9 Reasons Trademarks Are Vital To Your Business

A trademark is a word, phrase, or symbol that distinguishes one company’s products and services from other  firms. Some things that serve as trademarks are an enterprise’s name, logo, tagline, or slogan. Besides these, tastes, smells, sounds, colors, and shapes also do in some cases.

In legal terms, a trademark is a right. This is granted to a venture that offers specific services or goods under a particular identity. It allows the firm to stop any other person from selling similar products under a name, design, or symbol identical to theirs.

How Trademarks Can Benefit Your Company

Even though registering your company with a trademark isn’t required by law, doing it can be pretty advantageous to you. In this article, you’ll learn about nine benefits you could enjoy for trademarking your business name, logo, slogan, services, and products.

However, to enjoy any of the advantages provided in this write-up, you must first secure a trademark. To do so, you must submit your application to your country’s registration agency. For instance, in the United States (US), you can send yours to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). There are several ways to do this. You could take your application yourself, send it via post, or you could register online via the office’s website.

While you can apply for trademark registration by yourself, engaging an intellectual property (IP) attorney is advisable. This is because the process may be a bit complex, and it may have stringent procedures. Also, trademark research is required, which can be extensive. Therefore, you need a lawyer who’s familiar with and can handle the registration process easily and more efficiently. They’ll help you choose a suitable trademark class and specimen for your business. In addition, they’ll also answer any questions you might have about the registration process, making it less complicated for you.

When choosing a trademark attorney, you must consider trained, certified, licensed, and well-experienced individuals. This way, you’ll be guaranteed professional and satisfactory services. To find the best expert, contact the most reputable trademark law firm near you. Alternatively, ask for referrals from trusted friends or relatives who’ve already trademarked their businesses.

As promised, here are some of the benefits trademarks can offer your enterprise:

1. They Provide Legal Protection For Your Business

You put your firm at risk by failing to trademark your name, logo, slogan, products, or services. This is because if anyone tried to copy either of these, you wouldn’t have a legal right to sue them. It, therefore, means that anyone can open their own company using your name, symbol, design, motto, or an imitation of your services or products. If this happens, your customer could be falsely led to think that the business is yours. As a result, this could cause significant financial losses on your side.

Therefore, trademarks legally protect your enterprise by allowing you to sue anyone that might try to imitate your name, logo, slogan, or products. Hence, they’re highly advised for any firm, no matter its size.

Trademarks can be quite helpful, especially in this age where you have to widely market your business on television, radios, and magazines to reach more people. This is because such kinds of promotion mediums put you at a higher risk of counterfeiters and copycats. For this reason, you may find that most advertisers may advise firms to get trademarks before marketing their products or services.

Considering this recommendation helps you protect your identity because you have the right to sue anyone trying to use your firm’s name, logo, or slogan. Also, it helps prevent other businesses from selling services identical to your company’s or goods with a style or features similar to yours. This way, you might shield your venture from unfair competition.

2. They Save You From Potential Lawsuits

Trademarks also help to protect your business from potential lawsuits. Usually, it’s recommendable to trademark your business in its early stages. This helps because you might find that another enterprise has already beaten you to it if you do it later. The firm could sue you for trying to register yours under a name, logo, or slogan similar to theirs.

If this happens, it can be pretty catastrophic for your company. You may be forced to change your identity or destroy any articles that the court may consider infringing, such as the material you might have published on your website.

As seen, getting a trademark in the initial stage of your business can be helpful. Besides shielding your identity, you’ll also protect yourself from potential lawsuits in the future.

3. They Make Your Company Stand Out

There are countless businesses in any state or country in today’s world, and every day, more are opened. This makes it harder for consumers to distinguish one venture from another. Trademarks make your company recognizable.

As mentioned, they protect your enterprise against people who might try to copy your name, logo, slogan, or imitate your services or goods. Hence, this helps your firm to stand out in your industry. As a result, it’ll be easier for you to capture customers’ attention in today’s crowded market.

4. They Make Your Products Easily Distinguishable

A trademark allows your company to use the R in a circle (®) sign to show that you’re registered. You, therefore, have a right to use this symbol on your products. This helps ensure that your goods are easily distinguishable from your competitors’.

Once buyers see your products, they’ll know who they’re buying from. This means that if you build an excellent business reputation, it could be hard for a consumer to choose your competitor’s product over yours. As a result, it’ll be easier for you to grow your customer base. Ultimately, you’ll increase your sales and be able to expand your enterprise.

5. They Help You Get Hires Quickly

Most job seekers today are looking to work in places that can help them grow and attain their career goals. Therefore, companies with trademarks tend to be quite attractive to them. This is usually because such firms are thought to be high-performing ventures.

That said, your enterprise must build a good reputation with its employee for you to attract quality talent. Presently, there are several websites where workers leave reviews about their bosses. If you treat your team well, they’ll most likely leave positive comments about you. As a result, your good name will make your company admirable to many top performers.

Hiring quality talent can be quite beneficial for your business. Since these individuals have a high skills level, they’re likely to perform better at work. This could motivate other team members to start working hard, too. As a result, you’ll experience high productivity levels in your company, which translates to increased profitability.

Secondly, these individuals are usually easier to control. This makes it less challenging for the management team. Since they don’t have to spend most of their time supervising the top talent, they can perform other duties efficiently. Thirdly, most top achievers tend to have a shorter learning curve. This means that it takes fewer days or hours to train them. Therefore, they help you reduce unproductive time significantly, saving your revenue and profits, too.   

6. They Increase The Value Of Your Business

As you market or advertise your products and services, it’s advisable to use your trademark. This will help you increase brand recognition. As a result, you’re likely to attract more consumers. Usually, having more customers increases your profitability, and as a result, you’ll be able to expand your business.

As your reputation and brand grow, so will the value of your company. This can be quite advantageous, especially if you’re looking to sell the firm one day. Many business purchasers may be drawn to trademarked enterprises. Thus, you could attract several buyers with a trademark. This means that you could find someone willing to pay a higher price for your venture. As a result, you get some good cash out of the sale of your company.

7. They Are Long Term

Trademarks require periodic renewal. Failure to do this could make you lose your rights. This means that if someone else tried to obtain one using your firm’s name, logo, slogan, or an imitation of your products and services, they could be granted legal possession of these.

By regularly renewing your trademark, you’ll have long-term ownership of your identity. This is true because some of the most renowned global companies have maintained their names, symbols, taglines for decades. This has enhanced their recognition significantly. In the years ahead, these firms could continue thriving.

This could happen to your business, too, if you acquired a trademark. However, you need to conduct a thorough trademark search when applying for one. This will spare you from changing your name, logo, or slogan at a later time when you find out there’s a company using either. As a result, the search could help you save the money and time you invested into building and growing your firm.

You can do a trademark search on your own. However, it’s advisable to hire an intellectual property attorney because they could conduct it more efficiently. Also, since the process might take a while, a lawyer can save you valuable time to focus on growing your company.

8. They Demonstrate Your Faith In Your Business

As mentioned, the law doesn’t require enterprises to trademark their businesses. Also, the process entails several steps and isn’t free. Therefore, by taking this step, you show your customers and competitors that you believe your products and services. In addition, it also indicates that you have great faith in the prosperity of your venture, and therefore, you’d protect it at all costs. This sets you apart from other firms in your industry.

Besides that, it also helps consumers have confidence in your enterprise. Therefore, you could have more loyal clients, which helps increase the likelihood of repeat purchases. Also, since happy customers often spread the good word about a company to their loved ones, your business could attract more people. Ultimately, if customers have high confidence in your firm, you’re likely to generate more revenue and increase your profits.

9. They Might Help You Rank Higher In Search Engines

Customers don’t only search for a product or service on the internet when they need them. They also do so after hearing about them from their loved ones or upon seeing a company’s advertisement on television or in newspapers. As you’ve learned, most people may have more confidence in trademarked businesses than those that aren’t. Therefore, they’re more likely to look into the former’s products or services on search engines after seeing their advertisements or hearing about them.

This means that as a trademarked company, you’re likely to have more visitors to your site. This could help you rank higher in search engines. As a result, if anyone looks for products or services that you may be offering on the internet, your site may be among the first results they see. This could significantly help your business. You could increase your brand recognition, sales, and customer base. Ultimately, you might generate more income and could easily beat your competitors.

Conclusion

Trademarks are inexpensive yet highly beneficial. Usually, they protect your business name, logo, or slogan from anyone who may try to copy them. In addition, they also help prevent people from selling goods and services exactly like yours.

In this article, you’ve learned about nine reasons why trademarks are essential to your venture. As provided above, they offer your firm legal protection, save you from potential lawsuits, and also make your company stand out. Also, they make your products easily distinguishable, help you get hires quickly, and increase the value of your business. Additionally, trademarks also last long if periodically renewed, they demonstrate your faith in your firm and help you rank higher in search engines.

If you have a venture, consider trademarking it as soon as possible to enjoy the above benefits. However, if you’re planning to start a company soon, it’s best to commence your registration process in the firm’s earlier stages. This is advised because you might find that someone already beat you to it if you do it later. This could force you to change your name, slogan, or logo. Therefore, by trademarking your enterprise early, you’ll prevent losing the money and time you may have used to build your business, reputation, and customer base.