Defining your Athlete Brand
Leticia Bufoni - The pink hair, the nikes, the bikini lifestyle playing on jet skis and in her garden give her one of the strongest brands in skating.
How do we define our athlete brand?
We know what the athlete brand is now, but how do we define it for ourselves? How do we then show that brand?
Finding out who you are is the key to becoming who you want to be
When it comes to branding we often get told to ‘just be you’.
While that is entirely true and is the right thing to do, it’s hard to know which parts of your personality you should be sharing. What parts are worth sharing? What aspects are interesting? What will people relate to?
Answering these questions is why an athlete branding exercise is so important. It’s easy to share parts of your life to social media and the public, but if you haven’t got a strategy or plan for what you’re trying to do, it can easily come across as random.
To help create more clarity, we’re going to be looking into a few ways to help you define your athlete brand so it can grow your opportunities.
“We sponsor the person more than we sponsor the athlete” – Davey Smidt - Head of Athlete Management at GoPro
Sponsors aren’t just looking for winners, they want personalities.
“Your sport is WHAT you do, not WHO you are” – Todd Jacobs - Mental Performance Coach to Jagger Eaton
The 4 key questions to create your personal athlete brand
By creating a strategy for your personal brand, it actually makes it easier to just be yourself
With some work upfront on reflection and honesty, it’s much easier to know how you want to present yourself and how you can get your authentic personality across in the best way. It’s all about finding a way to be truly unique.
“I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan. I only want to be Kobe Bryant” – Kobe Bryant
Questions to ask yourself:
Where do you come from - Think location, area, heritage, pride, upbringing. All these aspects can impact what you choose to show as part of your personal brand
What do you do - Yes we’re talking about your sport, but we’re also talking outside your sport. What other interests do you have? How do you spend your time when your not doing your main sport?
Where do you do it - Where do you tend to do your sport most? Do you travel? What sort of terrain excites you?
What inspires you to keep doing it - What is it about your sport that gets you out of bed in the morning? Is it just the fun, is it friends, is it personal progression, is it competition? Do you just love to win?
Top tips:
Use obstacles that you’ve overcome and things you’re passionate about to inform your personal brand. What events have shaped you to the person you are today?
Allow yourself to have other hobbies outside your sport. Contest kids are a dime a dozen, so let your personality be bigger than just the contests.
Don't be afraid to do something out of your element every so often. While you want your personal brand to be clear, it doesn’t need to be restrictive.
Quick Summary
Your personal athlete brand is built on 4 key components of your life: your background, your interests, your habits, and your motivations.
If you can answer these 4 questions, then you have a template of what to share with the world.
Don’t compete solely on talent, look at what can seperate you.
Next Steps for You
Download the athlete brand worksheet to help get you started on this journey and keep you on track.
Listen to the audio episode of this article on the ‘Make It Happen’ Podcast for Athletes from ESM.
Additional Resources
Watch
Who is Andy Anderson - From the Berries - Not only is this a great insight into who Andy is as a skater, it’s a perfect example of showing your background, interests and inspirations to create a strong athlete brand. Where you like him or not, you can’t deny Andy has an incredibly strong brand.
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrxbLshkY1g
Read
Le Bron, Inc
If you like reading books, I’d highly recommend this book about Lebron James. It’s a fascinating insight into what shaped him as an athlete and how he built his million dollar brand.
Check it out here: https://www.booktopia.com.au/lebron-inc--brian-windhorst/book/9781472132444.html
Listen
The Lineup with Sally Fitzgibbons - This episode of The WSLs podcast with Dave Prodan gives a great insight into Sally Fitzgibbons. Half way through the episode she gives a really interesting insight into how she shaped her own brand as her career developed.
Check it out here: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/sally-fitzgibbons-her-constant-title-chase-surfing/id1485675188?i=1000518791384