In this post, we explore the marketing activity for an athlete. After explaining what the term branding means, let’s see how it applies to contribute to the success of an athlete during their sporting career.
Let’s start by defining 4 pillars to build an athlete’s Personal Brand: Design, Website, Content, and Social Media.
It is important to say that before these 4 activities there is the planning of a strategy in line with the interests of the athlete, since the design work, content creation etc … will be performed based on the structure and strategy put in place in the beginning, but I will deepen this topic in the next article which will be called “Why athletes need a Brand Manager”.
DESIGN
The design activity is the first that is planned in a creative studio, and more often we start with Logo Design.
A logo is important for any concept you want to represent, an image defined by simplicity and originality that has the ability to remain impressed in people’s minds through its elements of design, color and typography.
The logo often represents companies, products, services but also people, communities, concepts, and is much more than a symbol. Often, in addition to the logo, an entire Brand Identity has been designed that has the logo as one of its most important assets.
A logo determines your first impression on your audience (and we only have one chance for a first impression), it can determine whether people like you or not.
A logo must represent YOU. It’s a tangible image of you for your audience, the right colors, the right typography, the right assets, make you perceive just the way you want.
Consistency and uniqueness, they are the keys to a winning personality, in one word: authenticity.
A branding project for an athlete is one of the most important steps in his career. Personal branding is the most effective way to differentiate yourself and make yourself unique among all its competitors, whether they are of the same sport or not.
If cared for and managed by professionals, it has the ability to give more value to collaborations. It increases the chances of being attracted to new partnerships or starting a new business project after retiring from a sports career.
It is the key to being able to represent the best of yourself and to shape an identity as a leader. It can make an athlete become iconic.
WEBSITE
The website is the way to let anyone who is interested in you enter your world, with a website designed exclusively, you have the opportunity to tell our story in a clear, genuine and authentic way. Engage the visitor by making him undertake a path designed by us, often with a strategy behind it to obtain a result, for example a purchase, a registration, a contact.
The website is also the best way to introduce yourself to potential collaborations and receive contacts. In addition to possibly selling merchandising through e-commerce.
CONTENT
In the digital era of social media, it has never been easier to be in contact with our followers from all over the world, athletes constantly need to publish quality content on social media that is genuine but also strategic. Branding and marketing allow us to create empathy and make this content last over time, as well as to be able to monetize an athlete’s career by promoting sponsors through branded content.
It’s about creating an image of yourself that you have total control over. You can convey the message you want to get there and tell your story in the first person.
The best collaborations are those in which both the athlete and the brand share, not only the same vision, but also the same goals.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Brands are always looking for ways to promote their products and reach new audiences. Athletes today are great ways of promotion and brands want to collaborate with the best of them to gain credibility, position themselves on the market and activate their audience. The best collaborations are those in which both the athlete and the brand share, not only the same vision, but also the same goals.
An athlete with constant activity on social media creates a connection with his followers, engaging them with high quality content, which in turn attracts the interest of brands. In this way, positive collaborations are formed for all parties involved, including the target audience.
FAQ: Collaboration or sponsorship?
The difference between collaboration and sponsorship is pretty simple, sponsorships are long-term contracts that connect an athlete to a brand. Collaborations are agreements for a short-term activity that can be done in one day, one week, one month.
For example, we noticed an increase in collaborations during the lockdown period due to Covid19, in which the athletes did not participate in their usual events but were able to keep in touch with followers and brands.
