By Lisa Tai, Law Graduate Kota Kinabalu
Aside from the legal protection that a registered trademark provides, there are other reasons why it’s so crucial that your business has one—and they’re probably things that have never even occurred to you as a small business owner.
Whether you use a single logo or several symbols, trademarks communicate your brand’s identity and message. They also represent your business, team, and products or services.
Moreover, your trademark is a design that can be recognized without text. Think of the Nike “swoosh” logo. That simple symbol is recognizable, and it tells the story of Nike without using a single word.
Baskin Robbins is known for its ice cream, but did you know there’s a hidden message in the logo? Look closely and you’ll see the number 31 in the initials, as in the number of flavors the company began offering in 1953. Why 31? One flavor for every day of the month, so you can try something new every day. Yum!
Amazon is a staple in many online shoppers’ lives, but have you ever wondered what that little arrow at the bottom of the logo means? It’s not just a fun design element—the arrow broadcasts the wide variety of stuff (from A to Z) sold on Amazon.
Aside from conveying your message, the fact that trademarks can become instantly recognizable symbols will contribute to your business’s reputation over time.
The more effective your trademark is, the more it can influence the purchase decisions of your customer base. Once people get to know your business and the products or services you’re offering, they’ll begin to automatically equate your trademark with the positive and mighty messages you put forth about your brand.
Virtually every marketplace you can think of is oversaturated, making it hard for people to differentiate you from your competitors.
Trademarks, logos, and brands provide a more efficient marketing tool to capture your customer’s attention—which eventually builds up to the reputation mentioned above and brand recognition. Finally, consumers will be less likely to look for alternatives because they’ll have already established trust in your brand and what it stands for.
Social media is now the epicenter of marketing and reaching your customer base. This makes brand recognition all the more critical as it’s the first thing your customers will enter into a search bar across the different social media channels and search engines.
When people, in general, are searching for your products or services more, it’ll translate to more traffic across these various platforms—which translates to more brand recognition.
Eventually, people will be able to spot your brand without having to type in your business name because no one else will be able to advertise with your trademarked brand identity anywhere.
Trademarks are business investments you can make that will appreciate over time. More specifically, as your business grows, the value of your brand will grow.
Essentially, trademarks allow for your business to expand its products and services throughout different industries. This could eventually lead to the merger of your business with a larger corporation.
Additionally, you can use your trademark as a means to secure a loan to grow your business since it works much like a property asset that can be bought, sold, or licensed.
Or, if you choose to sell your business ultimately, you would be selling a (hopefully) solid reputation and customer base. That means you could sell it for top dollar.
