304 - Intro to Athlete Marketing and Branding with Elizabeth Montavon, Director at Parity

Summary

Podcast Summary: Episode 304 - Intro to Athlete Marketing and Branding with Elizabeth Montavon, Director at Parity

Introduction

In Episode 304 of The Marketing Millennials, host Daniel Murray welcomes Elizabeth Montavon, a nine-time national champion water skier and the Director of Athlete Marketing and Social Media at Parity. This episode delves into the burgeoning field of women’s athlete marketing, exploring the reasons behind brands increasingly partnering with female athletes, the challenges these athletes face, and strategies for creating authentic and effective brand partnerships.

Dual Roles: Athlete and Marketer

Elizabeth Montavon's unique position as both a professional athlete and a marketing director provides her with invaluable insights into crafting effective athlete-brand partnerships.

“I have two full-time careers that really help me inform how we design campaigns and activations with our other athletes.” (01:34)

Elizabeth emphasizes that many female athletes juggle multiple roles, often balancing their sports careers with other jobs. This multifaceted experience makes them exceptional brand partners capable of engaging in diverse and authentic campaigns. Her dual perspective ensures that campaigns are not only strategically sound but also resonate genuinely with the athletes’ personal stories.

The Athlete Mentality in Marketing

Elizabeth shares how her experience as a professional water skier has shaped her approach to marketing.

“There’s a lot of delayed gratification and long-term strategy that comes with being an athlete. And that certainly has informed a lot of my marketing strategies.” (03:10)

The discipline, time management, and adaptability required in professional sports translate seamlessly into her marketing efforts. Elizabeth highlights the importance of integrating both the athlete's and the brand's stories to create lasting brand awareness.

Rise of Women’s Athlete Marketing

The episode explores the significant shift towards increased attention and investment in women’s sports marketing.

“Female athletes can really bridge the gap between aspirational marketing and accessible marketing in a way that male athletes generally can't.” (05:24)

Elizabeth attributes this shift to the authentic and relatable personas that female athletes cultivate. Unlike the often unattainable lifestyles associated with male athletes, female athletes frequently share their personal struggles and insecurities, making them more approachable and inspiring to their audiences. This authenticity fosters deeper connections with consumers, offering brands a unique opportunity to engage meaningfully.

Overcoming Barriers in Women’s Sports Marketing

Despite the growth, female athletes still face significant challenges in the marketing space, primarily financial barriers.

“Around half of them are seeing a net zero income at the end of their season or they're in the negative.” (08:34)

Elizabeth discusses how financial instability hampers female athletes from investing in personal brand growth, such as content creation and hiring managers. Parity addresses these challenges by providing free education and resources, enabling athletes to build their brands without significant financial burdens. Elizabeth’s own experiences juggling multiple jobs to support her athletic career underscore the pervasive financial hurdles female athletes encounter.

Best Practices for Brand-Athlete Partnerships

Elizabeth offers actionable advice for brands seeking to partner with female athletes effectively.

“If you don’t know where to start or how to reach out to that athlete, Parity exists for that exact reason.” (11:05)

She emphasizes the importance of aligning the athlete’s personal story with the brand’s message. Parity assists brands in identifying the right athletes who embody their core values and campaign objectives. Elizabeth advises brands to engage sports marketing experts to facilitate authentic and creative collaborations, ensuring that partnerships resonate genuinely with audiences.

Common Mistakes Brands Make

One of the primary mistakes brands make is prioritizing the athlete’s popularity over alignment and authenticity.

“The biggest mistake would be chasing a name just for the name and not really ensuring that that athlete who is still a person aligns authentically with your brand.” (14:32)

Elizabeth cautions against selecting athletes solely based on their fame. Instead, brands should focus on finding athletes whose personal values and stories align with their own. She advocates for a collaborative approach, where athletes are involved in shaping campaign narratives to ensure authenticity and engagement.

Successful Campaign Examples

Elizabeth shares notable campaigns that demonstrate effective partnerships between brands and female athletes.

1. Morgan Stanley Campaign: Focused on financial security, this campaign partnered with multiple female athletes to educate their audiences about Morgan Stanley’s financial tools. Achieving an average engagement rate above 4%, it highlighted the synergy between athletes' financial challenges and the brand’s offerings.

2. Microsoft Campaigns:

   • Title IX and Mother’s Day: Collaborated with mother-daughter duos in professional sports to discuss equality, leveraging Microsoft’s platforms to amplify their stories.
   • Make Way Unlocked: Engaged around 40 athletes to create nearly 250 pieces of content, reaching approximately 5 million followers by showcasing how athletes use data in their daily lives.

These campaigns illustrate how aligning brand messages with athletes’ personal narratives can lead to substantial engagement and reach.

Future Trends in Women’s Athlete Marketing

Looking ahead, Elizabeth predicts several trends shaping the future of women’s athlete marketing.

“I would love to see more women athletes included in those R and D processes and then in the corresponding marketing campaigns.” (21:40)

1. Pre-Olympic Partnerships: Brands should start early in identifying and partnering with Olympic hopefuls to build authentic relationships and leverage their journeys leading up to major events.

2. Athlete Involvement in Product Development: Incorporating female athletes in the research and development of products ensures authenticity and uniqueness, enhancing brand credibility.

3. Expanded Roles for Female Athletes: Beyond competition, female athletes are expected to take on roles in speaking engagements, product development, and other facets, broadening their influence and the scope of their partnerships.

Advice for Parents of Young Female Athletes

Elizabeth provides guidance for parents supporting young female athletes aspiring to professional careers.

“You have to look at it as you’re going to have multiple streams of revenue. Prize money, sponsorships, paid social media collaborations, and so on.” (25:51)

She encourages parents to diversify their daughters’ income sources and leverage local partnerships with businesses to build a strong foundation. Elizabeth emphasizes the importance of community engagement and authentic storytelling through social media to create meaningful connections and opportunities for young athletes.

Transforming Women’s Sports Marketing

When asked what she would change about current women’s sports marketing, Elizabeth advocates for greater collaboration and flexibility.

“Brands kind of forcing the talking points on the athlete or the messaging on the athlete... Giving themselves enough runway to be collaborative with the athlete.” (29:03)

She stresses the need for brands to allow athletes creative freedom to tailor their stories, fostering authentic and engaging content. Elizabeth highlights that athletes are proactive and eager to contribute creatively, dispelling the misconception that they are solely seeking financial support.

Marketing Hill: A Standpoint on Content Marketing

Elizabeth shares a firm stance on content marketing, declaring:

“I would die on that. Organic content marketing is going nowhere.” (30:24)

This statement underscores her belief in the necessity of paid and strategic content marketing to achieve substantial reach and impact, especially in the competitive landscape of sports marketing.

Connecting with Elizabeth Montavon

For those interested in learning more about Elizabeth’s work or connecting with her, she directs listeners to Parity’s online platforms and her personal social media profiles.

“Parity now. So Google us, check us out. We have a million case studies, a lot of resources on how to get into the women's sports marketing sponsorship space.” (30:36)

Listeners are encouraged to explore Parity’s resources and follow Elizabeth on Instagram and LinkedIn to stay updated on her endeavors in both marketing and water skiing.

Conclusion

Episode 304 of The Marketing Millennials offers a comprehensive exploration of women’s athlete marketing through the expert lens of Elizabeth Montavon. From overcoming financial barriers to fostering authentic brand partnerships, Elizabeth provides valuable insights and actionable strategies for brands and athletes alike. Her passion for both marketing and sports shines throughout the conversation, inspiring listeners to engage thoughtfully and strategically in the evolving landscape of women’s sports marketing.

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Notable Quotes

1. Dual Roles

   “I have two full-time careers that really help me inform how we design campaigns and activations with our other athletes.” (01:34)

2. Athlete Mentality

   “There’s a lot of delayed gratification and long-term strategy that comes with being an athlete." (03:10)

3. Shift in Attention

   “Female athletes can really bridge the gap between aspirational marketing and accessible marketing in a way that male athletes generally can't.” (05:24)

4. Financial Barriers

   “Around half of them are seeing a net zero income at the end of their season or they're in the negative.” (08:34)

5. Common Mistakes

   “The biggest mistake would be chasing a name just for the name and not really ensuring that that athlete who is still a person aligns authentically with your brand.” (14:32)

6. Marketing Hill

   “I would die on that. Organic content marketing is going nowhere.” (30:24)

Connect with Elizabeth Montavon

• LinkedIn: Elizabeth Montavon
• Instagram: Elizabeth Montavon
• Parity: Parity on LinkedIn

Transcript

[A]

Foreign to the Marketing Millennials, the no BS Marketing Podcast. I'm Daniel Murray and join me for unfiltered conversations with the brains behind Marketing's coolest companies. The one request I tell our guests stories or it didn't happen. Get ready to turn the welcome back to another episode of the Marketing Millennials podcast. Today I'm joined by Elizabeth Montabon, a nine time national champion water skier and the director of athlete marketing and social media at Parity. We're diving into the rise of women's athlete marketing, talking about why brands are partnering with women athletes, what's driving this explosive growth and how to create partnerships with woman athletes that truly deliver. Let's get started. I'm excited to welcome Elizabeth to the podcast. Elizabeth, welcome to the Market Millennials pod.

[B]

Thank you so much. Two things that I love, marketing and the Millennial generation and the generations that follow. So this is going to be really fun today.

[A]

Let's get into it. So you're both a pro athlete and a director of athlete marketing. So how's the spirit perspective of being a marketer and an athlete shape the way you approach partnerships between brands and athletes?

[B]

Well, you know, I think that considering how unique of a story that is right up front. Right. I have two full time careers that really helps me inform how we design campaigns and activations with our other athletes. So I work for women's sports sponsorships marketing firm called Parity. We are solely dedicated to professional women athletes and their respective sports. And for most of these athletes they too are working a full time job or maybe a handful of part time jobs along with their athletic career. And so I know from firsthand experience that the multifaceted nature of these women make them exceptional brand partners for a variety of types of campaigns. And honestly a variety of ways to activate you can activate across social R and D. You can do things things in broader, more in depth brand campaigns and collateral speaking events appearances. There's so many ways to work with these athletes and there's something that is just impossible to imitate about these athletes stories.

[A]

I want to maybe take one step back. So you were a nine time champion in water skiing, which is so cool because I can't even stand up on a water ski, so that's amazing. But could you explain what it's like to be a professional water skier and how that shaped your mentality as a marketer and what it takes to get to that high of a level?

[B]

Yeah, of course. So I learned to ski when I was three years old. Some say it's Child abuse. I say way to get some experience under my belt early on, but I quickly picked up the sport. I had a lot of good guidance and coaching. And so yes, I am a nine time national champion, I'm a US Open champion, I'm a pro tour champion. And I've dedicated a lot of time and a lot of hours to my sport. And there's a lot of delayed gratification and long term strategy that comes with being an athlete. And that certainly has informed a lot of my marketing strategies. You know, we're really looking for partnerships where the athlete story and the brand story can really integrate into each other and become a long lasting pillar of that overall brand awareness. But that being said, I have to be really good at managing a lot of things at one time. So over the summer when I'm on tour and we'll say I'm in Europe south of France and I'm skiing, that all sounds really romantic and wonderful and it is fun and exciting, but I still have to do my job, which is director of athlete marketing at Parity. And so that being said, I have to be able to pivot quickly, I have to be able to adapt, I have to be accurate the first time with things. And so that really translates well to any corporate space. But it's a lot of time management and a lot of doing things at weird hours of the day. But I embrace that and I want.

[A]

To also get into the space. I mean women's marketing has had like the slow growth and now with social media, you are seeing so many woman personalities out there that are crushing it, especially the Olympic athletes, the, the women's basketball players. But what do you think is driving the shift in more attention to the woman sector? And also like, how can brands capitalize on these amazing women athletes authentically?

[B]

It's my favorite question, Daniel, so thank you for asking. You know, 2024 was undoubtedly the year of the female athlete. And women's sports are certainly not new. But this much attention and this many dollars being poured into their sports, this is new. So we've got this rapidly growing semi creator economy and I think everybody's trying to figure out how to capitalize on it best. But the why behind it really has to do with the fact that female athletes can really bridge the gap between aspirational marketing and accessible marketing in a way that male athletes generally can't. Right. When we think of high, high end professional male athletes, we think of sports cars, we think of really big houses in LA and New York and Miami, we think of hot Girls. And we think of a lifestyle that sure, we would love to live, but it's just not attainable for us. This isn't really the case with how female athletes are presenting themselves across their channels. They share the behind the scenes struggles, right? They share their insecurities. And so that makes them more attainable while they're still accomplishing incredible things. So to their fans, to their followers, they are the kind of person that potentially that fan could become. And I love to see how brands are leaning into that and telling the maybe less than picture perfect story about these athletes because it just resonates deeper and in a way that we really haven't seen with traditional sports marketing so far.

[A]

And I mean, you said this earlier probably unless you're the point or like the 1% of athletes you're self paying for a lot of what you're doing to be successful in your sport. Especially like if you, I mean the basketball players have got a lot of attention, but there's a lot of basketball players that are not getting attention. There's sports that are out there where people. You're traveling around the country basically on your own dime. So you actually are having to have a job to sustain you as an athlete, which, which what I'm going with this is it makes you have those real world struggles of what actually people are going through day to day and are doing double triple duty of what I just even remember when I was a college athlete playing football when nil wasn't a thing. And just because your school's paid for, but you still like eight hours a day sports and then eight hours a day plus going to school and you have like eight hours of sleep and that's it. So it's like you have to dedicate so much time and people don't realize that training is not only that one or two hours is that mental time. There's a preparation, there's a recovery and all that stuff. So what are some of the most significant barriers women athletes still face in the marketing space and how are they breaking down those barriers?

[B]

Well, you really touched on it there. Income and having financial stability is for sure the number one barrier to any female athlete growing their presence or growing their skill set in their respective sport. At the end of last year, Parity did a survey of all of our athletes, which is over a thousand professional women athletes. And we found that around half of them are seeing a net zero income at the end of their season or they're in the negative. Right. So to your point, they're putting a Lot of skin in the game. It's very much pay to play for these women athletes. And so that alone is a huge barrier to elevating their personal brand in any capacity. Right? Content creation, the tools and the skills that costs money to purchase, learn, hire somebody else. Most of them cannot afford a manager, let alone some kind of social media manager or brand manager. So any type of income that you are able to put in these athletes pockets is only going to help them grow their own presence. And in that survey that we did with them around finances, we found that they were very aware of the fact that their time is limited. And the only way that they can get back more time in their day would be to hire out some of those services that could then help them grow their brand. So they're kind of between a rock and a hard place. But a lot of what we do at Parity is trying to offer free education, free resources to help solve for some of that while they pursue other avenues to create income. And it's very relatable. You know, early in my career I worked three part time jobs so that I could ski during daylight hours and then I could work all hours of the night. Because when you want it, when you have that much passion and drive, you'll do just about anything to make it happen.

[A]

It is, it is true. I mean, that's what keeps a lot of athletes going. And if you don't, it's same in marketing. I mean you could see passion through marketing and you could see passion through sports. And if you can mix those two, it's an amazing connection between those two. But I want to go into how should brands, what does it look like an ideal partnership with an athlete? Like what, what does that. Even if I was a brand and saying, hey, I want to sponsor Elizabeth right now, what should I do?

[B]

Great question. And I think a lot of brands find themselves in that exact situation. That's why Parity exists, right? If you don't know where to start or how to reach out to that athlete. Because the truth is, if you were to reach out to me through my DMs on Instagram, right, I might get that DM. I might not. A lot of these athletes receive a lot of fan mail, if we want to call it that, and sometimes it can kind of get lost in the sauce. So if you don't have, you know, an email address readily available on your Instagram bio for a marketer to reach out to you through, it can be kind of hard to build those connections. LinkedIn is a great Place to reach out to athletes, if you have athletes in mind. However, if you're really starting from scratch and saying, I want to play in the women's sports space, I see these properties are the most affordable sports properties on the market, but I have no idea what sport, what athlete. I don't know where to go. Parity exists for that exact reason. We have, you know, these 1,000 athletes from 80 sports. And so if you tell us, I'm really looking to drive home pillars around community and teamwork, and I'm, you know, really centered in the Chicago area. I'm going to say, great. I can think of, off the top of my head, three soccer players on our roster who are playing in Chicago right now. Let's have them create some content around these teamwork and community messaging pillars and then let's really drive that home in the Chicago area. Right. So we can really help you match with the perfect athlete for whatever the campaign may be. And if you don't even really know creatively what type of content, maybe even some of the messaging feels a little bit fuzzy. We have a great team who can help kind of FL that out and get creative and help you get inspired. And I think that's really the way to go for any marketer who's looking to play in the sports space is find sports experts and let them guide.

[A]

You on the opposite side of things. What are some things you're seeing that brands are looking for when they come to you and say, hey, I want to partner with ex athlete, like, what are you seeing in that side?

[B]

You know, usually what we see is a brand saying, I want to tell a new part of our brand story that we don't really know how to authentically and organically tie to our existing brand message. Right. So maybe it's around a product launch, or it could just be diversifying their message. Maybe it's a rebrand. So working with female athletes offers them that opportunity to say, okay, here's this multi dimensional, multifaceted woman who is excellent in many fields. We too are brand xyz. That is excellent in many ways. And there's some ways that you may not have heard of before, or maybe we're offering something new. So much like this athlete, there's more to us than maybe what you already know. Right. And so I think that is a really great, timely and relevant solve for brands who they want to start a new conversation, but they don't really know how to do it. I think women athletes are really the solution there.

[A]

And what are some of the biggest mistakes brands make when partnering with athletes and how can they avoid them?

[B]

You know, biggest mistake I think would be chasing a name just for the name and not really ensuring that that athlete who is still a person aligns authentically with your brand. So, you know, we all have a document somewhere with our, you know, core values, mission, vision, all of that. Right. What is, who is this athlete as a person and do they align? So while we love the Caitlin Clarks and the Coco Gauffs of the world, and these are incredibly talented women who deserve everything that they have and more, does your brand really need a Caitlin Clark or is there another athlete that can better match the objectives of your campaign and potentially create more buzz? Right, because it's such an authentic storytelling moment. So I think that getting hung up on the name of the athlete or maybe who you as the marketer think is buzzy and not trusting the experts to really tell you, well, hey, if you really want to resonate in this community, you know, we recommend Anaya Tapper, for example, who just came back from the Olympics. She was on the US Women's rugby team. So the first Olympic medal for USA Women's rugby. She strong communities in LA and on the east coast. We think she's a better fit for all of these reasons. Right. So you might not have known Nyah's name when I brought it up just now, but she might be a better fit for the campaign. And what's more buzzy than an Olympian, Right? So I think being open to a variety of types of athletes and sports is definitely the right way to get started in your sports marketing campaigns.

[A]

And I think also, I mean, you can take a budget that, let's say like Caitlin Carr's budget and put it into like five great woman athlete. That will get you way more attention because Caitlin is focusing on these multimillion dollar partnerships and not ahead of you. I also saw like, I was looking at a creator talk about this today and they were saying that the brands, the brands make so many mistakes approaching the creators or athletes because what they do is they say, hey, creator or athlete, Here are the 10 things I want you to say. Instead of saying, hey, athlete, here's my let's say performance T shirt company. I'm going to send you a couple. Feel free to put that in your video. However, naturally it fits with you. Tell your story the way you wanted, something like that and making it feel more authentic to them and they could tell the story to their audience instead of saying they have to hit on this, this, this and this, this and this. And it becomes just a, a promo piece instead of like naturally fitting in their content.

[B]

Yeah, for sure. We have seen brands be a little too prescriptive in initiating the partnership and it does kill the authenticity and the creativity of the content that the athletes are producing. You have to remember that you know, every day of the athlete's life something new is happening. So if you want it to feel authentic, letting the athlete really tailor it to exactly what's happening in their life right now. Are they in an off season? Are they in an injury recovery period? Are they learning how to work with a new coach? Because maybe their team has a new coach. Right. There's so many little stories there that nobody else can get anywhere other than from that athlete. And if you are overly prescriptive, you too are not getting to capitalize on that story.

[A]

Is there any like recent or campaigns that you saw that you can share light on that was really successful when a brand partnered with X athlete and they saw X results?

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. I've got, you know, kind of a few favorite clients off the top of my head. You know, we've worked with Morgan Stanley around educating these athletes audiences on the tools that Morgan Stanley offers to create financial security. Right. So what perfect alignment. We've got professional women athletes who are exceptional at what they do and they frequently have to work another job or multiple jobs. Well, financial security is a perfect thematic to tie into these athletes stories. And so we had one campaign where they worked with a handful of athletes, I want to say five or six, including some Olympic gold medalists. And the average engagement rate on the content these athletes produced hovered above 4%, which when you look at influencer marketing engagement rates, that is pretty good. Another great example is, is our work with Microsoft. As Microsoft launches new tools or wants their audiences to see how these tools can be used in different ways. Working with athletes was another phenomenal way for them to do that. They did a campaign with us around Title IX and Mother's Day. We brought together collections of mother daughter duos. So professional women athletes who gave birth and now those young women are professional athletes as well, talking about equality and using Microsoft's platforms to do so. Microsoft also launched another campaign called Make Way Unlocked. And they really wanted the athletes to tell the story of data and how athletes use data in their day to day lives to make data look more approachable. And that was a bigger campaign we activated with, I want to say 40ish athletes and generated almost 250 pieces of content and reached around 5 million followers. So really fantastic examples of how these two brands that other than any male sports properties that they sponsor, they don't really play in the sports space. Right. That's how they chose to activate. But I know those are kind of some of those more enterprise level accounts. That being said, there are smaller ways to activate that are more affordable and approachable for every brand size.

[A]

I, I also want to know, now we're in a new year, what are some trends shaping the woman's athlete space? What do you see happening in 2025 and, and beyond? And also, I mean, there's a lot of big events coming up in the, I mean, obviously 2026 Winter Olympics, 2028 Summer Olympics, like you preparing for this, like the right person can start today, not you, in like a year or two or three years from now.

[B]

Yeah. And you know, that's really what we recommend. A lot of brands aren't aware of Rule 40 and how it applies to the Olympic and Paralympic games. And Rule 40 has to do with that blackout period around the Games. Right. When athletes cannot promote any sponsors that they have personally and they can only reference sponsors of the Games themselves. So there is a little bit of a legal situation there and you have to apply for certain types of status to be able to sponsor athletes around the Games. So that's definitely a ball that you want to get rolling early. But I think that after this past Games, we saw many sweethearts come out of it. Right. One of my favorites being Ilona Mar. There have got to be dozens of brands kicking themselves that they did not work with her before the Games because, you know, she's only on the up and up. So really taking the time to sit down and look at, okay, who is most likely an Olympic and Paralympic hopeful for Milano 26. And who do we really want to help tell their story in their journey to the Games. That's almost always a home run strategy. But beyond that, I think that we're going to see female athletes stepping into more roles and more facets like we've talked about. I think we're going to see more women athletes speaking. I think we're going to see more women athletes in R and D. Especially R and D, I think is a huge missed opportunity for a lot of brands. The ability to say that, you know, this product was developed in partnership with, I'll just say, myself, Elizabeth Montivan. Right. That holds weight and that makes the story much more unique. So I would love to see more women athletes included in those R and D processes and then in the Corresponding marketing campaigns.

[A]

Yeah. Imagine if, like, these skis were. Are the skis of Elizabeth, nine time national champion, and this is her choice. Like, that's an easy. And they were made in conjunction with her to make the best skis. Like, that's an easy partner, I think, like a layup partnership. Or like this, this swimming gear or whatever. Like, whatever you need for like. Or the. Like, this is the best boat that you could use. Whatever you. You use. I'm just making things up. It's just there's so many, like, layups that you do. Also, like, just nutritional stuff. And also, like, you. You're not only a skier, you're a social media. Like, how could you, like, tie in your work life or. And your athlete life together to make. Make this, like a holistic partnership?

[B]

Yeah. I mean, you know, because I know my own story so well and because I do spend a fair amount of my day in corporate America, if you will. You know, a partnership with like a Warby Parker for blue light glasses would totally make sense. And it would take Warby Parker into the sports space, which I haven't seen them play yet, in a way that is still super authentic because I do sit in front of screens a lot. You know, other things that come to mind, press on nails and nail care. My gloves really beat up my hands a lot. And so the ability to quickly make my nails look good, that would be really fun, really unique, and something that I haven't seen yet. So I think, again, we're really circling back to that conversation about getting to know the athlete and kind of how they spend most of their day and then looking for those little opportunities where how can my brand improve their quality of life without making them change their overall lifestyle?

[A]

There are a lot of parents listening to the market. Millennials, millennial parents, Gen X parents. What is, like, your advice to those parents who have, like, young female athletes that are inspiring to be like, athletes and they're trying to make it and some people are, like, telling them they can't do it and you can't make money from this or stuff. Like, what would you tell them?

[B]

Well, first of all, you can make it and you can make money from sport. I think that you have to not hang your hat on prize money alone. Right. So you have to look at it as you're going to have multiple streams of revenue. And we've got prize money, you've got sponsorships, you've got potentially, like, paid social media collaboration opportunities. And then if you choose to work a job or if the parent is funding the rest of everything. Right. That's that kind of bucket, and that's how I choose to look at it. But you have to pursue different things within each vertical. So prize money comes down to performance only. I leave that to the athlete and the coach to figure out. Right. But when we start looking at sponsorships and collaborations and partnerships, this is where you need to decide. Okay, do I want to look within my local community? Right. Is there a restaurant that my family frequents that does really well, that if they gave me $5,000 for the season and I promise to promote them across my social media because I have a large following in this geographic area that is a partnership that would make sense. So for these parents, I want them to remember that it's not only large national and international brands that they need to reach out to or consider trying to get the attention of. There are smaller local businesses that you should not turn your nose up at. There are many opportunities to work with these businesses to help them grow. Word of mouth and a lot of that traditional marketing and advertising that we don't talk about that often. Can you do a meet and greet at their business if they're launching a new product, how can you actually be there physically to help? That has a lot of value. It's certainly something that male athletes. Athletes tend to overlook. But I think that young female athletes can start by putting down really deep roots in their community and then turn around and get good at telling their story across social media.

[A]

Yeah, I love the local marketing angle because I think that's such an underrepresented opportunity. And I also think what you just said about. I've noticed that, like, especially in sports, like, people want to follow the journey of these female athletes. It's. It's interesting. It's. It's different. It's like, I have no idea about water skiing, but you watching your journey, it's just like, this is cool. Behind the scenes that I did not know you have to do and all the things that go into it. It's. It's just crazy to, like, know that. And I think a lot of people want that story and like. Like relate to those stories and want to see behind the scenes of sports. That's why all these sports shows are exploding, because they want to. They don't want to see, like, the competition on the. That they see on the tv. They want to see the behind the scenes, like what it takes to do something. 2. A couple more questions for you is, one is like, if you could change one thing about how women's sports marketing operates today. What would it be and why?

[B]

That is a great question. I think that you kind of already touched on it. Brands kind of forcing the talking points on the athlete or the messaging on the athlete. I think that, you know, it would be in every marketer's best interest who wants to play in the women's sports sponsorships and marketing space to give themselves enough Runway to be collaborative with the athlete. So say, here's the campaign that we're thinking of. This is just some ideas. Here's our notes. Does this resonate with you? Do you see any opportunities to improve it, make it more authentic to you? Did we miss something? Are we inaccurate? Actually, you know, and really allowing these athletes to help you with the lift of the creative side of this campaign. I think that a lot of times athletes get a bad rap. People think they're coming kind of with their hands out saying, give me money and I'll do my part. And in the athletes in our athlete community that I've worked with, that is just not the case. The athletes want to meet the brand. They want to meet the marketers. They want to know what the campaign idea is and they always have more ideas on how to make it better or improve it. And so let them help you.

[A]

And last is, what is that marketing hill? You would die on marketing hill.

[B]

I would die on that. Organic content marketing is going nowhere.

[A]

I love that. And then where could people learn about your work and how could they connect with you?

[B]

Parity now. So Google us, check us out. We have a million case studies, a lot of resources on how to get into the women's sports marketing sponsorship space. So check us out on LinkedIn, Instagram threads and of course our website. And then for more about me, I'm on Instagram, Elizabeth Montivan, LinkedIn, of course, and then the Water Ski Pro tour. If you have managed to fall in love with the sport of water skiing during the duration of his podcast, give them a follow as well and they'll have everything water skiing for you.

[A]

I know. I'm actually now excited to go try stand up on water ski after this.

[B]

You sure?

[A]

I remember the last time I went, I think I was in Lake Tahoe and I probably stood up for a good 1 1/2 seconds. So I think back then, like being a bigger guy like that, the body weight like to pull you up a little is not there. But now I think I can get myself up.

[B]

It's. It's a totally counterintuitive sport. Like some days when I'm out there, I'm like, why am I doing this? Because everything my body and brain are telling me to do is the wrong thing. But no, it's a lot of fun. And if you want something short to watch, my husband actually produced like a 20 minute documentary on me. It's on YouTube. It's called the Dark Horse of Water Skiing. So again, a great example of content doesn't have to be perfect to do really, really well and tell a really cool story.

[A]

Well, thank you so much for joining. I really appreciate it.

[B]

My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

[A]

Thanks so much for listening. Keep tuning in to hear more great insights from the coolest marketers from around the world. If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe, subscribe and follow the Marketing Millennials podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. And if you like what you hear, I would greatly appreciate you giving us a five star rating. It helps bring more marketers into our community.