5 Reasons Why You Should Trademark Your Business Name

A trademark is a kind of intellectual property (IP) made up of a recognizable design, sign, or expression, identifying a business’ products or services from those of its competitors. An individual, business or some other legal entity may own a trademark. A trademark may be placed on a label, a package, a voucher, or on a product. In this article, we will discuss some reasons why many businesses choose to trademark their business name.

Protect Your Right to Your Products and Services

Customers identify trademarks with businesses, so it’s important for a business to ensure that they protect their exclusive rights to a business name. For instance, customers associate social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, with the “Facebook” business name.

That name of course has now been changed to Meta, given the toxicity of the Facebook brand and the need to reframe the company as a champion of the metaverse. Because both names were trademarked, the company has exclusive rights to that business name. You can’t start a business called Facebook or Meta and benefit from customer expectations around the brand, because that would infringe on Meta’s rights.

Build a Corporate Identity

Many businesses choose to trademark their business name so that they can create a corporate identity that customers can develop a connection with. The business name is one element of the development of a unique brand. It is essential to have a corporate identity so that customers develop a strong relationship with the company.

Customer loyalty ensures that your business will be able to retain the money spent by customers in your business, because they trust the company. You should take care to choose a business name that reflects the values of your business, and that is simple and memorable.

Protect the Integrity of Your Brand

As we hinted above, an important reason for trademarking a business name is to ensure that the business name is not misused or misrepresented. You don’t want a rival using your business name to gain customers because customers associate your business name with your products and services.

A trademarked business name also gives a business a greater sense of seriousness than one that is not trademarked.

Avoid Getting Into Legal Trouble

A major reason why you should trademark your business is to ensure that you are indeed the legal and exclusive owner of a business name. The trademark registration process involves search through the United States Patent and Trademark Office database of trademarks. If you do not come across your preferred business name in the search, and you successfully trademark your business name, you will have the comfort of knowing that you are not unwittingly infringing on another business’ trademark.

Increase Brand Recognition

Today’s marketplace is hyper-competitive. Customers have never had so much choice. Trademarks help customers to quickly navigate through their choices. Trademarks communicate a set of values, standards of quality, and expectations of customer experience that make it easier for customers to decide among a world of choices.

Get Better at Managing Your Reputation

A business’ reputation is everything. How customers perceive your business and its products and services will determine your ability to earn and grow revenue and attain profitability. Ina world where anyone can use a business name, a business’ ability to build a reputation and become a distinct entity that customers can trust, is harmed.

A great business would lose customers to businesses that would use its name to confuse customers into thinking their products and services were your business’. A trademark prevents this scenario from happening, allowing you to focus on managing your business’ reputation.