We have been in the supplement game since 2015. In the past decade, we've seen the world of supplement sponsorships change a lot. Back then "influencer" was hardly a term, let alone as prominent as it is in the fitness industry today.
So if you're looking for a supplement company sponsorship, keep reading. We're going to give you our thoughts from the front lines and what we look for.
For many athletes and influencers training hard in the gym, this is a dream come true. Not only do you normally get a good supply of supplements to carry you through your workouts, you may even get a paycheck as well, depending on the deal and company in question.
It Has Never Been More Competitive, and Never More Possible At the Same Time
Getting sponsored is no easy feat. In some ways, it's never been more competitive. There are more competitive athletes and "influencers" out there than ever. But on the other hand, social media platforms, whether it was the YouTube vlog days of the 2010s to TikTok in the 2020s, is that anybody can amass an audience in 2024 and beyond.
That's the good news and the bad news: anybody can get an audience.
Really, this is a theme we'll come back to throughout this article, because if you have eyeballs and an audience, you likely have value to bring to supplement company. (Assuming that audience is the right fit for the brand, which is where many other factors come into play.)
It's No Longer Enough to Just Be a Great Athlete
Today you need to go beyond that.
Here are five things that supplement companies are looking for when they’re selecting who they will sponsor. Keep these in mind and you might just increase your odds.
The Age Old Question: What Can You Do For Them
To become sponsored, you need to do more than just stand there and look good. Almost anyone who works out can do that. Companies are looking for those who can offer more – who can go above and beyond.
You have to asking yourself what you can offer the company. If you can provide real value, and this can come in many forms, then brands will be interested, plain and simple.
1) Build an Audience
It sounds so simple, but of course it's not easy. And it doesn't really matter whether it's on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or even a blog. If you make good content about health and fitness, if you have build a real fan base, if you have people that truly know, like, and trust you, you can get a supplement sponsorship.
2) Engagement, Not Followers
Five years ago, brands asked how many followers you have. It's true that it's hard to get much attention if you have less than ten thousand followers, that no longer matters as much.
That's for a view reasons. First, with the "Tiktokification of social media," as Gary Vaynerchuk calls it, we now get more content on our feeds from people we don't follow. That means you can have a small number of followers and your content can be seen by lots of people.
Second, followers doesn't mean engaged followers. It does mean people know, like, and trust you. Especially in the health and fitness space, it's one thing to have followers because people view you as attractive, it's another to have followers because they really trust you when it comes to fitness and supplementation.
It's about quality, not just quantity.
At the end of the day, much of it is a numbers game. You need to have strong social media profiles to be considered. This said, many companies want quality posters. After all, they are putting their name and brand behind you. They are going to want your posts to be respectable and helpful.
3) You Have Good People Skills
Becoming sponsored is also going to require you to have good people skills. Now, this does not mean you need to be the most outgoing person in the room or always the ‘life of the party’.
It does mean you need to present yourself well, treat others with respect, and know how to speak in public when required.
As a sponsored athlete, you are going to have to make appearances from time to time and they are putting their brand name behind you. The last thing they want is for you to make them look bad. They want someone they can trust to represent them well.
4) You Have Good Knowledge Of Their Product
To become sponsored, it’s important that you take more than one of their products. You can’t claim to love their protein, post a few pictures about it, and land a sponsorship.
Ideally you’ll use their full line of products and be quite knowledgeable and passionate about what makes them the best. Companies want someone who is excited about their products because that excitement will transfer over to others and get them excited about them as well.
If you don’t know betaine from beta-alanine and the company uses both in their product line-up, don’t count on getting a sponsorship. You need to do your research and genuinely enjoy their products.
5) You Compete
Okay, so this one isn’t a deal breaker as many companies will sponsor people who don’t compete provided they have a large enough social following.
But if you do compete, or more importantly, are often near contest shape, this helps.
Many fitness competitors will do photo shoots around their competitions when they tend to look their best and that is something that most supplement companies are going to be interested in.
If they are going to use their sponsored athletes to put out magazine advertisements and create online ads with, they need someone who looks exceptionally good. Consider being well-developed and at a low body fat percentage, at least at some point in time, a must for garnering a sponsorship with some of the bigger companies in the industry.
Companies want athletes that others will look up to, so you need to have a physique that does impress.
So there you have five things that companies are looking for when they are on the hunt for athletes to sponsor. If you are interested in getting your own sponsorship, consider starting here.
