Looking to expand your marketing strategy in 2021? Have you wanted to work with athletes but didn't know where to start? OpenSponsorship is here to guide you through athlete sponsorship for the coming year to elevate your brand's marketing plans. Below is a curated list of top athlete influencers whose engagement rates predict a strong performance for the coming year. 

A sometimes overlooked aspect of a sponsorship deal is the opportunity to be able to repurpose the content that the athlete influencer creates. By agreeing to a deal with an athlete on OpenSponsorship, you can request the rights to that content to be able to repurpose it in your marketing strategy, whether it be email marketing, including it on your website, or best of all, whitelisting the athlete's Facebook and Instagram accounts to run paid ads with the content.

The world of Extreme Sports is a treasure trove of surreal and engaging content. Countless times large prints of photos from extreme sports have caught the eyes of consumers when they’re posted on walls of retail stores and outlet malls. When shopping for outdoor lifestyle gear, equipment, and clothing, I personally find myself more drawn to purchasing an item if it has a photo of someone wearing in its appropriate climate or terrain. As consumers, we have come to trust the validity of a product through reviews, photos, and videos of individuals using it prior to our purchase. Brands such as GoPro, Red Bull, and Anheuser-Busch have been taking advantage of this form of consumer behavior.

Cinco de Mayo, commonly thought of as Mexico's Independence Day (this isn't true), is a holiday that celebrates the country's underdog victory at the Battle of Puebla against France in 1862. Nowadays, the holiday has spread to the United States as well and is often associated with tacos and tequila, but the true meaning of the day is to celebrate the rich history and heritage of Mexico.

The Coronavirus pandemic has taken the sports world by storm, and athletes now have an unprecedented amount of time on their hands leading to an increase in the number of athletes on TikTok. Some are taking on new hobbies -see Giannis Antetokounmpo learning the guitar and Cody Zeller learning to cook and play the guitar (well, trying to). Some are doing their best to stay in shape at home- nice setup, Serge Ibaka! But most of all, athletes are more active and engaging on social media than ever before. The most interesting takeaway from this uptick in social media activity has been the increase in athletes on TikTok.

CBD has become a major buzzword across many different industries. From sports to food it seems CBD has a new use every day. I am sure you are wondering if this cannabinoid extract is really all that; can CBD really be effective in so many different ways? The answer across the board seems to be a resounding yes. In one study examining the effect of CBD on cortisol levels cannabidiol (CBD) caused a significant drop in levels of the stress hormone after administration. In another study examining the antipsychotic effects of CBD, it was discovered that cannabidiol is a well tolerated treatment for people suffering from schizophrenia as it has several antipsychotic properties. Clearly CBD is more than just a buzz word thrown around by companies trying to sell a product. So we know the stuff works, the next question is how do we market it to consumers?

Here are 4 strong ways to get results from your CBD marketing strategy:

The idea of your company adding sports sponsorships is finally a doable one. We allow companies of any size to connect with professional athletes and create sponsorship deals. Sponsorships were once reserved for the biggest companies and the biggest athletes ... but now, the barriers have been broken down. 

In the past, we've covered why you should invest in sports sponsorship and how to handle those sponsorship deals effectively. Today we want to present you with actual examples of what this looks like to inspire your own influencer marketing strategy. 

Let's start this off by saying that I'm sure all of OpenSponsorship's athletes have their own unique style and just because I chose these people in specific as OpenSponsorship's Top 4 Most Fashionable Athletes, does not mean it was an easy decision. It also does not mean that my opinion should be taken as fact, because, well, I've worn the same pair of beat up Adidas sneakers for 4 years now so what do I know? Anyway, now that we've gotten past the disclaimer, let's get to it.