Cultivating connection for your brand.

The best branding you can do this week is within your own circle.

How’s this week for you?

Fall sports are heading into tournament time, while winter sports are brimming with optimism, and spring sports are wrapping up a successful offseason and recruiting. If this is you, you might be rolling into Thanksgiving with momentum.

It’s possible your season ended too soon, though. Perhaps you’re feeling the pressure to win (or else). Maybe you’re worried you might not even get to the spring. We all know it––– in the world of college coaching, nothing is guaranteed.

On this blog, there’s lots of talk about branding and positioning because if your program looks good, so do you (and that’s job security). Win games. Win recruits. Win the narrative. If you can do those things, you have an opportunity to continue to build the program that you’ve dreamed about.

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The best branding you can do this week is within your own circle.

Whether you’re hashtag-killing-it or feeling like the world is coming down on you, there’s always an opportunity to cultivate connection.

Connection looks like an intentional conversation with a friend or family member.

It’s a thoughtful text to a recruit instead of one of the 37 “Happy Thanksgiving!!!!” texts they get from coaches.

It’s writing a letter to your support staff thanking them for their efforts.

Not only does that produce health in them and in you, it also furthers your brand. Balance, gratitude, and emotional well-being are all interdependent pieces within the larger narrative that supports you and your program. Your narrative is completely exclusive to the world, so it’s on you to cultivate connection with your community.

Time taken to connect is time well spent for your brand. Have a great holiday… we’ll see you next week.

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This article is the ninth in a series on athletics branding. Jayson Schmidt is a former NCAA Division II head coach and managing partner of Preseason, a creative agency that helps colleges win.

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Struggling with your brand or just simply want an edge on the competition? Preseason can elevate your story and deliver it to recruits, fans, and donors.