NIL Playbook: The Way Athletes Can Land More Valuable Brand Deals and Partnerships

The floodgates are open and as Mark Jackson says, "Momma there goes that man!" as we see athletes landing brand deals netting up to 4.9 million annually.

These numbers jump off the page as these athletes have been working their entire lives to score a payday while playing the sport they love.

Unfortunately, many will not get the Shedeur Sanders-like deals, but not for the reasons they think. Let's take a unique perspective, as a brand owner, on what many athletes are missing to land a brand deal.

Content

We've all heard that Content is king and there is no better example of that than for athletes that effectively sell their image daily to the masses. As many of us have recognized, we all want to look into every athlete's life to see how they prepare daily to become a star.

Many TV networks have successfully shown us all that the most popular shows are those that follow the average Joe in their daily lives i.e. Real World, Real Housewives of (NYC, Atlanta, Orange County, etc)

As we shift gears and think about athletes, they have 5 different platforms (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Facebook) to showcase their "Story". This can be debated, but the most successful platform is YouTube as many can go back and get a full timeline of your athletic/personal journey.

Here is a great example of Donovan Mitchell doing this recently on his Instagram where he showcases himself during the offseason leading to his big contract signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Content should be your #1 Focus before pitching any company or even considering getting a substantial brand deal. Take Shedeur as an example, the Sanders family are the kings of content with daily uploads to YouTube, daily stories and feed posts, and frequent activity on TikTok.

Value

As your elementary teachers used to say, it is time to put your thinking caps on and understand that everything that involves some level of partnership has to bring value to both parties.

Too often the athlete believes their mere talents and existence is good enough for these brands to jump on board. As a brand, we've experienced this 1st hand and they send Direct Messages saying:

In all instances they lead with, my profile or name speaks for itself when in theory, brands are sent 100's messages daily, and when an individual does not put together:

1. a value proposition or...

2. Work cases that show previous instances where they have done this for a prior brand are up for interpretation as to what the brand will get in return.

VALUE Must be what you lead with.

Dear "Company", as I enter into my Junior Year, my goal is to become a dominant center for the UCF Basketball Team. I'll be documenting my journey via my Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Along the way, I'd love to represent your brand and include you in a minimum of 4 Posts with aligned Collaborative tags in each post as well as an Affiliate Link with any Story Shares. My goal is to grow your brand in exchange for product and potentially some compensation based on those efforts. To kick things off, I'd love to promote several of the items to my stories prior to your company sending anything out. Where can I become an affiliate?

Exceeding Expectations

When trying to get better at any sport, it is great to set yourself a goal, but we often don't set minimums as we want to ensure we do the job fully or we want to exceed or previous metrics. The same should align to brand partnerships, quit looking at a contract and seeing what is asked as "The Goal" and

While they are great for meeting the minimums, they often don't depict what it truly means to the brand to exceed these expectations.

We all know that employee that shows up to work, does his work and rushes out at 5:01pm

While nothing is wrong with that employee, your employer recognizes this behavior and often interprets this as just doing the bare minimum. While many can be effective in the confines of that set agreement or set hours at work,

what relationship do you have that you don't want the partner to blow your socks off or surprise you with more?!

From the influencer perspective, they want the same level of energy in return and I couldn't agree more. If the Influencer does more and the Brand is aware, they should be rewarded in some form or fashion.

While many brands won't tell you this, they often will just allow the contract to expire without resigning you, they all want to see your value through your promotional efforts.

So how do I truly demonstrate that value?!

1. Deliver timely, effective, and relatable content to your audience

2. Create fresh content (don't recycle a previously recorded mention)

3. Find innovative ways to integrate the product into your content

4. Make the brand "synonymous" with your brand (this will make you irreplaceable)

5. Eliminate the idea of minimums and do 2x what is asked to ensure a return for the brand (This forces the hand of the brand to compensate you more)

Many are reading this and saying Wow, you are expecting a lot of the influencer.... The reality is a lot is expected from both parties who rely on each other to prosper both in life and professionally.

Sales Pitch

Avoiding One-and-Done Contracts

While it's great to have a big payday for your services, wouldn't you prefer to get paid the same or just slightly smaller for that same work every month?

I know the instant gratification of being paid is desirable on a "one-off", but it often can fracture the Brand-Influencer relationship, here's why:

1. Frequency is key (it's not a sexy topic, but audiences need to see a product 2-4 times before they act, so one mention often fails to meet expectations)

2. Inflated Fees (with the frequency being key, a one-time sales pitch will often result in poor interaction/response to the brand leaving them disappointed in the partnership, aim to have an agreement with 2-3 mentions so you both win. This will result in them coming back for more work together)

3. Sell the Product Like its Your Own (Aim to make it feel organic, while still maintaining the idea that your audience needs to be educated and sold on making a purchase with this brand)

Be Visible

As athletes, you are driven to be the best at the sport you've committed to doing but the door is FINALLY OPEN for you to monetize your likeness and brand.

Treating yourself as a business is critical and BEING VISIBLE is everything. Much like you see your top brands posting regularly and doing EVERYTHING for you to know their products, you must do the same as an athlete.

You legitimately have 4-6 years (depending on red shirt) to make money playing a sport which is most of our DREAMS. Many do not see it in this light, but in life we must take advantage of the opportunities we are presented as they go by EXTREMELY fast and we never know when they may be taken from us (injuries, family issues, etc).

As you train for the Season you need to document EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR TRAINING!

There is no better example of that than Well Off Media aka Deion Sanders Jr documenting the journey of the Colorado Buffaloes Football team and Deion Sanders.

THE JOURNEY IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT!!!

One of my mentors lives by - THE HARDER YOU WORK, THE LUCKIER YOU GET

They only get lucky because that HARD WORK eventually PAYS OFF. I am truly living, and breathing proof of that with running a Travel Bag Company during the Pandemic when NO ONE was TRAVELING!