Building a Brand as a High School Athlete
Building a brand as a High School Athlete doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are a few simple actions that will help you build.
1. Start Journaling.
Don’t you wish that you could pop open Sara Blakey’s journal when she was building her multi-million dollar company? What if you could read Jackie Robinson’s thoughts as he played his very first games?
While you don’t know exactly where your journey will take you, you better believe that you’ll be grateful for content that helps you tell your story.
2. Take photos with your coaches and mentors
What if you decide to write a book about your story? You’ll need great images to take someone on the journey with you. This means you’ve got to take photos along the way. Look around and appreciate the people who are helping you learn. Look around and pay attention to those who are guiding your journey. Take pictures of them in action, pose with them in pictures, snap funny photos of them when they aren’t posed. Either in the moment or at a later point you’ll want to get permission to post them, but you’ll at least have many images to choose from.
3. Think of 1 series you could start
If you were going to teach people something, what would it be about?
If you had to give a 5-minute speech to a group of your peers, what would you say?
Break those topics down into simple, bite-sized pieces of information and start a regular series on your social media. Even if it’s once a month, eventually someone will say “I saw your stories on your favorite football moments of the month..” or “Top 3 things I learned this week is a series I look forward to watching”.
4. Find one person YOU can mentor
Teaching someone will not only help you learn but it will also help build your reputation for mentorship and community service. Both for PR purposes and truly practicing what you preach, this tip is non-negotiable.
5. What are your key phrases?
Ask parents of friends to help you with a few repeatable key phrases. These should be phrases you already use in everyday life.
If your repeatable phrases are great, consider putting them in small print on a sweatshirt or t-shirt. Slowly, one of the phrases could become a sentence you build your reputation around.
