How to Get Sponsored in Action Sports
A guide to getting sponsored for skating, surfing, snowboarding and more
Ever wondered how to get sponsored as a skater? How a surfer goes from frothing grom to spono’d teenager? How a ski bum starts paying their way?
Well we’ve got you covered. There are ways to help push the chances of sponsorship in your favour, attach the attention of brands you love, and get yourself into the contests you dream of winning. This article will help you understand HOW to get sponsored. Giving you a bit of a roadmap to help you get there.
“Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard” – Kevin Durant
(This quote will be used again and again because it’s the truth.)
It all starts with Passion
The first thing to start with is a real love of what you do. Starting out with making money or sponsorship in mind is the wrong way to go, not just in action sports, but careers in general. Make sure you’re doing something you’re passionate about. As cliche as it sounds, make the journey the fun part, not the destination.
“You don’t quit skateboarding because you get old, you get old because you quit skateboarding” – Jay Adams
Besides, if you’re after money, there are much easier ways to go about it than action sports. So come at it with passion.
“Skateboarding doesn’t make you a skateboarder. Not being able to stop skateboarding make you a skateboarder.” – Lance Mountain
From Passion to Profession: The ESM Guide to Getting Sponsored
It takes skill to get sponsored, but it doesn’t take luck or innate talent. Hard work beats all.
So you have the passion, it’s all you can think about, all you spend your time on, and hot damn you’re good at it too. You’d love to make a career and build those sponsors so you can afford to keep going. So what do you do? Slide in the the DMs of Vans and ask for shoes? Send a VHS to RedBull? DM Monster and ask for that sweet green claw money?
You can, but we recommend a putting a touch more thought into it. Try this:
Steps to Sponsorship:
Be Nice and Introduce yourself, Get out to events and meet people, build your network, be genuine.
Keep turning Up. It comes back to working hard, you have to keep putting in the work, putting out content, creating value.
Get your Social Media in order. The clearer your personal brand is the easier it is for brands to see how you align with them and how you can bring value.
Put out good content - Filming video parts, getting clips, creating content brands would love to use. That last part is key. Content brands WANT to use. Work out what your skill and value is and how you can make a plan to help brands. Make their job easier, not harder.
Use the brands you love - Don’t just wish you could get it free, buy it, use it, and if it’s a great product, keep using it. You want to be using brands you genuinely like.
Tag the brands you love - If you’re using the product and love the brand, give them a shout out. Tag them in great content. If the content is good enough, they’ll share it and that’s when you know the door is open for a conversation.
Reach out to the brands you love and offer something - Have a plan in mind. Have an idea of how you can improve their marketing efforts with your skills. Show how you can help influence sales and build the brand, because at the end of that day that’s the job of a sponsored rider. You’re a marketer for the brand.
Work Hard & Don’t give up - The only shortcut, silver bullet, trick to making it happen is hard work. Hard work everyday.
“Hard Work, that’s the secret” – Mick Fanning, 3 X World Surfing Champion, Shark attack survivor
Top tips for that extra juice:
Look outside of your core industry for inspiration and partnerships. Learn from other sports, activities, and lifestyles and look at how other people are being creative with content and community building.
Build yourself a small and loyal community of followers.
Be different. Contest kids are a dime a dozen, so have something else to offer.
Quick Summary
Be Nice
Work Hard
Create Content
Define Your Brand
Use and Contact Brands You Love
Next Steps for You
Listen to the audio episode on Getting Sponsored on the ‘Make It Happen’ Podcast for Athletes from ESM.
Additional Resources
Watch
Paul Rodriguez - How I Became The Michael Jordan of Pro Skateboarding and got 10 Pro Shoes on Nike SB - This interview with Skate Legend P Rod is well worth listening too. Paul’s had a no nonsense, hard work approach since day with a laser focused intention and it’s paid off.
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HC4ydav1JxM
Read
1,000 true fans - by Kevin Kelly
A great explanation of how it only takes a small following to really build a career.
Check it out here: https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/
Listen
Money in Skateboarding | The AVNI Interviews 0038 with Mikey Taylor & Eric Borke -
A long in depth discussion about skateboarding, money, and pro careers. This is well worth listening to to understand the landscape and help choose an approach. This clip is also available as a podcast on iTunes etc if you need to listen via podcasts.
Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUYVz3ui0KA