Photo by don_naked
Your company brand is your masthead, whether it is online or out in the real life world. People will remember a consistent brand. People will associate a brand with feelings. People will hopefully always remember your brand even when you change it, they should always know who you are. But many companies don’t understand how to protect their brand and keep that brand in good standing. We don’t want people to look at our Check Issuing logo and think “horses are cool,” we want them to think “that’s an amazing third party check distribution company.” See how that works? I know nothing about horses, so the former would be terrible. But what are some good things to do to make sure your brand is protected?
Don’t say stupid things on social media
This is the number one thing you need to pay attention to. We live in a culture where daily someone ruins their brand on social media. Whether its a Tweet interpretted as insensitive to a tragedy or someone tweeting something that seems racially insensitive. Set strict guidelines for content posted on social media about your company and make sure you have someone competent in charge of it. Too many companies just hire the cheapest person they can find, but if those people know nothing about PR, it might be a bad idea. Social Media is your PR, it is a direct voice of your brand. It needs to be in check and it needs to leave your followers feeling good about your brand.
File a trademark with Google
Google Adsense, pending you use them for brand promotions, has a way to allow you to file a trademark. If you have a trademark on your company, this is a great step to protect your brand and stop people from bidding on your company name. Its not an incredibly easy process, but it can help. There are lots of strings attached, but definitely worth looking into.
Get a color pallet and work from it
I see this mistake all the time. Always make sure you have a color pallet for your logo and site design. This way, when you update that logo, you can pull from the same colors so as your brand name, while changed, remains identifiable and familiar to all who know you. If you look at the big brands out there, that’s what they do and it is why even when they change a logo, you still know who they are.
Photo by don_naked
