Do's and Don'ts For BJJ Gear Promotion

Different brands reach out to BJJ practitioners so that they can promote the brand’s gears and increase their reach and sales. Practitioners also benefit from it as they get free gear or travel expenses. BJJ Gi’s, rash guards, shorts, and spats can be pretty expensive but if you are provided with sponsored gear, your duty includes raising awareness about the specific brand and spreading awareness about it.

The name of the sponsored brand is written on the gear. When practitioners post images on their public accounts, BJJ enthusiasts like the fighter and are prone to buy the choice of their favorite fighter.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a submission grappling combat sport. It involves submissions and takedowns to defeat your opponent. BJJ tournaments and competitions are cost intensive, especially if they are international tournaments and if the practitioners have to travel to other countries.

There is a concept of sponsorship in BJJ. Sponsorship by a famous brand would become a cornerstone of a practitioner’s success. As mentioned earlier BJJ tournaments are costly, but BJJ sponsorships help you to gain easy access to these tournaments. They cover your travel expenditure and also the entrance fee for tournaments.

You will not only get free gear but also will appear in magazine and BJJ advertisements. Some brands make famous grapplers their brand ambassadors to promote their own brands.

For example, the famous Ruotolo Brothers, Kade Ruotolo, and Tye Ruotolo got their RVCA sponsorship when they were only 10 years old.

If you are a famous grappler, getting a famous brand sponsorship is not difficult for you at all. Even brands will reach you for the promotion of their gear. But if you are not a famous grappler, getting sponsorship might be hectic work for you.

You must focus on your skills and try to increase the number of your wins. It will definitely bring you to the limelight and you will get your sponsorship. You can also reach brands for sponsorship and once they recognize your talent and skills, you are more likely to succeed.

Once you got a sponsorship, now it is your foremost duty to maintain an entertaining social media presence, engage with your followers, and promote the brand.

You must do every effort on your behalf to promote the sponsored BJJ gear. Following are the things that you must do for BJJ gear promotion.

It is one of the most important steps in the promotion of sponsored BJJ gear. Being a popular public figure will update your followers about your lifestyle. You will definitely have a great influence on others' lives when they know more about you. The best way to gain validation is by updating your social media.

You are already a skilled grappler but by engaging more on social media, people will notice more about you. Posting pictures with sponsored gear is the best way to promote BJJ gear. When your content engages the audience, people are more likely to see the brand name on your attire.

BJJ enthusiasts love to follow those fighters who keep their followers updated on different matters and victories. Having more followers can also help you get BJJ sponsors.

Once sponsored by a brand, the practitioner must wear the gear to every fight as well as when he trains in the gym. Brands are interested in the vastness of the practitioner’s fandom and how this fandom can help them in making money.

When you wear sponsored gear during training or competing, it allows the BJJ community to notice it and in the long run, it benefits the brand.

As we all know, BJJ is a grappling sport that allows skin contact. So hygiene is the most important element for all practitioners. Your gear hygiene is as necessary as your bodily hygiene. Even if your gear is not sponsored, you must keep it clean.

Keeping your gear clean means how much you value the gentle art and your sponsors.

Your gear must not be worn or torn out especially when you are wearing it publicly. Sponsored BJJ gear represents the class of the practitioner and the brand. So practitioners must slay their looks.

Of course you are an accomplished and excellent grappler which is why your gear is sponsored. But that does not mean that you must stay put in your position. So whatever your belt rank is, you must work hard enough to remain in the limelight.

You must mention your BJJ gear sponsors when you are talking publicly or on any forums. Sponsors for gear reached you so that you could tell the world about their products.

You can give them a shout-out on social media or talk about them in interviews. A practitioner can also talk about his sponsored BJJ gear in podcasts. The whole purpose of mentioning them is to promote BJJ gear.

You must publicize their name when you are making videos or clicking pictures. BJJ practitioners must go for youtube videos. It will not only make them famous but will also bring focus to the branded gear. Talking on interviews and podcasts about your sponsored brand will raise awareness.

Brands function as a business in a capitalist society. The goal of brands is the advertisement of their products. For BJJ gear promotion, fighters are the most suitable people as they are already in the competitive circle.

When BJJ practitioners display sponsored gear, the brand's rate of monetization increases as it gets more validation.

Law of reciprocation means that if a brand reaches out to a practitioner and helps him with gear and other stuff, the practitioner must also reciprocate. Reciprocation can be done in many ways that are mentioned above.

Following are the things that practitioners must not do as they can be damaging to the image of the sponsors.

If you have reached the top position and you think of yourself as a victorious grappler, that is not the case. There is a famous saying “Victory has made you weak”. It means that as you know that you are an advert grappler with top-class gear sponsorship, you settle for what you got. A successful and advanced practitioner must never do that.

Do not let victory weaken you means that the practitioner must not slow down rather he must keep on going to build his career. When a practitioner's success rate increases, he will be subjected to more benefits and facilities from the brand.

A practitioner must never talk badly about his sponsored BJJ gear. His work is only to promote the gear not to criticize or humiliate it. If you do so, you will not be liable for any sponsorship from the brand. If you feel any problem with the gear, you must only speak to the relevant authorities.

Talking badly about your gear is considered extremely unprofessional. It’s like you are seeking benefits from the brand but then defaming it.

When a practitioner has already gear sponsored by a brand, he must seek other brands for that purpose. It is like you are betraying your relationship with the brand that supported you. When you have sponsors with a  specific brand, do not engage with their competitors.

You can obviously go for other brands only if you are not sponsored by any brand. It is the most advisable and recommended way to keep a healthy relationship with your sponsors.

Don’t exaggerate about the branded gear. It will make you sound like a phony. Give your honest reviews about the gear and keep it as real as possible. It will attract more people and the brand’s earnings will also increase.

BJJ gear can be expensive for an average fighter. Getting sponsorship is the most efficient way to sustain in BJJ if you have financial problems. It also brings recognition to the fighters.

Other than branded gear, fighters can have free travel expenses. Brands also vouch for the entrance fees of different BJJ tournaments. But to get them, practitioners must reciprocate efforts from their side too.

BJJ gear promotion is an attractive thing for practitioners. As they are getting benefits, they must strive in helping the brand get validation.

You must not say anything demeaning about your sponsored brand. You must talk well about them and update your social media promoting the gear more often. You can give shoutouts to the sponsored brands and hence more people will be interested in buying from them. When the sales rate increases, you can also get a commission from it or more benefits depending upon the policies of the brand.