Athletes are inundated with requests, so I needed to come up with a pitch and approach that would set me apart. In many ways, starting this process felt like I was starting a massive maze; it had a million different starting points (and they were all continuously moving!), but only one desired endpoint.
Unfortunately for me, I’m not an influencer, associated with NBC, or a retired Olympian/Paralympian, so I needed to come up with a strategy for how I would convince these athletes to speak with me.
I put on my strategy and marketing hat and developed my value proposition:
While I tailor this to every athlete I approach, these are the key points that I highlight:
This is a Harvard-affiliated podcast that will spotlight their story as they want it told; I’m not a journalist looking for an angle, but a graduate student earnestly seeking to elevate inspiring stories >> Whenever I mentioned this, many athletes would become significantly more at ease and actually begin to view this as an opportunity (especially the lesser-known athletes who are actively seeking sponsors)
This is an opportunity for them to be celebrated; I can give them the spotlight they deserve now >> Most athletes went (or continue to go through) a period of grieving after the postponement, so the offer to be featured was usually greatly appreciated
This is a picture of me interviewing Ida Jacobsen, Denmark Rowing. Ida invited her mother to join us for our conversation. My Danish friend, Mie Dahl secured this interview by reaching out to a friend on Facebook, who then referred her to Ida on my behalf.
This is an opportunity engage listeners in social activism. Every episode spotlights an issue or cause close to the heart of the featured athlete. This means that if there is a specific call to action she would like listeners to take in support of her cause, I will include it and specifically outline how listeners can help >> This resonates with certain athletes more than others, so how much I emphasize this point depends on the athlete
Opportunity for her to thank a mentor or mentee; every athlete can be interviewed with an influential individual of their choosing >> while some athletes ignore this because it adds a layer of scheduling complexity, those who have been interviewed with others really appreciated the personal touch it brought to their interviews
This is a super light lift; just 45 minutes needed >> most athletes are super protective of their time, so this was an important element to emphasize specifically for the more well-known athletes
Photo from Pixabay
In terms of how I have made contact with the athletes, I used every resource I could think of. I hustled. And, I spent a lot of late nights with a glass of wine sending emails, direct messaging people, and leaving voicemails.
I sent an email to every single country that participates in the Olympics soliciting interviews with their Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
I leveraged all of my professional networks (college, graduate school, work) to connect with individuals associated with the Olympics be it former athletes, coaches, donors, etc.
My family and personal friends reached out to their friends, who connected me to others.
I reached out via LinkedIn to International Olympic Committee (IOC) Board Members and employees.
Every Olympic/Paralympic sport has a National Governing Body (NGB), so I contacted as many of those as possible and asked for interviews with specific athletes.
I targeted specific countries and athletes and both emailed and called each individual team’s press contacts
Last but certainly not least, as this was one of my most effective strategies, I direct messaged countless athletes on Instagram.
Once I secured a number of interviews, athletes started referring each other to me, so word of mouth became one of my most powerful channels of athlete recruitment. Further, once I had episodes to illustrate the quality of my work, athletes became significantly more interested to be interviewed as they saw it as a (free) opportunity for them to shine.