One thing that can be frustrating about running a brand is that there’s never a shortage of folks looking for handouts. You’d be surprised to hear some of the pitches I’ve gotten from people who apparently like Linty Fresh stuff a lot, but not enough to pay for it…

The most common is a request for sponsorship. A band, athlete, or performing artist will come along and ask for a boxfull of free Linty Fresh swag in exchange for “exposure”. What is exposure anyway? Could anything be more vague? And when did exposure become such an automatic booster of sales? I had one of my shirts on TV once, viewed by millions, but can’t be sure it even resulted in a single sold shirt.

My point isn’t to discourage sponsorships, though. When done right, they can be beneficial to both sides. But it’s got to be a symbiotic relationship, and not parasitic. The sponsored party has to know that more is involved than just wearing the items around. (This isn’t Nascar.)

Of all the dozens of requests I’ve had for sponsorship, I only ever accepted one of them. That’s probably more conservative than most other brands, but I can tell you what stood out about this particular case. First off, I was approached by a representative of the party (the band’s manager). I was given very specific figures to gauge the band’s popularity, so that I could be assured I wasn’t just tossing items into a black hole. I was promised specific things too, to show the band was indeed getting by brand the promised “exposure”.

So my point is this: if you’re reading this thinking you qualify for a sponsorship, get your numbers together and come up with a plan before approaching the sponsor. If you were them, would you give yourself a sponsorship?