The Importance of Trademarking
In our previous blog post about becoming an Amazon seller, we mention the big T word – Trademarking.
Trademarking is an important step in protecting your brand identity. Trademarking is about preventing competitors from stealing your customers by imitating your brand and your products. Trademarking even goes as far as offering your brand protection against reputation damage.
Trademarks fall under intellectual property. It applies to logos, symbols, and all branding on your products – including your brand colours. Trademarking licenses need to be renewed every 10 years for your brand to be protected forever.
A popular misconception is that trademarking is only necessary for large brands. This is simply not true. Trademarking is equally important for big businesses and small businesses. Having a unique and distinctive logo will bring your business instant brand recognition as well as make it difficult for others to copy. The process of trademarking is very straightforward and can be done by contacting the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC)
Besides protection, trademarks offer quite a few added benefits:
Trademarks create Brand Recognition.
As we mentioned earlier, having distinct branding and a unique logo increases your chances of having instant brand recognition. Think of logos like Amazon or Apple – you recognise their logos immediately.
Trademarks are essential when taking up business loans.
As your business grows, your expenses start to increase. There are salaries to pay, resources to invest in and advertising costs to consider. You might think of applying for a business loan, and to do this, a trademark for your brand is a necessity.
Trademarks prevent legal issues.
This is a win-win for you as well as all other businesses. Just like your trademark protects your brand, their trademark protects their brand. This will help you become aware of how the use of certain creatives can be illegal. Simply put, prevention is better than cure.
Trademarks are permanent.
As long as you renew your license every 10 years, then having a trademark is a lifetime investment for your brand. Whether you provide a product or a service, trademarking your brand is a form of safety for your business.
Trademarks affect your reputation
Once your business starts to build a positive reputation based on what you offer, your branding is immediately associated with that good reputation. This will eventually start to attract more customers.
Trademarks are good business.
By taking this extra step in completing this simple process, it shows potential customers and leads that you mean business. Trademarking means that you have faith in what you’re building. It shows that you see value in it, and you’re not willing to risk it. This helps improve customer experience as many people begin to trust your brand.
To wrap things up, registering a trademark should be a top priority for your business.
Written by: Billie and Code