The ultimate guide to protect your brand identity
Protecting your brand identity is one of the most important things you can do as a marketer. Now more than ever, it’s essential to protect the brand you’ve worked so hard to build, but it can be a complex process. There are many ways to protect your brand, some more expensive than others.
This guide will help you understand how to use inexpensive methods that are just as effective, if not more so, than costly ones.
What is a brand identity, and why is it important?
A brand identity is what people perceive when they see your business. It’s the level of trust, professionalism, and reassurance a customer has when interacting with a business. It’s an essential tool for any business, especially a small business.
Your brand is how people see your business and everything about it – from your website to how you answer the phone. It’s based on three things: a visual representation of your brand assets, personality, and voice. Excellent brand identity needs to be consistent across all marketing channels, and it needs to protect your most important asset: your brand IP (or intellectual property).
A brand identity design company helps protect its core asset: it’s brand IP or intellectual property. Businesses protect their assets in two ways: by locking them down with patents and trademarks and keeping them secret with NDAs (non-disclosure agreements).
Read more: How to develop brand identity
How to protect your brand identity?
Your domain name
Your website is your brand identity. The most essential step in protecting your brand identity is registering a domain name with the extension .com, .biz, or unique. Doing so will prevent others from taking the name and creating a website with the same name you have designed. This can also be prevented by paying extra for registration protection or adding security that alerts you when someone else registers the same extension as your registered domain name.
Patents
Do you know that the most significant investment that a business owner makes is on their intellectual property? It is this intangible asset whose value can be scarcely pegged until it’s patented and protected. One of the essential components of any trademark, which includes its name and logo, a patent protects not only your brand but also your company.
Protect against Trademark infringements
To protect your company’s brand from being exploited by competitors, you must protect it with a trademark. This is an essential entity in your quest to protect your brand identity. A trademark can be a word, logo, slogan, colour, or any other distinctive feature identifying a product or service source.
Monitoring your brand online
If there’s one thing that you must do, protect your brand identity online. It is essential for any business in this age where the web exerts so much influence over how people perceive companies and products. To protect your brand identity, you must monitor its name across all social media channels; ensure that it doesn’t get misused by others; respond to customer feedback quickly; protect yourself from cybercriminals who leverage the internet to steal information; protect against copyright infringement, etc.
Read more: Just Branding
Types of brand abuse
It is essential to be aware of the various threats which can compromise your business.
Impersonation
Someone is representing himself as an authorized representative of your company or brand identity without your permission. The fake social media accounts impersonating brands are becoming a serious concern for businesses who have suffered the loss of customers due to cloning their profiles on Facebook, Twitter, G+, etc. For example, someone creates a profile with ‘Apple’ but uses a photo of ‘Steve Jobs.’
Identity Theft
Identity theft refers to using another person’s name, email address, or account information to access websites, apps, or other online services without that person’s knowledge. It is one thing to protect yourself against hackers and data thieves, but it is an entirely different thing if unauthorized people start operating a company’s personal accounts. This helps protect businesses from identity theft as hackers attempt to pose and send spam emails containing malicious links or download malware.
Social Spamming
It’s a practice of sending bulk unsolicited messages over social media networks. It can sometimes be used legitimately by companies looking to promote their brand, but it is mainly used for nefarious purposes like phishing, scamming, etc. For example, someone creates a Facebook post about an offer or promotion that’s too good to be true. Users are encouraged to click on the link provided in the post where they are taken to a fake website made to look exactly like Facebook, where they’re tricked into submitting personal information.
IP infringing / IP Theft
This practice is illegal, harmful and should be prevented at all costs. It is the unauthorized use of another person’s logo, idea, copyrighted material, etc. For example, someone starts selling t-shirts online with your brand logo on them without your permission.
The Bottom Line
Your brand identity is the most important thing you need to protect. It’s not enough to have a logo, business name, or slogan that people can identify with; your brand must also be protected in every marketing and advertising area so it doesn’t get diluted by competitors trying to steal all of your hard-earned customers. Allowing others access into this space will inevitably happen, but when you’re ready for us to help protect your company’s previous product, we’ve got just what you need!
Want more? Call or write to Litmus Branding, a branding agency in Ahmedabad that provides all your branding needs.
