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. We've seen the world of supplement sponsorships revolve around the pro bodybuilding scene. We've watched it move to new platforms and expand to different mediums like podcasts.
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, getting a supplement sponsorship with a company you align with is a dream.
Not only do you normally get a good supply of supplements to carry you through your workouts, but you may even get a paycheck.
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 athletes and "influencers" out there than ever.
On the other hand, there's more opportunity than ever. More people have shifted away from fitness magazines and towards their favorite creators and athletes for fitness and nutrition advice. The "creator economy" will keep growing.
Social media platforms, whether it was the YouTube vlog days of the 2010s to TikTok in the 2020s, have shown that anybody can amass an audience in 2025 and beyond.
That's the good news and the bad news: anybody can get an audience.
This is a theme we'll come back to throughout this article. If you have an audience that trusts you, supplement companies will be interested.
It doesn't mean it'll be the perfect fit. Other factors come into play, but if you have an audience the opportunities open up.
It's No Longer Enough to 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 ask yourself what you can offer the company. If you can provide real value, which can come in many forms, then brands will be interested, plain and simple.
1) Build an Audience
It sounds so simple, but it's not easy. It's on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, a podcast, or even a blog.
If you make good content, if you have people who know, like, and trust you, you can get a supplement sponsorship.
You Don't Need to Even Be a "Health & Fitness" Person
Supplements are not just for bodybuilders. Almost everybody can benefit from foundational supplements like creatine and protein powder. That means if you have a podcast about history, a travel blog, or a TikTok about your job as a nurse, you can still get a supplement sponsorship.
Build an audience authentic to you, and the opportunities will come. This is a big shift from the supplement space when we started in 2015.
2) Engagement, Not Followers
Five years ago, brands asked how many followers you have.
Today, hundreds of thousands of followers only means you'll get a look. Think of it as if you're applying for jobs: good grades in college may get you an interview, but they don't get you the job.
The flip side of this is you can have only a few thousand email subscribers or TikTok followers and reach out to brands.
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 few reasons. First, with the "Tiktokification of social media," as Gary Vaynerchuk calls it in his new book Day Trading Attention, 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 don'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 connect with you and look to you as a leader for advice.
It's about quality and quantity.
For more on this, Kevin Kelly's essay "1,000 True Fans" explains this concept nicely. You don't need a million followers. If you have 1,000 true fans, a lot of doors open.
After all, companies put their name behind you just as much as you're putting the name behind the company.
3) You Have Good People Skills
To get a brand deal, you also need to have good people skills. This does not mean you need to be the most outgoing person in the room or always the ‘life of the party’. All personality types can get brand deals.
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're 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
Actually using the brand is part of the deal. If you already love a brand, that's something we appreciate it.
All else equal, we will always team up with an athlete who told us they've used Kaged for years.
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.
You don't need to know betaine from beta-alanine, but if you're going to talk about a pre-workout, learning the nuances will go a long way.
Do you research and use the products.
5) You Compete
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.
If they are going to use their sponsored athletes to create posts, ads, and other content, they need someone who looks great.
Companies want athletes that others will look up to, so you need to have a physique that impresses.
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 those brand deals, keep working on yourself and connecting with your audience.
