How to Use Public Relations to Get Sponsored for Skateboarding

 In today’s competitive world of skateboarding, pure talent, no matter how good you may be, no longer is enough to set you apart from the rest of the pool. In order to succeed in this profession you must be able to incorporate your raw talent with the skills of public relations to properly obtain your dreams. To better your chances of getting noticed in the growing sport of skateboarding, you must make sure that as many people as possible see you on a regular basis, make friends with people who are well connected to skateboard magazines, videos, local skate shops, and finally you should find a niche that will better separate yourself from everyone else and use this niche to its full potential.

             If you ever expect to make a career in the highly competitive, extreme sport of skateboarding, you must first understand the power of reputation and word of mouth. You must first realize that without the support of other people and friends talking about you and helping get your name out to the rest of the local public the higher ups in your city will never hear about you which will result in you failing to ever make it past the first major step. This is probably one of the hardest steps to conquer because there are always going to be people who are going to be jealous of your talent or people who aren’t going to like you for their own reasons. The ways that you can accomplish this first step are going to your local skateboard parks on a regular basis so that the local skateboarders constantly see you destroying tricks. This, by itself, will start you in the right direction because you will be able to get your name out into the public without having to do anything other than actual skateboarding, mingling with the locals, and making new friends. Also, going downtown and filming tricks is a very good idea because in order to become sponsored you’ll need a sponsor me tape as well as this will give you added exposure if other kids happen to be skating around where you are filming.  Another good way to get noticed in your local city is to enter some contests where you know the local skate shop owners and the higher ups with the connections are definitely going to be. Nothing is better than doing well in a contest because there are so many people who are all going to get a glimpse of you, which is what you want. In the end, the first step is to basically build up your reputation locally, make a sponsor me tape, and try to get the higher ups to recognize who you are through word of mouth. The lesson to be learned here is that the power of others is a important tool in public relations and when used correctly will help you to achieve your goals easier. 

            Secondly, after you have achieved a positive reputation and have found local sponsorship the next step is to recreate the first step on a much larger scale. This step is going to depend entirely on you and on how well you can convince people with major connections to magazines, videos, and skate companies that you are the real deal, as well as convincing them that by helping you out through taking photos or video footage of you, you will, in the end, be helping them out in return. For this next step to occur, you are going to have to use your P.R. skills to meet new people who are photographers or videographers that have the proper equipment and representation required to have yourself appear in national and international skateboard magazines and videos. The only way for this to even happen is if you have gotten sponsored by a local skate shop. It is through the skate shops that you meet these other affiliates in the industry. These other affiliates that range from photographers, videographers, distributor/company reps, am’s, and pro’s, are the next group of people you will have to impress and get working for you. You must not only become friends with this group of individuals, but also perform to your full potential day in and out in front of them because if these people don’t make money off you from photographs and video footage then you won’t ever become pro or see a dime for yourself. Unfortunately, you have to put your life in to these affiliates’ hands and hope for the best. If everything goes to plan and you start receiving international buzz and acknowledgement of your skateboarding skills then you have completed step two and are ready for step 3.

            After you have successfully gotten recognized locally and have appeared in some magazines and videos, you must discover a niche of some kind that will set you apart from everyone else. Once you have found this niche you will need to use your skills of public relations to exploit this niche. There are many ways of discovering this niche such as relocating to a new place somewhere else in the world where people still skateboard, but where your style will be quite different from the locals so you’ll have an edge on the competition and where your style will shine through. Another way is to learn new advanced tricks that no one has ever done before and get them on film so that they will appear in videos and magazines which will get your name out to the international public. And there is always large scale competitions that will be aired on television and viewed by millions that you can enter for a chance at winning big money while still getting major exposure to the skateboarding masses. However, the best way to get to the final step of becoming a professional skateboarder is to try and combine all these ideas to maximize your chances of obtaining your final goal.

             To achieve stardom and fame in the extreme sport of skateboarding there are some major goals that have to be accomplished throughout the journey and without correctly using the skills of public relations you will find it increasingly difficult to obtain your goals. Don’t get down on yourself if at first you don’t succeed because this can take years to achieve so don’t be discouraged. You need to keep focused and apply yourself both in increasing your raw technical abilities on a skateboard and in your public relations skills. Fortunately, in this sport, if you can grasp these concepts, are intelligent, and integrate your raw talent with the important skills of public relations your goals will be achieved and ultimately your dreams will become you reality.