I've had partnerships with a variety of brands
over the years. There are of course a lot of benefits to these
programs, but they can also be a lot of work, and many of the ambassador programs you see
online may not be all they're cracked up to be. So in this video, I'm going to start by covering
the different types of programs that are out there, including ambassadorships, what I'd
called sponsored ambassadorships, more traditional sponsorships, as well as affiliate marketing
programs. I'll give you some tips on how you might be
able to get involved in these different programs, but also some reasons why you maybe shouldn't. Because, as you'll see, there's no such thing
as a free lunch. Let's start with the most common which are
ambassadorships. Ambassador programs typically provide their
participants with discounts on products, maybe up to 30%, but little or no actual FREE product. It's for this reason that I'd hesitate to
use the word 'sponsorship' when it comes to these relationships. These programs are really common with nutrition
brands like Honey Stingers and Nuun, as well as some clothing and gear brands with programs
like the Suunto Factory Team and Salomon Squad. Just do a search for the words ambassador
program along with the name of any brand to find their program details and application
form. They usually open up for applications once
per year, often around December, and most require that you reapply annually. But the application process tends to be pretty
easy. You'll just need to provide links to your
online profiles, as well as a few paragraphs about yourself and why you might be a good
fit. They may consider your follower count, as
well as engagement and the quality of your content. But the bar tends to be pretty low because
there's very little cost to the brand, maybe a t-shirt and a bit of other swag. You'll still be required to purchase product
to get any real benefit from the program, and they'll still be making a profit from
you on those sales, unlike a pro deal or staff discount where you might be getting under
wholesale cost. Some of these programs require that you post
a certain number of times per month, or that you participate in very specific online campaigns. They may provide referral codes that you can
offer to your friends and social media audience for a small discount, like 10-15% on products
purchased online. This also serves as a way for the brand to
track performance and ROI. There's certainly no harm in participating
in these programs, especially if you're already a heavy user of these products. These discounts could add up to a couple hundred
bucks a year, especially if you're buying But recognize that you are working as part
of a guerrilla marketing team in exchange for the same discount you might be able to
get in a regular end of season sale or Black Friday type of promotion. And with so many athletes participating in
so many of these programs, they provide little in the way of clout. The next level up is what I would call a sponsored
ambassadorship. Here you can expect to get a certain amount
of free product as opposed to just a discount, which may include nutrition, a watch, a specific
team kit, or a budget towards a certain amount of shoes and apparel from the brand's catalogue. Some of the programs I've participated in
will also provide a small budget for travel to races, along with race entries and other
benefits that a brand might have direct access to as a sponsor of an event. Examples of these programs include the Suunto
Elite Team, the Honey Stinger Hive Elite Program, and the Salomon Pro Squad which I'm a part
of here in Canada. These types of programs have been a huge benefit
to me and have helped to cover the cost of a lot of my gear and nutrition over the years. I also love having direct access to product
knowledge and the chance to test out new gear and to provide feedback, along with some other
fun opportunities. But, there is also a much larger commitment
required from you as a sponsored ambassador. For example you might be asked to help out
at events. I've led some 'learn to trail run' clinics
over the years for Salomon, as well as hung out at the Salomon tent during race expos. You'll also need to participate in online
campaigns, and there will be an expectation of exclusivity by not working with or promoting
any competing brands. These kinds of opportunities often come as
a result of who you know. But you will occasionally see calls for applications
to these higher tiers alongside the applications for the larger ambassador programs I mentioned
before. Smaller store-level teams exist as well, where
you might get some shoes and apparel, in exchange for helping out with in-store events or run
clinics. In fact, this is how I got my start in working
with Salomon, by being asked by a friend to be a store-level ambassador before eventually
being invited to work with the national marketing team. Many specialty run stores are actually given
a budget for products from brands to in turn give to their ambassadors. So I'd say that working with a store is a
great place to start if you are looking for this kind of support. True sponsorships do exist but are increasingly
harder to come by. Think of athletes like Kilian Jornet who would
be considered a professional athlete in every sense of the word. Sponsored athletes are usually paid a modest
annual salary, along with having their travel costs and race entry fees covered. There will typically be performance incentives
in place, like a bonus paid for reaching the podium in a race, or for a certain level of
social media engagement. Even for an athlete like Kilian, his job is
not just to run. When he shows up at a race, he's gotta do
interviews with media, and meet and greets with fans. And while it certainly looks glamorous being
featured in all of those glossy Salomon films and photos, that represents days if not weeks
of working with film crews and photographers each year. In other words, his job isn't just to be a
professional runner, his job is also to be a media personality, an actor, a model, a
writer, a brand ambassador, and so on. So what value can you potentially provide
as an athlete in exchange for participating in one of these programs? I think it's useful to look at how sports
sponsorships traditionally have worked. A young Michael Jordan who achieved a certain
level of notoriety will catch the attention of a brand like Nike who wants to attach their
name to this rising star. But Nike isn't only going to give him free
shoes. They're going to need to actually pay him
to wear their shoes. In fact, in this case they paid him to license
his name to put on their shoes. This makes sense because Michael Jordan lends
credibility to the brand and that's worth a lot of money to Nike. People see him wearing Nikes, both in commercials
and on the court, so they themselves want a pair. Value comes from earned media as well, which
is the free press that Jordan got whenever he won a game. And earned media is cheaper than having to
rely strictly on paid advertising. But with social media, everything has changed. Yes, we still have athletes like Kilian Jornet
who are being paid by Salomon to wear their shoes, and who even help in product testing
and design. Salomon is leveraging Kilian's personal brand
in the exact same way that Nike did Jordan's. Kilian is in the media all the time, his photos
are on the covers of magazines, he's in films, and of course is winning races, all while
wearing head-to-toe Salomon branding. But brands like Salomon don’t really need
any more Kilian's. They've got most of the top names in the sport
already on their roster. What's harder to get access to are more grass-roots
channels. And this requires real people who can talk
honestly about their products, whether they're doing so on social media or face to face at
events within their communities. Brands are paying a lot of money to access
audiences with their content on platforms like Facebook. And even when they're not paying to directly
promote their content, they're still paying a marketing team to develop and publish it,
and in some cases, spending huge amounts on professional photographers and filmmakers. Those films from Salomon cost tens of thousands
of dollars, and in some cases over 6 digits. So that's where you come in, and the question
you need to ask yourself is what value that you can offer a brand. This might be access to your audience on social
media, as well as the ability to produce your own content. Remember, in the past a brand would have had
to hire a professional photographer, to potentially pay a model or at least get one of their sponsored
athletes to participate in a shoot, and then to pay someone to post it. So you're kind of doing that all in one. You might be leading events or providing coaching
or nutritional advice, where product placement could be a natural fit. Just take a look at how a brand like Clif
Bar is already trying to engage with consumers. There's a reason why they hand out samples
at race expos, instead of just brochures talking about the nutritional benefits of their products. They want you to taste the product, because
you're either going to love it or you're not. So if you're leading events where you have
the opportunity to hand out free samples as well, then the brand just saved money by not
having to pay someone to attend - they're leveraging you as an extension of their marketing
team instead. And as an athlete, it's a win-win since you
can in turn get nutrition for your own racing and training. This is how I've worked with brands like Clif
Bar myself. And then there's press and other earned media. If you are doing news-worthy things fairly
consistently, whether those are strictly athletic pursuits or maybe something around charity
work, that media attention may be something a brand might want to attach their name to
as well. But all of this is work and takes time, and
time is of course money. Think about how much all of that free or discounted
product is really worth to you, and compare that to the time investment that will be required. You may be able to just put in a few extra
hours at work instead, or to pick up a side gig where you'd make much more money, which
you could then spend on whatever products you want without being limited to a single
brand. Consider as well the opportunity cost in any
of these programs. Getting some free shoes is great, but may
not be worth it if it means having to skip your long run to help out at an event on a
Saturday morning. And lastly, there may be exclusivity agreements
as part of any of these programs, where you're required to train and race in only one brand
of shoes, for example. You'd better hope those are really a great
fit, because you may actually be putting your season in jeopardy, if not. But there are other options, like Affiliate
Marketing Programs. I’d worked with Suunto for several years
as an athlete ambassador, but when the program I was a part of recently ended, it freed me
up to begin testing out and working with other brands of watches like Coros as a content
creator. Before dedicating myself exclusively to a
single brand of watch again in the future, this opportunity cost would have to be factored
in. This is why you'll see many creators who do
gear reviews stay away from exclusive sponsorship agreements, instead favouring these more traditional
Affiliate Marketing Programs. They might get given a product to review in
a YouTube video or on a blog, along with a discount code to provide to their audience,
and may get commissions from any products sold. But there's no exclusivity or ongoing commitment
required, it really is just a business transaction. There's also a dangerous trend I've seen of
semi-professional photographers and filmmakers essentially undercutting the rest of the industry,
something I've tried to be really careful of myself as a video production professional. This is ultimately more of a moral argument. But remember, any product you receive actually
costs a fraction of its retail value to the company. Not to mention the fact that brands will have
a certain amount of product earmarked for promotional purposes, whereas the costs for
paid content creation would come from a completely different budget and likely handled by a different
department altogether. So if you’re a professional hoping to use
an ambassador program as a foot in the door so you can eventually start charging a brand
for your content, it might not be the best strategy. But maybe you're already involved in doing
events, or you're already publishing a lot of relevant content on a blog or YouTube channel. For example, I've long been a fan of the inReach,
which is a two-way satellite communications device that I recommend always carrying when
in the backcountry. Not only had I been using the product for
years, but I was already talking about it in videos, on my blog, and during in-person
educational events that I lead on backcountry safety. So it was a no-brainer to try to work out
an agreement where they would provide me with the latest devices and cover my monthly subscription
costs, along with a discount code that I could pass along to my audience. But imagine if I wasn't already such a strong
proponent of safety and in using and talking about the product - the arrangement just wouldn't
have made much sense for either party. So maybe you're already a big fan of a brand
and you're already using it pretty much exclusively. You might be publishing content or putting
on events. Having to watch product knowledge webinars
may actually be exciting to you. Then it's almost certainly going to be a win-win. Just make sure you're not doing it because
it feels like the thing to do as a runner, or simply for your own ego. Even if you're winning local races, getting
a sponsorship is not the next inevitable step. If you've got a well-paying job and running
is just a fun hobby, maybe it's best to keep it that way. Let me know what your own experience has been
with these kinds of programs in the comments below, good or bad. Give the video a like if you found it helpful. And be sure to subscribe for more videos like
this.
