Your brand matters. After all, your brand is WHO you are, WHAT you do, and WHY you do it. Remember – people are loyal to brands, not products.
Trademarks protect brands. They are the foundation of every successful brand. That’s why it is important to trademark your brand.
The single best way to protect your brand is with a Federal trademark.
Here are seven practical reasons why you need to get a Federal trademark for your brand.
- You’ll Enjoy Enhanced Protection on Social Media
- You’ll Enjoy Enhanced Protection on the Web
- You’ll Have Access to Brand Registries Like Amazon’s Brand Registry
- You’ll be Able to Invest in Your Brand with Confidence
- You’ll Stand Out in a Crowd With the ®
- You’ll Enjoy Better Social Media Results
- You’ll Enjoy Some Instant Credibility
Bonus Reason: You’ll Make Your Marketing Easier and Less Expensive
Reason #1 to Trademark Your Brand — You’ll Enjoy Enhanced Protection on Social Media
Social media services like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have policies in place to protect brands against abuse – provided that you can establish ownership. A Federal trademark makes establishing ownership a mere formality.
Reason #2 to Trademark Your Brand — You’ll Enjoy Enhanced Protection on the Web
A trademark is an exclusive right to use your name or logo. This means you’re the only one who can use it in your industry. When you secure a domain that includes your trademark, all of the legal protections and presumptions that accompany Federal trademarks apply to your web address.
Reason #3 to Trademark Your Brand — You’ll Have Access to Brand Registries Like Amazon’s Brand Registry
The Amazon Brand Registry is an important and powerful brand protection tool. When you enroll, Amazon will look for and stop trademark violations. Amazon’s Brand Registry is limited to Federal trademarks, however.
Reason #4 to Trademark Your Brand — You’ll Can Invest in Your Brand with Confidence
Trademarking your brand gives you the exclusive and nationwide right to use it for your brand. This means you won’t risk having to rebrand. So, you can confidently invest in your website, business cards, and marketing.
Reason #5 to Trademark Your Brand — You’ll Stand Out in a Crowd With the ®
Only owners of Federally registered trademarks are legally permitted to use the ® sign. This symbol is an attention grabber, in both the offline and online worlds.
Reason #6 to Trademark Your Brand — You’ll Enjoy Better Social Media Results
Customers are searching, tagging, and commenting on brands using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram more than ever. A memorable trademark translates into greater visibility, which translates into higher rankings that bring more traffic, more customers, and more brand recognition.
Reason #7 to Trademark Your Brand — You’ll Enjoy Some Instant Credibility
Only Federal trademark registration gives you the legal right to use the ® symbol, which tells the world that you take your business and brand seriously. Plus, the ® has been shown to validate the confidence your customers want to have in you. Every company (young or old) can do with some instant credibility, right?
Bonus Reason: You’ll Make Your Marketing Easier and Less Expensive
Science confirms that humans are hardwired to process information visually. Studies have shown that humans have evolved to receive 90% of all information visually. That’s “a picture is worth a 1000 words” and why trademarks matter. They are the single best way to incorporate visual marketing in both the online and offline worlds.
Why wouldn’t you protect your good name and hard work?
Building a business that proudly offers quality products takes enormous amounts of hard work, dedication, and courage. The effective branding of those products also takes valuable time and creativity. Doesn’t it just seem right to protect that effort and investment? After all, think of the sales you might lose if another company opened up using your same name.
Plus, rebranding will be expensive
At some point, you might face a challenge from a competitor over your brand. If you don’t take the necessary steps to clear and register your trademarks, you could find yourself in a battle that you don’t want to fight. Rebranding is a nightmare that can be avoided by thinking ahead and acting earlier rather than later.
In the end, it comes down to this:
If you’re serious about your business and your brand, then you need to protect them. A Federal trademark registration is the single best way to do that.
For more than twenty years, Michael Kondoudis has been the go-to trademarking expert for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Michael is a USPTO-licensed trademark and patent attorney, educator, speaker, and author of the Amazon best-seller: Going From Business Owner to Brand Owner. He is also an authority trusted by national news media on major trademark stories.
Fun Facts: Michael is a member of the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court and an actual rocket scientist (B.S. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Indiana University 1994).