Building the Right Brand
Building a brand can be a full-time job. You’re doing it all the time. You’re defined by your actions, your decisions, and primarily in the age of social media, your words. These words can dictate whether you’re hired, fired, signed, traded, or released. The words may have been said 5, 10, 15, years ago, when you weren’t the same person you are now. Maybe you quoted a song lyric or liked a tweet some may consider offensive. No matter what it is, that’s how a person is defined.
An organizations’ primary responsibility is adding talent. Talent triumphs character for the majority, but character has become intertwined as a secondary requirement. If you win, a lot can be forgiven, but without character your career can easily be stunted and even ended. Owners now do deep dives into potential Presidents and General Managers and Presidents and General Managers do the same when targeting prospective coaches and players. College coaches track the social media of recruits and pro teams investigate family, friends, and other relevant relationships.
There’s a fine line in building a brand as an athlete and coach. You can be religious, but not too religious (see Tim Tebow), you can be politically engaged, but not too divisive (see Colin Kaepernick), and you can talk about your personal life, but not too much so that people think you’re not focused on your craft.
Relationships: It all begins with your personal relationships. You are defined by the people you associate yourself with. If you grew up with parents who struggled with alcohol and drug addiction, you’re going to be scrutinized more closely whether they’re still in your life or not. If your childhood friends have gang affiliations, support controversial views, or used an inflammatory word, you’ll undoubtedly receive questions about those relationships. If you worked with coaches or staff that were involved in a scandal, questions will come up as to whether you had knowledge of those scandals. It only takes one picture with someone who has promoted controversial views to ruin an opportunity. Everyone we surround ourselves with is different and we can’t change those people, but we can determine when and where we spend time with them. Although personal relationships are arguably the most difficult thing to manage in building a brand, the drastic damage it could do to your brand is worth reevaluating those relationships. Attempting to manage them and possibly ending some of them could be what’s best and in order to increase your potential for success in the future, this delicate line must be towed.
Positivity: If athletes and coaches come across negatively, they could potentially lose monetary opportunities both in their career and with sponsors once their brand becomes a representation of the teams brand. Your brand is what other people think of you. As an athlete, your name should be synonymous with words like hard-working, committed, generous, and other positive connotations. You need to thank your parents for everything they’ve given to you. You need to talk about the volunteer work you do or the charitable causes you support. Your brand should also have balance. You have to be passionate but not too emotional. Keeping your cool during a game or off the field, court, or ice is noted by scouts, fans, and staffs alike. If you get suspended or fined, expect to be peppered with questions as to your thought process in that moment. You have to have the attitude that you’re always being observed and evaluated. Teams want leaders who can be a calming force, but also rally the team in pressure situations. The key is keeping everything positive.
Social Media: Athletes and coaches have a ton of influence. They have fans, detractors, and everyone across that spectrum watching their every move. Social media has become the primary way for them to connect directly with others who they would have likely never interacted with during their normal lives. In order to build the right brand, athletes and coaches need to look for different opportunities off the court, field, and ice. Maintaining contact with their fans is a way to promote those opportunities. As athletes and coaches develop their brand, sponsorships and endorsements eventually flow in as companies know that a social media following could bring the greatest attention. The key, however, is finding brands that identify with your personal brand. In a time where social media influencers dominate, you risk being viewed as only invested in something for the money. Every post on social media has monetary worth to your brand. Whether it’s something witty, heart-warming, or controversial, one post could determine how sponsors view you as the potential face of a product. By building a personal brand before endorsing a product or message, your followers will already have an understanding of what you’re about. If you find brands and messages that you truly identify with and can promote, then that will, in turn, give fans a reason to believe in your brand, message, or product.
Building that personal brand, just like sports, is competitive. You have to find the right balance in your brand. That concept is easier said than done as most young athletes and coaches don’t have the experience yet to build upon. But the earlier that brand is built, the better the brand will become, evolving with time. Every morning has to be viewed as chance to enhance your brand and prepare yourself for the future.