-climbing athlete before. We had to show authenticity while getting creative. The following week during Jacob’s graduation ceremony at Cal, he packed a single snack: a bunch of Clif Bars. Jacob was quick thinking and posted an image to his Instagram stories during a snack break. We shared it with Clif Bar and the post caught the attention of their CEO. A few weeks later, Jacob signed with Clif Bar as their first ever swimmer. Boom, roasted.
