Today we will discuss some tips which will help you establish and protect your business brand. Many business owners often start talking about brand protection only after it is too late and react to theft, sabotage, or infringement attempts.
Proactive measures can prevent the most common attacks on small businesses and ideas before hiring a branding agency UK, purchasing a brand protection package, or having confusing conversations with lawyers at high hourly rates. Please consider taking appropriate measures. Here are some steps to establish and protect your business brand.
Seven Tips to Establish and Protect your Business Brand
1- Define your audience.
Before creating a personal brand, you must determine whom you want to reach. Is it a thought leader in other industries? Are you an individual in a particular company? Hiring personnel? The earlier you define your audience, the easier it is to create a story. This is because you can better understand the type of story you need to tell (and where you need to speak).
For example, your goal is to reach recruiters and recruiters, you can create or update your LinkedIn profile first. Why? This is because 92% of recruiters use social media to find quality candidates, and 87% use LinkedIn.
If you are a graphic designer and you wish to impress existing customers and attract new customers, you can tell your story through a personal website or portfolio that is more representative of your extensive talents.
2- Request an informational interview.
Once you list the companies you want to work for or industry leaders you admire, consider contacting these experts for information interviews.
“It takes 20 minutes, but it’s worth it,” Gresch said. “Don’t be afraid to ask anyone who wants to know more. You will be amazed by those who are sincere and generous.”
When meeting with these people, ask questions that will help you gain new insights into the areas you need, such as:
- How did you get into this industry?
- If you migrate again, what steps will you take?
- How do you think the industry develops?
- How do you stay up to date with industry trends?
- Are there any professional or industry groups that can participate?
According to Gresch, information interviews have additional benefits. “I’m learning what it takes to get a career, but I also shared some information about myself during this conversation. What you do is build your brand.”
In one of these interviews, you may not have a job, but you may have a job one day. And you want employers to think of you when they think of the ideal candidate.
3- Make sure you own the copyright, trademark, and ownership.
Ensure that your brand name, product name, content, images, and videos are protected by corresponding copyrights and trademarks. Without proper protection or certification of licensed material, competitors may steal your branded content and claim it is yours. In addition, some people will steal your information, legally protect it with new copyrights and trademarks, and take legal action against you against infringement! Don’t let this happen to you and protect your business brand.
4- Obtain branded real estate online.
Your company uses only one domain but buys and parks all variants of your brand domain. This includes the .org and .net versions of the .com domain. If your brand gains significant exposure, your competitors can grab these domain names and sell them to you at high prices. In addition, it requests all relevant social media handles and directory listings. Convenient services such as Yext and Knowem can accelerate this process and generate valuable local and social signals on search engines as rewards. It will help you protect your business brand.
5- Bidding for the brand name.
Even if you don’t rely on PPC activities to generate traffic to your website, you can allocate a small budget to protect your search engine brand keywords. These keywords need to be cheap and ensure that your business stays in the top ad position on the first page of your business name search results. Suppose you search for a company name and find a competitor among Google’s paid jobs. Google allows rivals to bid on your brand name, but you may not use your brand name in the ad copy. It helps you protect your business brand.
For example, Google often needs landing pages to contain certain conditions, such as legal contact information. If your competitor tries to misrepresent themselves after bidding on your brand name, please report the advertiser to Google. It will protect your business brand.
6- Develop an appropriate confidentiality agreement.
A confidentiality agreement can protect your business brand from various direct and indirect responsibilities. If the business model relies on a small number of independent contractors, the NDA will share processes and practices with competitors who may provide substantial compensation for this information. The same principle applies to full-time employees. If competitors can legally provide strictly protected secrets about your business, they can seize the opportunity to dig out key players in your business. Work with a lawyer to customize your confidentiality agreement for your business. This is a necessity to protect your business brand.
7- Supervise the game.
A set of valuable tools plus some free services will help you monitor your competition and protect your business brand. Tools such as SEMrush can help you monitor your competitors’ bidding practices through paid search and show which advertisers may be bidding on your brand name. This is an excellent place to get started because you can see who is interested in your customers. Put Google Alerts for your competitors to track press releases and references on the web.
Spend time every month to become a detective. Search the Internet for company names, products, services, and people. Just wait and see. If you take the time to follow the above guidelines, you should be satisfied with the results.
I am a professional website designer at the best web design agency in the UK. She trusts in design skills to make the web better and more creative for everyone.