Protect Trademarks by Registering Names Online:
Protect Trademarks by Registering Names Online:
Control Online Brand Presentation with Proactive Strategies. Many small businesses marketing their products or services rely upon social media and search engine marketing to promote their brand. Search engine marketing relies upon submissions to search engines and naturally using keywords and text online to help search engines easily find a company website. Many companies engage in social media and social marketing as well as search engine marketing, but neglect the all-important task of protecting their brand name and product trademarks online. This latest marketing trend provides useful methods to contact customers, share news and updates, and link into networks that may provide sales leads and more. Here are simple steps to take today to protect a company brand image and product trademarks.
The Branding Triangle
The branding triangle encompasses product, inside marketing and outside marketing. As part of the branding triangle, registering company and dominant product names protects both product marketing and outside marketing by ensuring that the company controls messages posted under its name or its major investment, the product names.
Register on the Major Social Marketing Websites
Even if you don’t plan to use these sites for quite some time, take a few minutes to register on them. Register both the company name and major product names. Some professional services companies, such as coaches, doctors, and nutritionists may prefer to register both their corporate name as well as their personal names.
Why register these names? By registering the names, companies lock in the names and own access to posting under their names. This ensures that competitors, disgruntled former employees, or simple tricksters do not post derogatory or inflammatory messages about their products or services. They can control the message through multiple touch points, essential to most small business marketing plans and public relations plans.
Sites to Register Names and Trademarked Products
The dominant social networking sites and information sharing sites to register names on include:
Profiles and Information Sharing and Networking:
- Linked In
- Plaxo
Articles and News Sharing:
- Digg.com
- Reddit.com
- Stumbleupon
- Mixx.com
- Technorati.com
- Faves.com
- Slashdot.org
- Furl.net
- Newsvine.com
- Propeller.com
- Del.icio.us
Video Sharing Sites
- You Tube
- Yahoo Video
- Social
- VidiLife
- Pooxi.com
- Sharkle.com
- Jumpcut
These are only a handful of the myriad sites available. Look also within the industry in which the company operates, as some sites focus on software, technology, manufacturing and other industries. Register on these to prevent competitors from snatching the names.
Think of business like a chess game. As in chess, sometimes moves are aggressive, intended to knock the competitors off kilter and surprise and delight customers. Other moves are defensive, blocking hostile attacks. Proactive name registration on social media, networking, article and video sharing sites blocks hostile or annoying actions and gives control of important brand names back into the hands of a company.