How to build a personal brand during a sports career? Experience of a professional tennis player

professional tennis player, top-100 WTA player

In modern realities, sport is a business, where marketing, advertising contracts, and an additional source of income depend on image. How can you competently build a personal brand during your sports career?

Hold master classes more often

Communicating with the younger generation inspires, motivates to grow and develop: it is always nice to share experience and be an example. Also, when you act as a mentor, you get a unique opportunity to look at a situation from a different angle.

Over the course of my career, I’ve heard stories many times of speakers coming into higher education telling me that this role unlocks new potential in them.

Get social media right

From the very beginning of your career, it’s important to get your social media strategy and image right: enlist the help of SMM specialists, develop a content plan, and work with your audience. Athletes’ social networks are closely monitored by sponsors.

Thanks to these platforms, foreign sponsors and sports managers can see a budding star at the start of his career, even if he hasn’t made any international appearances yet. This is how potential is noticed. And when the sports career is over, this platform can be used for personal branding and business project development.

It is easier to create a positive image in social networks. Unlike the media, in a personal blog you can choose when and what to write, what situations and stories to reveal and from what angle.

Even if something negative happens during a sporting career, with the help of a consistent positive image on social media, the situation can be smoothed out.

Get an education

In parallel with a sports career, you need to get a fundamental education. This can be higher education, advanced training on the already existing one. The sphere should be interesting to you. Now there are many directions: business, creative and creative industries, financial sector, etc.

The main thing is not to be afraid to try new things and choose what suits you in spirit and temperament. However, when studying directions, it is easy to get confused. In theory will like one thing, in practice – fit another. Therefore, it will be better if someone experienced can advise you.

Invest

Athletes have good fees, but so that the money does not “fly around” and not disappear, it is better to invest them in real estate or securities. Working with investments, you can turn to a broker to increase the profitability of the portfolio. In the future, the accumulated dividends can be used to launch a startup.

Expand your connections and reach out to experts

The strength of sports is contacts. It is important to learn to communicate openly with other athletes, coaches, sponsors, managers and journalists. Local and international contacts will be an asset not only during your career but also after your career is over.

If such concepts as “content plan”, “targeting” and “visual” are alien to you, use the services of SMM-specialists. If it is difficult to build a precise plan of action on your own, you should turn to sports management experts. They will help you choose a direction, tell you when and what you need to do, and help you expand your circle of connections.