With some fishing product companies, (like us), kids can be a better sales rep that grown ups. My advice on how a young fisherman should prepare for future sponsorships is to cultivate his online presence with Youtube videos, Facebook, Blogging, etc. From a manufacturers view you have social connections, what matters to us is how far can you reach out your friends and your friends-friends. A fisherman looking for sponsorships is like a product, how popular are you?
I would advise to join fishing forums also. When someone we have sponsored makes a video and it gets 200,000 views, and he shares it with his Facebook and his friends share it we consider that a success.
What I've learned with sponsorships with young fishermen is out of consideration they are in school and sometimes work is we do not expect them to do that much on an ongoing basis. So, if you have a good online presence and can market their product to a large audience via Youtube, Forums etc. there are always going to be companies like us that may benefit you. There is a two fold advantage to short term sponsorships as I call it. One, as a young fisherman promoting a product will help get your name out there, two if you are really good at online stuff you will attract more sponsors. Videos are an important part of our online presence. And a lot of young fishermen have helped
us along the way so do not discount how important you are to manufacturers.
