How to Protect Your Brand – An Easy Guide

Building a brand is hard work.  It takes time, money, and effort – along with some luck.  Protecting your brand protects that investment. That makes brand protection important.

This article explores steps anyone can take to maximize brand protection and answers important questions about protecting a brand, including:

1. 1. How to make sure that you legally own your brand, logo, catchphrase and brand name?
   2. How to trademark your brand?
   3. How to secure your brand on the Internet?
   4. How to claim your brand on social media?
   5. How to monitor your brand’s reputation?

How do you protect your brand, logo, brand name, or catchphrase?

To protect a brand, logo, brand name, or catchphrase/slogan, you need to:

1. 1. Make sure that you legally own your brand
   2. Secure your web address (domain/URL)
   3. Claim your brand on social media
   4. Monitor your brand’s online reputation

How do you legally own your brand, logo, catchphrase and brand name?

The best way to ensure that you own your brand, logo, catchphrase or brand name is to register your trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  Trademark registration is official confirmation that you legally own the trademark(s) that represent your brand. This is a very important step toward brand protection. 

Why is it important to register names, logos, and catchphrases?

Trademark registration means legal ownership of your brand, which means that no one can take it from you.  This makes trademark registration insurance against ever having to rebrand. 

Also, registering your trademarks for your name, your logo, and a catchphrase (or slogan) will give you the nationwide right to use them. If you don’t, then your competition can use them.

Plus, if someone else trademarks your name or logo first, they’ll own the exclusive right to use it nationally. You’ll likely have to rebrand. That’s why it’s important to protect your trademarks as early as possible.

Further, social media services like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have policies to protect brands against abuse and infringement – so long as you can establish ownership and valid rights. Federal trademark registration makes establishing ownership and validity mere formalities.

Read about 7 legal reasons to register here.

Read about 7 practical reasons to register here.

How Do You Get a Federal Trademark?

You have to apply to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register and then navigate an examination process. The Federal trademark application process is much more than just filling out online forms (that’s the easiest part of the process).  The USPTO will only grant your application after you have met all of their many legal and procedural requirements.

Here’s how to start the process to trademark your product name:

1. Select a strong, protectable name.
2. Check the availability of your product name as a trademark.
3. Collect your information and decide on a strategy for your Federal trademark application.
4. Prepare and file your new application (correctly).
5. Start using the right trademark symbol with your product name.

What Can You Trademark?

Every element of your brand can be a trademark. The possibilities are almost limitless. The four most common types of marks are:

• • Brand Names: usually your company name
  • Logos: your company logo or other graphic used to brand your business
  • Slogans: the catchphrase used to promote your business
  • Product Names: the name of your product if it’s unique

In most cases, brand names and logos are the cornerstones of most brands. For example, Apple Inc. protects its brand with a combination of its name “Apple”, its apple logo, the slogan “Think Different”, and product names like “MacBook” and “iPhone”.

Other examples can include:

• • Podcast Names
  • Blog Names
  • Fonts
  • Product Shapes
  • Webinar Names
  • YouTube Channels

How do you protect your brand, logo, catchphrase and brand name on the web?

You protect your brand on the web by owning the home for your website. This means purchasing the domain name for your brand. A domain name is the web address that identifies a website. For example, the domain name for Google’s search engine is google.com.

Domain names are an essential part of a modern business brand. As soon as you come up with your business name, it’s important to stake your claim to the domain for it.

You need to lock up the domain as soon as possible – vven if you’re not planning to build a website right away. If you don’t, your customers will always have difficulty finding you online. Worse, the domain name you want – the one that goes perfectly with your brand – could be held hostage by a cybersquatter. It takes time and money to free a domain held hostage.

Tip: Always consider purchasing your domain name with alternate extensions, such as .net, .biz and .org, in addition to .com. This will prevent anyone else from riding on your coattails.

But Beware: A common misconception about domains is that they come with trademark rights. They do not. In contrast to trademarks, domain names do not identify the source of goods and services. Also, domain names are registered through a domain registrar (like GoDaddy), while trademarks are registered through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

How do you protect your brand, logo, catchphrase and brand name on social media?

You protect your brand on social media by claiming the social media handles for them.

It is important to own all of the social media handles associated with your company and its brands. If you don’t, they may be at risk for misuse. Ironically, a company can own the business name but may not have much recourse against a competitor that has secured the same business name on social media. Can you say “the early bird gets the worm”?

The easiest way to avoid this situation is to be the first to claim social media accounts for your company name, as well as brand names on the major social media platforms. Even if you don’t have a plan on how to use social media to market products/services, at least you’ll have peace of mind knowing that these valuable online brand assets are secured.

This is a base strategy to consider:

On Facebook

• Company Name Page (ex. Nike.com/Nike)
• Brand Page (ex. Facebook.com/Nike)

On Instagram

• Company Handle (ex. Nike)
• Brand Pages (ex. Nike Classics)

On Twitter

• Company Handle (ex. @Nike)
• Brand Page (@NikeClassics)

How do you monitor your brand’s reputation?

The three best ways to monitor your brand are to: (1) set up relevant Google alerts; (2) read and respond to testimonials and reviews; and (3) identify and engage with industry influencers.

a. Google alerts

It is always a good idea to listen to your customers and track what people are saying about your brand – especially online.

One of the most convenient ways to stay abreast of your brand reputation is to set up one or more Google alerts. They are free and easy. The most important alerts would be for your company name, product name(s), your industry, and key competitors.

Conversations about your company, products, and industry, whether on the web or social media, can be invaluable to building/improving the customer experience (and more sales).

Also, these alerts will warn you when someone else is using your business name, a similar name, or a similar trademark, so you can address the infringement.

b. Reading and responding to testimonials and reviews

Customers who leave testimonials and reviews represent your most motivated brand ambassadors. That makes knowing and understanding what they say about your brand an important part of any reputation management strategy. 

There are many online resources that make monitoring testimonials and reviews easier than it has ever been. Three of the best resources are: Google My Business; Birdeye; and Yelp.

Also, be proactive about testimonials – positive or not. Your responses can still frame the narrative about your brand.

c. Identify and engage influencers

Influencer marketing is booming. It seems like everyone these days is trying to engage influencers.  The primary benefit of working with influencers is the opportunity to target their existing audiences and extend your brand reach.  And, because of their existing audiences, influences represent tremendous opportunities to communicate your brand’s narrative – or counter a false or less than flattering story.

Ready to take the next step toward LEGALLY owning your Brand?

We have a simple, 5 step process we use to help our clients secure their trademarks. If you’re interested in protecting your YouTube Channel Brand, we invite you to book a FREE brand protection strategy session with us here.