Brand Protection Are You Protecting What s Yours

What is brand protection, and why is it important? First, let's discuss what your brand is. A brand, according to the American Marketing Association, is a "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers." By the definition alone, it is easy to see why a company's brand is important. Your brand is what defines you, and what sets you apart from your competition. Brand protection, therefore, is just another way to build on the success of your business. Think of brand protection as identity theft protection - just as you don't want a stranger stealing your identity and damaging your personal reputation and finances, you also don't want your competition stealing your ideas or your image and using it to their advantage, or finding ways to damage your business. Strong, effective brand protection means that you - and only you - are in control of your brand image. Protecting your brand should be an important aspect of your overall business model, regardless of the size of your company. Small to medium-sized business owners may think that they are not at risk of brand issues, when in fact the opposite is true. It's as you are building and refining your brand that it is most susceptible to someone damaging the brand - especially companies who are your competitors, and who view your brand as a threat to their own success. Brand protection is as important at this stage of your company's growth as it is in your long-term future. After all, consider the time and money that you have put into building brand awareness for your company. If another company steals your ideas, or misappropriates your image to their advantage, you should not be flattered. Instead, you should consider the large potential financial loss that your competitor's brand theft represents, and you should take steps to strengthen your brand protection. In today's digital world, online brand protection is crucial. There are many things that you can do to secure your brand image, including filing for a trademark for anything that is unique to your company's goods or services.A trademark will give you strong legal grounds against anyone who attempts to make money off of anything that is extremely similar to yours. Copywriting your website, marketing materials, and anything else that has to do with how your company is represented is another way you can strengthen your brand protection. Another way to bolster your brand protection is to register your website domain name and any other iterations of your domain name that are similar to your organization. This goes for website domains that end in .com, .net and .org as well. Believe it or not, there are individuals out there who will buy domain names they think they can sell for a lot of money in the future. Do not be at the mercy of these individuals. Instead, take charge of your brand protection now, and this will protect your business not only now, but in the future as well. One easy way to get an unbiased look at your company's online performance and brand representation is to set up Google alerts. With Google alerts, you can be notified on a regular basis whenever a website or news venue mentions a specific product or name. By setting up alerts for your company name, domain name, and any goods or services which are uniquely provided by your business, you're keeping an eye out for infractions on your brand. If you set up Google alerts, keep in mind that a person or company who is interested in stealing your ideas is most likely not going to use the exact same phrases that you do. So, set up Google alerts for similar company names, goods, and services to yours, in addition to your own specific alerts. This way, you'll get a full picture of how your brand is represented online, and where your threats are coming from. Online reputation management is an important part of brand protection, and should not be overlooked.Because we live in a digital world, your reputation online is your reputation, period. If your business does not seem viable online, customers will not believe that it is viable in person. There are many things business owners can do to manage, protect, and build the company's online reputation. The most important thing to do is to create your own content and optimized social media profiles, and make sure your online information is updated on a regular basis. Having a regularly maintained company blog helps with this, as well. Frequently updating your content with optimized keywords will aid in pushing any offending content that appears in search engine results down to the later pages in Google and other search engine results. By following the basics such as creating your own web domains, establishing a strong online presence, updating your social media profiles, blog, and website with new content on a regular basis, and setting up Google alerts will help you manage your online reputation and strengthen your brand protection. If you want to maintain a high level of control over your brand, you must take steps to keep an eye out for intellectual property theft. Business owners are incredibly busy, and brand protection and intellectual property laws can be complicated and time-consuming to understand and monitor. It may be a good idea to consider hiring a third-party firm who can help you keep tabs on everything that comes with brand protection. After all, there are many tasks that must be completed when it comes to full brand protection. Monitoring threats, understanding if another organization is a threat or is misusing your image, and knowing how your organization is represented online are all important tasks that cannot be overlooked. Seeking the help of a professional can often be beneficial because you have an expert on your side who knows what threats are worth paying attention to, and how to best protect your business in the event that your intellectual property is being stolen or misused..