It could be that you have plans to expand your business across the country by giving out franchise. If yes, then you need to understand that trademark is crucial for franchising. This is because Trademarks are dealt with on a day-to-day basis. It is a popular way to refer to brands. Brand reputation combined with Trademarks is said to influence the purchase decisions of consumers. Hence, you need to be aware of why Trademarks are a crucial asset for your business.
Reasons for Trademarks to be considered crucial for your franchise business
- Helps customers to identify your business: With competition increasing, the current marketplace is overcrowded with numerous brands & local companies. In such a crowded market, it will become tough for your customers to distinguish yours from that of your competitors. Brands/Trademarks are essential commercial communication tools. They make your services, products & business to stand out amongst the crowd & capture customer attention. As customers go through different products in the market, viewing a trademark will help them to identify the brand easily. It will also determine your business reputation & compel your potential customers to stop looking further for alternatives.
- Effective communication tool: Trademarks can help convey effortlessly emotional & intellectual messages & attributes about your business. This is achieved through a logo or a brand. Also, your potential customers get to know your company, its reputation, services & products. There is no need for a word to be taken as your franchise Irrespective of the alphabet or language, you can come up with designs. For example, the ‘Swoosh’ design of Nike is globally recognized.
- Valuable asset: With time, Trademarks are likely to appreciate with time. With the growth in business reputation, your brand value is also likely to witness an increase in value. It can help you to expand your business to different segments like eye ware to clothing to personal care, etc. Your trademark may also help with a larger corporation being interested in taking over your business. Just like real estate, Trademarks are considered to be property assets. This means it can be licensed, sold or bought or used in the form of security interest to avail business loans.
- Businesses can use Social Media & the web effectively: When searching for relevant services & products, your potential customer is likely to enter your brand in the search engine. They may even use different social media platforms to find your brand like Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, etc. for more information. It will result in getting more traffic on your social media platform or site. This will also mean higher rankings, attracting more customers & brand recognition.
- Hiring made easier: Positive feelings can be instilled in potential customers’ minds about your franchise. This will attract more candidates to seek employment opportunities with your brand. Moreover, employee retention is likely to be much higher.
- Trademarks never expire: Several recognized brands are more than a century old, still alive & doing well. For example, Pepsi-Cola got registered in 1896 & Mercedes in 1900. Both are still powerful brands in the market enjoying a good market share & reputation.
- Affordable to obtain: The Trademark & Patent Office in the U.S. charges just $275 to offer trademark registration. After 5 years, they charge some hundred dollars and after every 10 years, the amount is a few hundred dollars.
Hence, brands & franchise undoubtedly are considered to be important assets. The brand should fit perfectly with your company. To ensure the availability of a new brand, obtain a clearance search. This way, you can make sure of not infringing on other’s prior rights & avoid unnecessary lawsuits.
