The New Sponsorship Playbook for Semi-Pro and Amateur Athletes
Amateur and semi-pro athletes can build significant income streams through sponsorships and influencer marketing by leveraging social media presence, even without elite-level performance; engagement and targeted follower demographics matter more than follower count alone. Here’s how.
Unless you’re at the very top of your game, and your game happens to be a highly lucrative one, sponsorships and other marketing channel revenue will play an important role in determining financial success.
While sponsorships were once reserved for successful athletes, today’s athletes can benefit from the exposure and following they have on social media sites and other platforms. Amateur athlete sports influencers can make as much money, or more, than professional athletes in the same field.
Sports Sponsorship Opportunities
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Athletes Need To Be Active
Whether an athlete is hoping to gain traditional sponsorship deals from major brands or is looking to become a sports influencer, being active is important. Christiano Ronaldo makes an estimated $1 million a week from sponsorships and endorsements alone. While this is only a fraction of the $200m or so he makes from football, it still shows his commitment to his brand.
Ronaldo actively pursues sponsorship deals and doesn’t just take them for granted or assume the money will come in. Amateur sportspeople don’t get the same level of exposure from their sport as Ronaldo does, which means they have to find other ways to prove their value to sponsors and interested businesses.
Social Media is Powerful
Local athletes can attract local sponsorship deals, and this can help supplement their income. Another method that has helped athletes gain exposure, which, in turn, leads to improved sponsorships, is social media.
Websites like Facebook, YouTube, and, more recently, TikTok, can provide a platform for athletes in any sport.
Follower Count Matters More Than Success
On social media, follower count matters more than how successful an athlete is. Some sports influencers are little more than amateurs, but they attract big sponsorship bucks because they have millions of followers. Social media users tend to concentrate on the content they’re watching, which makes them highly desirable as potential customers for marketing companies.
It doesn’t necessarily take millions of followers for an athlete to be able to start attracting deals, either. Early deals may not involve money: rather, the athletes may receive products for review. This is a good opportunity to continue building a profile, developing a following, and creating relationships with companies and marketers.
Engagement Matters Even More
While follower numbers matter, what matters even more is engagement levels. Social media engagement varies but includes likes, shares, comments, saves, and subscriptions. Having an engaged following shows marketers that the influencer has actual influence over their followers.
If they promote a product, there is a good chance that followers will take notice and potentially buy the products they’re promoting. In contrast, an account with a million followers but minimal engagement may result in very few direct actions. While some marketers and marketing platforms do measure and track follower numbers, the big bucks deals are typically offered to influencers with the highest engagement rates.
Influencer Marketing Has High ROI
Influencers use their existing personal brand to promote products and services belonging to others. In contrast, content creators typically serve ads in their content to make money from advertising deals. Both can provide financial gain, and athletes with social media followings can be content creators and influencers, although it can be a delicate balance to tread the line between these two.
Generally, influencer marketing offers exceptional returns on investment, with some estimates suggesting the ROI can be 11 times higher than with other forms of online marketing. Knowing this, savvy marketers will look for influencers with genuine engagement as well as targeted followers who have a likely interest in the products they’re selling.
Targeted Demographics
That targeted interest is important. Athletes and sports players typically attract followers who share similar interests, which means they will be sports fans and players. Sponsorship and marketing deals will most likely come from companies working within these industries.
Influencers also need to have a better understanding of their viewers’ demographics, including figures like age, gender distributions, location, and more. While companies will do some of their own research to try and determine this information themselves, knowing their viewer demographics empowers influencers when it comes time to negotiate deals.
