The importance of marketing yourself in athletic recruiting

Since this site was created, I have continued to talk about the importance of marketing yourself. Putting together a highlight tape and a web page will help you with the recruiting process. Yes, there will be cynics out there who say that you are full of yourself and have a huge ego because you did this. The problem with that is these people either do not have the resources or the skills needed to do to these things.

Recruiting has changed a great deal over the last decade and it will continue to do so in the future. A few years back, athletes were doing their tape on VHS and few people had ever heard of YouTube. Now athletes are sending out their highlights on DVDs, over the Internet, and posting highlights wherever they can on the Internet. And these are just a few areas that you can market yourself.

The reason I decided to put this article together about marketing yourself is because of a recent website that I stumbled upon. The web address is QBForce.com and basically talks about the three Forcier sons. Yes, there are links to the family businesses but it appears the reason that the site was created was to highlight what their sons have accomplished.

Here is what the site says on the home page: This website is dedicated to our Family, Friends & Loyal Fans. Really, the family does a nice job with the website. And with sons at Stanford and UCLA, it is rather obvious that the track record of producing Division I athletes is there.

The third son, Robert “Tate” Forcier, is ranked by Rivals as the 51st best football player in the Class of 2009. He currently holds offers from schools around the country and maybe eventually have his pick as to where he wants to play college football.

When you take a look at his portion of the website (Linked here), it is obvious that they are doing a great job marketing him. There is video, photos, articles, a media package, and current college offers. I think the current college offers may be the most interesting out of everything because of what they do on the site.

Instead of just saying that Clemson offered him a full ride, the family has scanned in the letter that they have received. For example, click here to see the scholarship offer on paper from Clemson. I could go through the entire list of offers and read the letters. That is what is unique about this site.

Without the website and the marketing, Forcier would have some college options. My guess is that he is too good of a prospect not to have a chance to play at the Division I level. With his brothers before him, it is obvious that college coaches know if they have any other talented siblings coming up the pipeline.

But most people don’t have that luxury. You will still here people say today that you don’t need to go through the hassle of a highlight tape and a website. I am the first to admit that paying someone to do this for you is not cheap by any means. But if you don’t, chances are strong that the schools finding you may be the Division III programs around your area.

This just shows how important it is to really push for a scholarship offer. As I continue to say, speak with your coach/coaches about what level they think you can play at. If you really are that good, then it is important that you go through the five steps to a scholarship and take each one seriously.

Links from this article came from http://www.qbforce.com/. I hope in the future that I may be able to do a Q&A with their father.