Primary Decision….Athlete Brand Marketing Advisor?
Things to consider:
Athletes are beginning to understand the importance of building their personal brand so that their exposure and business opportunities are maximized to their greatest potential during their athletic career and beyond. Thus, a primary decision should be selecting an experienced athlete brand marketing advisor for their team of advisors.
Yes, there is still a place for agents in sport, however, without a proven track record in building athlete brands, agents may find limited opportunities to promote their client beyond reviewing contracts (which are largely pre-negotiated), scheduling, etc. Most professional athletes have a short window of influence since the average career span for a NFL player is about 3.3 years, 4.8 years for a NBA player, and 8 years for a professional soccer player, thus, the importance of entrusting your brand to someone with verifiable industry and brand marketing experience.
CONCERNS
Regularly, we have interesting conversations with professional athletes who ask for advice, but are unsure how to properly evaluate or recognize brand marketing advisors who have authentic expertise in building and managing player brands.
Most of their “concerns” are that current or past advisors didn’t articulate a clear vision for their brand nor did they have well defined goals. Additionally, they did not even mention the importance of building the athlete’s brand.
The old reactive response by agents to athletes, “do something and hopefully someone will call us” or “let the league market you”, doesn’t work well. Therefore, it’s no surprise that athletes say “all agents are the same, so why change or add a marketing advisor?”.
THAT is why you need to take control of your brand and ask potential marketing advisors what type of individual experience they have in developing athlete brand plans. Ask for specific examples of corporate partnerships that they’ve personally negotiated, activated and managed. Most agents, in larger firms, have little interaction with their marketing departments because their job is more administrative rather than developing athlete brands. Sadly, this is the norm.
So here are a few questions to ask a potential advisor:
- Are you a former student athlete and/or professional athlete (ability to relate)?
- What does a professional athlete “life cycle” look like?
- How have you helped both “high profile” and not yet established professional athletes build their brands?
- Do you have a comprehensive plan for Social Media management?
LOOK FOR SUBSTANCE
Athletes need an advisor’s marketing and management skills, something that an attorney, whose primary expertise is drafting and reviewing agreements, cannot provide. You do need legal advice, however, to protect your intellectual property and philanthropy efforts.
Your marketing team should be proactive; a competitive athlete playing at the highest level doesn’t have the time or energy to market themselves or objectively evaluate a possible corporate partnership, nor should they be expected to.
Athlete/brand marketing advisor relationships should always begin with a deep discussion that provides your marketing team with comprehensive information about your goals, interests, financial and charitable endeavors, etc. This exercise will help you and your team better define a brand strategy to extend your relevance and stand out.
I would add that athlete social media companies such as opendorse and INFLCR (primarily for student athletes) can play a role in helping you and your athlete marketing advisors aggregate, develop and share social media content. While those services can help you amplify the reach of your brand, it is your brand marketing advisor’s job to manage the overall brand plan and process.
View this exercise as building a puzzle, starting with the edges and working inwards toward the goal of completion. Look for advisors who have completed the puzzle, not just talked, tweeted or written about theories in books.
Don’t settle for the status quo! Expect the best and most experienced advisor who has a track record in building athlete brands. That experience brings a wealth of wisdom, so be open to their suggestions.
BALANCE
Lastly, I believe there should be a balance between the advisory and transactional aspect of the athlete and advisor relationship.
Why? Because it is easily demonstrated over and over again that successful athletes like Lebron James, Serena Williams and J.J. Watt have a clear brand plan and surround themselves with an experienced team AND most importantly…they value their advice.
However, to be fair there are rare exceptions such as Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson, who do a good job of primarily marketing themselves.
So if your first decision has not involved adding an experienced athlete brand marketing advisor to your team, then start asking those questions today. Feel empowered to make the changes needed to succeed in building your brand!
