How to Get Sponsored for Fishing and Hunting

It seems like everyone is a brand ambassador these days, but the reality is that only a tiny fraction of people in any industry actually represent brands.

An even smaller segment of that group are effective brand ambassadors.

At NPS we’ve been connecting anglers (and now hunters) with the brands they want to represent since 2011. Through more than 20,000 successful sponsorships and hundreds of thousands of applications we’ve seen it all — the good, bad, and ugly.

It’s safe to say we know how to get the attention of that brand you want to represent, so here it is — the simplest things you can do to improve your chances at getting that sponsorship:

Make your social media accounts public

It seems straightforward, but nearly 25% of all the sponsorship applications we process have social media accounts that are either set to private or don’t exist at all. The days where the only thing that counts is your tournament performance or a cover shot on a major magazine are over — brands need help getting their message through the noise of social media.

Don’t worry if you don’t have a large following (leave that for the Kardashians), make your social accounts public and keep them family friendly and your odds of being successful will skyrocket.

Tailor your application to the brand you want to represent

I’ve spoken to hundreds of brand managers across the outdoors industry and the majority of them tell me the same thing — they’re tired of getting tens to hundreds of copy/paste applications in their inbox every day.

You might choose to use our simple ambassador application system or you might not, but no matter how you apply you can stand out from the crowd by taking a few extra minutes to personalize the application. Some really common errors we’ve seen include addressing the note to the wrong brand, not mentioning the brand at all, or asking for free gear in return for a social media post.

Make sure you mention the brand and their products in your application. Perhaps talk about how and where you use the products, the successes you’ve had involving the products, or feedback about product performance.

Treat it like a job application

The relationship between brand and ambassador should always be a two way street, but at the end of the day the brand is putting a lot of trust in the people who represent them. That means they will look for people who are professional, courteous, friendly, and well-respected.

You wouldn’t send an email to a company you hoped to get hired by saying “Hey I’m looking for a job because I’m good. Can I get some free stuff so I can decide if I want to work for you.”

Don’t do that to a brand you want to get sponsored by either.

Approaching a brand with a thrown together application laced with spelling errors, bad formatting, or no brand/product knowledge doesn’t instill confidence that you will be that professional ambassador they are looking for.

Finally, consider the situation that a brand manager is in when recruiting new ambassadors. Most national/international brands receive thousands of applications every year. They do not have a shortage of opportunity to work with great ambassadors so they can be picky about who they work with. It’s up to the applicant to make a case for themselves, not unlike applying for a new job.

National Prostaff Inc. (NPS) connects brand ambassadors with sponsorship opportunities in fishing and hunting through both www.nationalprostaff.com and www.outdoorsponsors.com. Founded in 2011, NPS has created more than 20,000 sponsorships for anglers and hunters in North America. You can learn more and join the community here: www.outdoorsponsors.com