The online world is fierce and very competitive, making it difficult to stand out. However, it’s also provided the opportunity for anyone to create an online presence and start a business in the hopes of being successful. While it’s still difficult to make a company successful, the tools and exposure that the internet provides is one that can certainly help many achieve greatness.
However, what comes with that competitiveness for success online also encourages many to steal ideas and even entire business concepts. With that being said, here are some ways to stop others online from stealing your brand
Trademark and copyright anything possible
Protecting yourself legally is essential, especially as there will be plenty of people looking to steal your ideas, whether that be a particular product or service, or even your whole brand as you know it.
Trademarking and copyrighting your products, services and business is something that can provide you with the much-needed security you need for the company’s future growth. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding out someone has stolen your ideas and there’s nothing you can do without having trademarked or copyrighted it prior.
Claim your brand through all online platforms
Be sure to claim all your platforms when it comes to the brand. From Twitter to Instagram, Youtube to Tiktok, it’s worth having your brand signed up to all of the platforms with the brand as the username. Even if you’re not intending to use the profile itself, it’s important to do it so that you’re avoiding anyone else using it.
If you don’t claim it early enough, someone else might get there hands on it and therefore make something from it that makes it difficult to pull it from their ownership.
Buy all of the relevant domains
For online brand protection, it’s worth making sure you have all of the relevant domains for your business name. While you may have the .com domain, you may also want to get the same but with the .net and .co.uk. This means you can redirect all of these to your actual website which is useful for when users have inputted the wrong ending to the URL by mistake.
Not only that but it stops anyone from creating copycat sites or using them for their own financial gain.
Report any copycats or those breaking the laws
Be sure to report any copycats to those who are responsible for taking action against them. There will always be someone looking to pull a fast one and hopefully make a quick buck at your company’s expense.
However, as your business grows, it’s important to stamp down on anyone who tries to steal your thunder or make your business a financial venture for themselves.
Watermark any content
Lastly, be sure to watermark any content that you don’t want others using for their own. This can be in the form of a logo or a very faint logo or writing over the entire picture itself.
These tips will help keep your online brand your own and avoid others stealing it from you.