Helping brands to partner with athletes in their influencer marketing and sponsorship marketing campaigns

Today we discuss how and why brands should be thinking about creating athlete long term deals. The presence of athlete influencer marketing has evolved immensely over the last couple of years and includes both short term and one off deals, as well as athlete long term deals. Rare are the days where one can scroll down their social media feed without seeing at least one sponsored post, and we like it - it gives our athletes more of a personality!

Something these athlete influencer posts have in common is that they tend to be one off social media posts rather than long term deals. A brand will approach an influencer and offer them product and/or cash compensation in exchange for a promotional social media post. After the photo or video is posted, that is often the end of the story as both brand and influencer head onto new opportunities. Rarely do we see athlete long term deals between brands and athletes that involve just social media.

In the influencer marketing world, long term deals seem to be mostly ignored but why is that the case? Possible arguments could include trying to reach a larger audience with different influencers or not wanting to clutter up one's social feed. As it turns out, these assumptions are incorrect and athlete long term deals should be implemented in a brand’s influencer marketing strategies.

Benefits to athlete long term deals include:

1. Targeting potential customers more often and for longer. This has always worked in marketing and social media does not change that. Exposing target customers to your product or service regularly, will increase the likelihood of them buying into what you sell.
2. Engagement is more important than reach. Those who are more likely to become customers are liking, commenting, tagging and sharing information about your brand.
3. Efficiency. Finding influencers who are the right fit, communicating with them and agreeing on a deal are no easy tasks. Working with fewer people for longer makes influencer marketing an easier process.
4. Brand and influencer image. Creating long-term partnerships with influencers establishes the belief that these people truly love the product and even need the product. This also works the other way, proving that brands trust certain influencers.

How OpenSponsorship handles athlete long term deals:

As the #1 sport marketing platform, connecting brands to professional athletes, OpenSponsorship encourages long-term partnerships between brands and athletes. Even once a deal is completed, both parties have the option to request a long-term partnership. This function has found a lot of success on the platform generating constant engaging content along the way. Some athletes that have already taken advantage of athlete long term deals include Nick Troutman, Diondre Echols, Whitney Rowe and Brittney Bagley. 

Guest Post by Resident Podcaster Alex Fabian