Trademarks and service marks are essential to every business. A trademark identifies your business as the exclusive commercial source of the goods and services you are providing. That is a significant advantage in a competitive marketplace. This applies with equal force to individuals who are self-employed, particularly those working from on-line platforms trying to build significant followings. Creating and registering a trademark can help immensely. Here are five good reasons to trademark your personal brand:
Trademarks make your business sophisticated and serious
There are a lot of self-employed businesses chasing the same customers. Having a registered trademark distinguishes you from your competitors and helps drive your sales, revenue and personal profits. Why? Trademarks are sophisticated, serious, and legal. As such, owning a trademark makes YOU sophisticated, serious, and legal in your market niche. Trademark registration requires advance planning, creative effort, attention to detail, the retention of good trademark attorneys and enough business success to cover the costs. In other words, owning a trademark is a signal to your customers and potential customers that you are successful and that you are worth associating with. You are not just another gig worker or a 1099-contractor. If you can get a trademark registered, then you can do the job. This helps you get the contract and, over time, creates customer loyalty which, in turn, helps your business succeed.
Trademarks make you “findable,” no matter the device
Like unique avatars on message and comment boards, a good trademark quickly identifies you and your business regardless of what platform or device your customers are using. Your customers already trust you. Using a trademark ensures that they can find you on any sized device. A good mark will be scalable and usable on any platform and with any medium (such as video, audio, packaging, etc.). “Findability” matters for two main reasons. With your current and previous customers, they find you and stop looking for one of your competitors. That is the key. For your future customers, they see your mark, which is unique and interesting and stands out from the crowd, and they give you a try. Again, because of your excellent trademark, your future customers stop looking at your competitors.
Trademarks lead to growth and make marketing easy
With a solid well-established trademark/brand, marketing and expanding your personal business becomes much easier. Trademarks can help jump start the process of creating a marketing plan. The launch of a new logo can BE the marketing plan providing an opportunity to send out texts, emails, and mailers to your current, former, and future customers. Interestingly enough, sometimes, the mark itself can create a small revenue stream. People like to buy merchandise depicting positive-message brands and marks. Wearing the logo makes them personal brand messengers. Many people like that idea. In the same manner, a trademark increases the success-rate for entrance into new markets. Think, for example, a national seller of famous cookies can use that brand to try and seize a market share for crackers. Your personal business can use the same technique.
Trademarks protect your business
A trademark allows you to legally protect your trademark and the sales and revenue that it generates. You are the only person who is allowed to use your mark (unless you grant a license). As such, you can prevent others from infringing on your mark by sending removal demands, cease and desist letter and filing suit in federal court for trademark infringement. Protecting your business in this manner is much more difficult if you do not register your personal brand.
Trademarks are themselves valuable
Trademarks themselves are valuable business assets. As discussed above, marks are useful for building a business. This is essential for the self-employed entrepreneur. But, as an added benefit, while building the business, the brand itself becomes a valuable asset that, potentially, can be monetized in the future.
If you have questions about creating and registering a trademark for your self-employed business, contact the trademark lawyers at Revision Legal at 231-714-0100.
