Brand Outreach and Securing NIL Deals for College Athletes

When browsing social media, you will often see these big-name celebrities and athletes posting partnership deals with giant companies. These are the same deals that are taking over the NIL space: athletes posting content to advertise a brand’s product in return for some form of monetary/product payment. It is a common misconception that you need a large following to secure deals like these. While follower count is a tool brands use when deciding which athletes they want to partner with, they also look at metrics such as follower demographics, engagement rate, and the interests of followers. 

Companies care more about your personality and alignment with their brand more than anything else. They want to ensure every athlete they partner with is a good representation of the brand, and will pass over athletes with larger social followings if the athlete’s brand doesn’t align with the product or service.

It is also commonly thought that brands are the ones recruiting athletes to promote their products, when in reality, many athletes have secured deals by reaching out to the brands themselves. Often athletes are hesitant to reach out because they don’t have a big enough following or are scared of getting rejected by a brand, but if an athlete can show their content/values align with the brands’, compose a well-thought out message, and deliver with good content, brands will not hesitate to work with college athletes with strategic NIL partnerships.

FAQ

Do I need a large following to get an NIL deal?

No! Although a large following may help brands notice you and increase how lucrative your NIL deals are, many brands have done deals with athletes who do not have a relatively large following. The deals may be with small, local companies, but if your entire following is in one city, you become a hot commodity to most local brands. Data released by OpenDorse and Front Office Sports suggests that about ⅓ of all NIL revenue the first six months of NIL were from local companies rather than national deals.  Often brands care more about the demographic of your following rather than your total follower count. The chart below shows that although your deals won’t be as lucrative, you can still do NIL deals without a very large following.

Do I need to do deals in industries that are relevant to my sport?

No! Many NIL deals are done with companies who sell healthy nutrition, hydration, and recovery products, but there have been tons of deals in other industries. NIL deals have also been done with local restaurants/stores, gaming companies, car dealerships, and even political candidates.

What is usually required of the athlete for NIL deals?

The most popular platform for influencer marketing is Instagram content production, followed by TikTok, Facebook, and Youtube. The most common form of NIL activities occur via posting content. This accounts for nearly 70% of NIL activities according to Opendorse.

Athletes should also be generating a high engagement rate on their posts. The highest engagement rate typically comes from “nano-influencers,” or accounts with 1,000-5,000 followers. This is because these accounts have a tighter bond with their followers, ultimately creating more engagement.

All the more reason you don’t need a very large following to reach out to brands and secure deals.

How do I grow my following?

The fastest way to grow a following is consistent and quality content. The consistent content will establish your brand’s “look.” How you want this “look” to be viewed is up to you. Keeping your followers in the loop of what you’re doing will create engagement and stimulate growth. Some easy tricks to improve your content include: creating a posting timeline, taking professional photos to save for multiple posts, making an “ideas vault” for your posts, asking your followers questions, and creating a list of hashtags to add to all of your captions.

Lastly, consistent posting means showing your followers “the good” and “the bad” with events in your life. The audience that you have built wants to see emotion, not surface level, unstimulating content. This means showing the times when things aren’t going your way is just as important as showing when things are going great.

Recommendations for Your Social Media Profile

1. Change your profile to a “business profile.” This way you can see your post and follower insights.
2. Attach your contact information to your profile. If brands want to reach you, it creates an easy way for them to get in touch rather than sending a DM.
3. Change your bio to who you are and what you do. Here are some great examples of athletes who have put together some great Instagram bios:

Reaching Out to Brands Step-By-Step

1. Define your personal brand and your core values.
2. Clearly identify what you want to get out of strategic NIL partnerships.  Is it a quick payday, or are you looking to establish a longer term relationship?
3. Identify brands that align with your personal brand’s values as well as products you actually use in your day-to-day life as an athlete.
4. Research the company you want to reach out to. Come up with some content ideas that would align with that brand’s content.
5. Spend time thinking about what makes you unique. Why are you a good fit for that company and promoting their product?  Do you have a particular life experience or hobby or personality trait beyond what a brand can Google about you?
6. Don’t be afraid to ask who the right person to email is. You can ask this via DM or do some research on the company’s website / LinkedIn. 
7. After you know who to contact, put together your message introducing yourself, why you want to partner with the brand, and what the partnership would entail.
8. Double-check your message for typos and flow. Read it out loud before pressing “send” to make sure your message is delivered in a professional tone.

Here is an outreach template to be used as a guide:

Hello (insert brand name or specific person you’re reaching out to)!

My name is (insert your full name) and I play (insert your sport) at (insert the name of your school). I really enjoy using your product in my day-to-day life as a student athlete at (insert your school). My favorite time to use it is (insert a time like before/after working out) and it really (insert the purpose of the product i.e. if it is a recovery product then say it helps you recover after a hard workout). What I like about (insert company name) is that you all focus on (insert company’s core values that align with your own). These are the same values I like to live my life by on and off the court/field/pool/track. (Here you can enter an example of this or any other achievements or fun facts about yourself). 

The reason I am reaching out is to see if you have any interest in me promoting your product on my social media. I would love to be on your team and share a product I already use in my day-to-day life with my followers. I could create a sponsored post in exchange for some free product while I share all the reasons I think (insert company name) and how it helps me as a (insert sport) student-athlete at (insert name of your school). 

You can reach me at this email address and also on my Instagram page @(insert your Instagram handle). Please let me know if this interests you as I believe we would make a great team together!

Best,

(insert your full name)

(insert your school name, sport, and graduation year)

To learn more about Brand Outreach and Securing NIL Deals, check out the CleanKonnect NIL Certification Course.