What’s the difference between building a brand in business and building an athletes brand?
The short answer is nothing… They both want to create more influence, income, and even time freedom. Whether it’s a person, place, thing, businesses or organization everything has a brand mark. I call it “An Identity” It’s important for every athlete and business to consciously create and strategize their brand or identity. That is because identity is where everything starts, especially when it comes to scaling your business
Below I’ll break down the top 3 strategies that the top athletes do in building their brand that relates to being the best in business.
After I tell people my name I commonly get the question, “Are you related to Tom Brady?” My Grandma Brady is huge with genealogy and found that 4 generations back there is a bloodline connection. Not enough to call him up or get invited to his press box. Not yet anyways! 😉
#1 Most recently Tom Brady has collected his 7th Super Bowl in Tampa Bay Florida to set history with the first home played Super Bowl. It literally only took him 10 months to take a team to a Super Bowl during a tough year with all the rules with covid. One important factor that allows him to do that is his leadership. True leaders are about the mission. If you were to look at the top paid NFL players you wouldn’t even see Tom Brady on the list. He took a paycut for years in order to bring on better players onto the team. Everytime you watch him on TV he says the same things over and over again.
“This is a team sport”
“Our team is focused on winning a championship.”
“Were not worried about the stats, only the scoreboard.”
How does it relate to business?
The top brands always have a mission bigger than themselves. Their purpose draws other people into their team aka brand. Everyone wants to feel a part of a team. It’s a human evolutionary need to be a part of a tribe. We are tribal people. Being tribal people we will even wear the businesses uniform aka the logo in many different fashions. People are loyal to a brand that shares their same mission, purpose, or WHY. Tom Brady is not just a player. He is a brand. His brand and identity transformed a team. An example would be Steve Jobs with Apple. It wasn’t just Steve Jobs that changed the world. It was him and his team. Steve Wozniak played a top role in engineering and Jonathan Ives was the designer. During his time away from Apple he took his brand to the film industry and created another super giant called, “Pixar.” His influence transformed two industries and even the world. Who knows Tom Brady could come back for one year in New England to retire and pass the baton like Steve Jobs did with Apple. People want to do business with businesses that share the same mission and identity.
#2
When JJ Watt won the NFL’s Man of the Year in 2017 it showed more than just a mission. He raised $37 million dollars from the damage of Hurricane Harvey in Texas. JJ Watt’s Brand attracted even more attention then he thought! When businesses give back to the community and document the process it inspires other people to be a part of their team aka loyal customers. JJ Watt’s brand also got a very handsome contract with the Arizona Cardinals. The team wasn’t just paying for his game day play. His play has been down in recent years due to injury. JJ Watt bring’s his leadership and his brand along with him. They are hoping his veteran leadership will pay off like it did for Tom Brady being forty-three.
#3
Usually when people, businesses, or athletes tell the facts we have a hard time believing them. Seeing the stories is what sells these brands. People will connect more with stories then they will with facts. It’s just how the brain is wired. When Kyle Murray was going through the NFL combine there were some media reports going around questioning his leadership. When a reporter asked him if he could give any examples of his leadership he could not give a single one. That could have been a great time for him to reinforce his leadership skills with an example in story form to prove the facts he wanted to share. In the eyes of scouts apparently it wasn’t a red flag. For the average person watching he didn’t support his case very well. Facts tell, stories sell. You only have seconds to catch people’s attention. Everyone connects to people through their stories and personal experiences. The most memorable talks I can remember from little league were when our coaches told us stories. We have passed knowledge from one generation to the next through stories. We memorize and internalize a story that shares the fact more than being told the fact by itself. Derek Jeter was my favorite baseball player growing up. I believe a big part of that was reading his book when I was twelve and imagining his stories of how much work he put into his game, it inspired me in sports when I was younger. When your story inspires people it PULLS people towards you. That’s what ATTRACTION MARKETING does. Every athlete, business, and person out there has a story that pulls people in. Crafting that story really creates a brand you can trust.
Building an athletes brand is the same process as building a business’ brand. Both play by the same rules and the same processes. Have a bigger purpose to give back to the world. Keep inspiring people on that journey and no athlete or business will have to worry about opportunity or money again!
PS
Do you want to learn those step-by-step branding processes along with other ATTRACTION MARKETING strategies to scale your influence and income?
Schedule a FREE Branding Strategy Session w/ Travis Brady. There is no obligations or sales pitch. The goal of the session is to connect and support you however he can.