What are the best strategies for negotiating athlete contracts that include their brand and image?

This is why if you don’t you need to find someone who can keep stats on all your clients, because things like an injury may come up and most franchises only think of the most recent memory of you and if that’s “injury prone” you are less likely to get a big contract, unless however, you kept track of all the statistics prior to the injury so you can show the team you exact value and not what they have in just recent memory.

Consider whether the athlete has any registrable elements of their brand. Do they use a known and unique tagline? If so, consider registering it as a trade mark and licensing it to corporate partners for use such as in merchandising.

One person can’t do every thing. The athlete with the best team is going to be just be perceived as better. This same advice goes with the support staff for the athlete, if you rely on just your sports agent to give you everything you need to know, you are gonna be sorely underpaid and misinformed. One person can’t do it all, you need a legal team, and agent, a branding manager, fitness trainer, all these people will have a difference of opinion which is also helpful. Get a good support staff “team” around you and you will be set up for success.

Leveraging social media is particularly crucial for pro women athletes, given the visibility gap in professional sports. As a pro athlete, my experience underscores the transformative power of these platforms. Through social media, I've not only increased my reach and influence but have also actively contributed to shaping the perception and popularity of the waterski industry. This individual impact, multiplied across numerous athletes, signifies a major shift in how women athletes can use digital platforms to negotiate better terms in their contracts, highlighting both their personal brand and the broader appeal of women's sports.

It’s important to have 2 social medias, a personal one where you post stuff about you and your wife/husband and other family related things. You also need a sport related social media to post everything sports and team related, good or bad. To many people athletes have just one social media and their personal stuff may get in the way of the ones that just want to follow “the athlete”.

Building a rapport and trust with anyone is important. If someone knows likes and trust you, you will be more likely to build those relationships. These other things come easy, empathy and appreciation when you truly care to help others and are not always looking for something in return. It’s something I was told is Givers Gain. If you haven’t heard about it you could actually live your life by those two words and it would make a huge impact on the world.

When aiming to build a long term brand, make sure to start working on your own e-mail database that only you and a professional digital marketer have access to. Social media trends and platforms are constantly changing. Building a platform where you have full control of the distribution with little to no risk of being shadowbanned allows for you to be able to control the flow of followers from one platform to another should you choose to switch. It will also give you an opportunity to start building a database to market new merchandise and content. Now you have full control of a database that can help you leverage your contract in a way more favorable for you as you won't be dependent on new algorithm updates.

Reputation is an intangible asset that must be protected and nurtured. Offering guidance and mentoring to your athletes on how to interact with fans and stakeholders through the media will strengthen the relationship. Discussing about the values that both parties defends and defining a joint communication strategy can help reaching a contract agreement.

One way to enhance the impact of marketing efforts is to identify collaborative opportunities, including joint ventures, charity events, or community outreach programs, that benefit both the team and brand. It is important to clearly specify how the likeness will be used in marketing materials, such as promotional campaigns, merchandise, and advertisements, as well as any limitations on endorsements or advertisements.