How to make yourself sellable in today’s market
We are seeing a few shifts in today’s sponsorship market. Sponsors are spending more on tangible assets that can be easily approved. Property sponsorships do really well because they are able to provide a full menu of sponsorship items for purchase: advertising space, “presenting sponsor” packages, “title sponsor” packages, “gold level” partner packages, etc.
Athletes who can digest their sellable assets into tangible packages are going to see more success with sponsors in 2023. Work with you agent to create your own standard sponsorship packages to be sold in the market.
A few ideas on what an athlete can provide may include:
Logo space on your kit, suit, uniform: These types of deals can go for pretty high since it’s prime advertising visibility and real estate. Packages can be sold for $20,000 up to $50,000 per year for logo space on an athlete’s kit. This depends on the athlete, but those rates are for non-mainstream sports.
Branding at appearances or camps: If you know you will be doing a number of public appearances or camps during the year, this can be sold for sponsorship. Your physical presence in these locations are an opportunity for a company to be the “presenting sponsor” of your work at these events. Packages can include branding on your apparel, social media posts at the event, post event blog post, on-site media, logo on autograph cards, post event email branding to attendees. Pricing can be in the $10,000 - $40,000 range.
Standard Social Media Package: We highly recommend not entering into one-off social media post deals that offer a low fee or the promise of a % of sales from your promo code. These cheapen your brand. Instead, work with your agent on a standard social media package that provides a fair balance of posting in exchange for cash payment. A sample package based off an Olympic level athlete with the below followers:
Under 20,000k followers: 2 month deal which includes: 1x in-feed post total, 2x stories per month, $2,500
20k - 50k followers: 2 month deal, 1x in-feed post total, 2x stories per month, $5,000
50k - 150k followers: 2 month deal, 1x in-feed post total, 2x stories per month, $10k - $15k
Local Sponsor Package: These are great for local partnerships with companies in your hometown or at your training base. A local package allows you to promote a business in your community online, while also doing an activation in-person. If you are an NIL athlete, you 100% should have one of these developed and ready to go. A sample local package could include:
Posting on Social Media 1 per quarter: Post about an upcoming event, sale, special promotion, founder recognition, community giving, etc. A la carte valued at $5,000.
In-person appearance at community event: Athlete will participate in one company community event per year. A la carte valued at $10,000.
Corporate Event or Team Building Appearance: Athlete will attend one corporate event or company team building event. Athlete will prepare a keynote speech, 10-15 mins + Q&A and bring their medals. A la carte valued at $15,000
Local Athlete Sponsorship Package total price, $10,000 - $20,000. A company will likely pick items 1&2 or 1&3. You can adjust the pricing based on those options.
Spend some time thinking about what you can offer. Package it. Hand it off to your agent to get out to the market. While that’s happening, start posting on social to showcase work you’ve done for local companies. That will help more inbound leads come in. Good luck!
