Trademark registration does a lot to protect your intellectual property from being used by competitors in Singapore without your knowledge or consent. This allows you to enjoy the full benefits that come with the right to its exclusive use and ownership.
Here are a few other advantages that come with registering for a trademark:
• Brand uniqueness (your goods and services are more distinguished);
• Right to exclusive use; and
• Certified proof of ownership.
As a starting entrepreneur, the best way to protect your brand aside from trademark registration is to make it as unique as possible. Before applying to register TM for your products and services, you should first make sure that you have a brand name and logo in the first place.
What’s In the Brand?
Choosing a brand name before you register at brandmark TM registry in Singapore is the first step to successful marketing. The name not only serves as the extension of the brand, but also reinforces the value of the products and services that fall under this brand.
A few options that you can use for coming up with a brand name are by using the following:
• A name describing your services
• A name describing an image or experience of what you want your products or services to provide for your consumers
• A word taken out of context/completely made up
• Changing a word’s spelling
• Using acronyms and numbers
What you should keep in mind when it comes to choosing a name is what you want your brand to mean and represent. For instance, a business that provides names for companies would have itself have a name that reflects the kind of services that it offers.
As the number of businesses competing to provide the same kinds of goods and services is steadily increasing, the brand name itself must be a walking advertisement – after all, you only have one chance to make a first impression to potential consumers.
There are also certain factors that you need to consider when choosing a brand name, such as:
• The stakes – They can be especially high when investing capital into launching a project despite established competition. How confident are you that your newly-formed brand can compete with established names in the market?
• Confidence in your team’s creativity – Does your team have the creative firepower in order to come up with a brand name you can apply a registered mark for? Will you need to bring in outside help?
• Available time and energy for the project – Will you have enough time or energy to devote for coming up with the brand name?
Another way to help you come up with a name for your brand is by generating a list of names that you can choose from. If you happen to be competing at a local scale, you’ll find that many of the names you thought of have already been taken.
This is true not just in the brand names applied for trademark registration in Singapore, but also in the URL’s that these brands also have in order to advertise the goods and services that fall within these brands.
Testing Your Name
Now that you have a few sample names for your brand, try pronouncing each one of these names out loud. This is especially important when you or a sales representative under your employ will be saying the name of the brand or company over the phone.
Is it difficult to pronounce or spell correctly? If so, you might want to change it to something simpler, as a brand name that’s confusing to both pronounce and spell can be difficult to catch on for potential consumers. A lot of company names today are actually simply acronyms of their old names in order to make it easier for their clients to remember.
Is the name memorable? While a unique name can be approved when applying to register trademark for your brand, a name that’s difficult to pronounce will also end up going over potential clients’ heads.
The Logo
The brand name and the logo are two important parts of the same coin. While the name is what both clients and consumers hear, the logo is what comes to mind when people think of the brand name.
Think of the logo not just as an image, but also as the introduction to the brand’s goods and services. While there’s no one way to come up with an eye-catching logo, there are a lot of ways that your design could go wrong. To avoid them, here are a few tips that you can use to create an eye-catching logo:
• Keep it simple. A simple design is a timeless design, and one that has everything the brand is about and stands for in one look. You can achieve this by keeping your font to a minimum, by using a simple color scheme, and by employing negative space.
A good way to know your design is good is by seeing it in grayscale. If it still functions well despite the lack of color, you know you have a good logo in your hands.
• Think outside the box. Avoid picking names that could prevent your business from moving around or adding to its product line. The name also carries out into the logo, and a name that’s difficult to move with the times will have a logo that also can’t move with the times.
Don’t copy – this will only make potential clients think that the brand is just another knock-off of a more successful one. Be sure to have more than one sample, as your first idea will most likely be your most generic one.
• Learn how to deal with public criticism. People will not always like your brand logo at first, which is important that you grow a thick skin during the initial stages of the launch. A second opinion or a test audience, though not a guarantee will give you the feedback you need, never hurts.
