How important is Your Brand and Goodwill?

“Imitation is the best form of flattery” or so they say. When setting up a business or even if the business is established, it’s easy to get excited about a new idea or something innovative, so much so that there is a temptation to share it with the world before the idea is launched.

Remember those school days when copying someone’s work was frowned upon? Or lifting text word for word at University was an act that could end a student’s career? Plagiarism, copying ideas, using similar branding colours or logos, taking advantage of a director’s goodwill and stealing a database of clients or even copying and pasting text from a competitor’s website, happens every day in business but they are all unethical ways of trying to get ahead!

So how important is your Brand and Goodwill to your business? The reply should be “Extremely”

So how do you protect your Brand and Goodwill?

Lets start with the Goodwill element, the client loyalty you have built up over years. You can’t force the customer to stay loyal, yet they do for many reasons- exceptional customer service, quality of the product, price, dedicated staff - all this and more adds value to your business and allows you to build up a valuable clientele. But how do you protect your database? We recently published an article by Mint Insurance which focuses on Cyber Security. What does this have to do with your database? Your data has value and therefore for a member of staff hoping to leave and set up in competition, it’s useful to know how that data is protected, who has access to it and if it’s being “downloaded”. The details of landlords are precious to any agent, so think carefully about passwords protocols and security. Check your employment contracts in relation to data protection and theft of the database. Employers place restrictions on their employees for a reason.

Remember your lettings book is where the value lies.

What about your Brand?

It’s very easy to list the top ten most recognised brands in the world without even thinking - McDonalds, Apple, Microsoft, Coca Cola, Nike, Google, Amazon, Disney - and so the list goes on.

These companies fiercely protect their brand - from the slogans they use “Just Do It” to the colours and logos that need no explanation, it’s their visual identity. Therefore the protection of Trademarks, Ideas, Words (Copyright), Patents is a serious business.
There are so many examples of “passing off” - where a lesser known company copies the branding of a well-known competitor. Aldi’s copycat version of Fortnum and Mason hampers is one such example.

Protect your Brand Identity

Having an individual approach or being unique in business is often copied or coveted because that’s how you stand out in business. Catchy slogans, colourful brands, off the wall marketing campaigns make a difference to the norm and attract the eye of the consumer.

Yet this type of innovative approach needs protecting.
1. Your logo and colours scheme identifies your Brand. Use a great design house who understands how you can protect your corporate ID.

2. Protecting Intellectual Property is a good starting point for anyone who writes content, contracts, strap lines. Everyone has seen the little C symbol (Copyright) at in books, magazines, in a footer - this is a serious way of protecting against plagiarism.

You can usually get permission to use someone else’s intellectual property (IP) by buying the rights from them or getting their permission to use it, however, using someone’s trade mark, patent, copyright or design without their permission is known as ‘IP infringement’ and could lead to a fine, prison or both.