NIL: Is It The Right Play For My Business

NIL IS ONLY RIGHT FOR MASSIVE BRANDS … TRUE OR FALSE?

HOW TO DETERMINE IF NIL IS RIGHT FOR YOUR BRAND

The most common form of NIL marketing is when a student athlete at your local college or university provides you with a favorable post or series of posts on their social media feed. (Yes, Heisman trophy candidates appear on Dr. Pepper commercials, but I don’t think Dr. Pepper is reading this blog right now.)

This method of NIL marketing is the easiest. Easiest and best are two different words, remember that.

Step one is to look at your current marketing efforts. How would a collegiate athlete’s endorsement augment your efforts? Is it congruent with your other marketing efforts? Does it make sense for your target demographic audience?

Additionally, you have to think about your business. If you’re a pizza restaurant near campus, a popular athlete’s endorsement from that school makes a lot of sense. You could give it wings by perhaps creating a special price and or product that’s referenced in the endorsement. Attribution for this campaign would be relatively easy.

The important thing to consider is making sure the chosen athlete has a sizable following on a social media platform that makes sense for your target audience. You then need to craft the message and the cadence that would positively impact your business. That will be different for every circumstance and requires some level of planning to maximize its impact.

If you think your brand would experience business growth from a college athlete’s endorsement, it may be time to explore NIL opportunities further.

HOW DOES MY BRAND ENGAGE NIL AS A MARKETING STRATEGY?

Like all other aspects of marketing and media, NIL is there to take your money in any number of ways. You can contact the athlete directly, work with the school, or engage a company that ‘specializes’ in this space. 

I only use quotation marks to caveat that all things NIL are quite fluid, in practice and in the courtroom. If you have your site set on a particular athlete and want to work with them directly, you are subject to the challenges of having a contractual agreement in a space that hasn’t fully settled. 

Working with the athlete directly can be challenging … even if they have an agent and you have a contract. The unregulated nature of how things currently work in college athletics may lead to unforeseen challenges like transfers, injuries, or worse. Remember, it’s never a good look to sue a popular student athlete for breach of contract. Also, they are young and prone to other types of mistakes that could ultimately reflect poorly on your brand.

Engaging directly with the school is good for those brands whose goals align with providing financial support to a particular institution. This affords you a certain level of protection as it comes with the flexibility that makes you less reliant on one specific athlete. In this case, you will most certainly be working closely with the rights holder and engaging in a sponsorship that uses athlete endorsements as a component of your outreach.

Learfield comes to mind as being more advanced in this space by providing NIL direction and execution to sponsors, schools, and the athletes they work with. I know Oak View Group, Van Wagner, and other rights holders also assist in the NIL space. 

This way of doing NIL has become more popular as of late, with even big brands seeking the affiliative value to a school or conference without the headaches that come with the transfer portal. 

Think Allstate and the idiot who leaves Bevo’s gate open … 

Lastly, and perhaps the easiest way to engage in an NIL strategy, is to use a company like Teamworks or Opendorse. These companies facilitate deals directly with the athlete or the team through a full-service portal. On Opendorse, the number of social media followers is readily listed, a photo of the athlete is provided, and even pricing is shown. Both of these companies operate an easy-access dashboard to monitor engagement and fulfillment of your campaign. 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF A NIL CAMPAIGN FOR MY BRAND?

NIL campaigns can be an effective way to perpetuate your brand. Properly executed, they can come across as genuine when the product and the athlete are a match. Feeling authentic is an important component of marketing in 2026.

Plus, NIL lets you:

• Reach highly engaged audiences without massive spend
• Build trust through athletes that fans already care about
• Activate locally or regionally instead of nationally
• Create content that actually feels native to social platforms

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BEST PRACTICES FOR MY NIL STRATEGY?

One of the biggest misconceptions around NIL is that you need a star quarterback or a Heisman candidate to make an impact. You don’t.
In fact, your brand may see better results by partnering with multiple lesser-known athletes instead of one big name.

Think:

• • Athletes with a few thousand to 50K followers

• Female athletes
• Athletes in non-revenue sports
• Players who already create great content on social

A good piece of advice is to do the work you need to make the partnership feel natural. This is important. If the product doesn’t make sense or the endorsement looks forced, you have wasted your money. You want an NIL strategy where fans recognize the athlete, affiliate with the school, recognize the brand, and take action on the message.

Also consider how many endorsements a particular athlete is carrying. If their feed is crowded with endorsements, yours will not carry the weight you want it to.

Equally important is the construction of campaigns instead of one-off social media posts. If you’re looking to impact consumers you need to look at strategies that incorporate multiple posts over a season, short-form video you can use elsewhere, and even on-site appearances when appropriate.

When you treat NIL as a content strategy instead of a one-time promotion, our budget goes further and your results last longer.

That’s when NIL really works.

HOW DO I MEASURE THE RESULTS OF MY NIL STRATEGY?

Yes, NIL is new territory. But it doesn’t have to feel risky.

Clear contracts, defined deliverables, and basic brand guidelines go a long way. Most brands also benefit from working with an agency, platform, or collective to help manage logistics and compliance.

Measuring results must go beyond ‘likes’. Brands should think about NIL success in terms of:

• • Quality of engagement

• Website traffic or promo code usage
• In-store traffic or indications that awareness has increased
• Performance of paid ads using athlete content

When executed and measured correctly, NIL often outperforms traditional influencer marketing because fans trust athletes in a different way.

It’s not up for debate that sports marketing has become more complex than in years past. NIL represents a new frontier of sorts for brands looking to utilize athletes to endorse their products and services. This can be done easily and affordably, but that doesn’t always equal the best way to do it either. A brand should consider professional guidance when formulating an NIL strategy while also identifying KPI’s that give you a clear picture of how the campaign performs.