As an athlete, one unique way to build out your ability to make additional revenue is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is a great vehicle for athletes to use their platform to build out financial opportunities. For context affiliate marketing is when you promote a certain product or service and get paid a percentage fee for enticing someone to buy it. You essentially get a commission every time someone uses your affiliation to buy the product or service you promoted. This is great for the simple fact it allows you as an athlete to get paid passively instead of actively. It allows you to have a limitless cap on potential revenue based on how active your community or supporters are. The money you can make from affiliate marketing could be endless. While a sponsorship deal has a timetable, you can affiliate market a product for as long as you want, anytime you want, without restrictions. You may not have a brand deal with Nike but you can promote Nike strategically and still get paid for it through affiliate marketing. If you would like to learn more about affiliate marketing make sure you check out A Frugal Athlete.
The downside to affiliate marketing though as an athlete or someone of stature is that you are now giving your stamp of approval for said company or brand you are promoting. If something goes wrong for example, the product you promote doesn’t fulfill what you were harping on, or even worse the brand or company doesn’t represent themselves in the best of light, you are now associated with them. In some cases, people can go as far as to sue you for promoting a product that doesn’t perform to the standard you promised. Here’s an example, if I’m an athlete and I promote said wellness product that promises you will increase your weight loss and an individuals uses my affiliate link after watching my promotion to buy that wellness product and ends up not losing weight, in fact getting in a worse position after using the product. Not only is it bad PR for me as the athlete who promoted but in some cases and there have been some cases, where an individual will attempt to sue me for false promises.
Especially as an athlete, you have to know your words hold value so how you present yourself and what you associate yourself with the matter. When it comes to affiliate marketing make sure you consult with a lawyer about how you should go about protecting yourself and also looking into the company you plan on promoting.
While affiliate marketing can be a great vehicle for athletes it’s important to put your seatbelt on and always protect yourself.
This article was written and provided as a courtesy of Amobi Okugo, a pro-soccer player and founder of A Frugal Athlete (AFA), an online media and consulting platform that promotes prudent financial practices and smart career decisions amongst professional and student-athletes. AFA offers services like financial coaching, revenue generation, and ideation strategy. Visit their website for further information.
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