Looking For A Competitive Edge?

Make sure your business is up to the mark.

Its best practice every now and again to step back and look critically at your business, identify its most valuable assets, and ensure that you have robust strategies in place to maximise those assets.

Think about what distinguishes you from your competitors. Why would someone covet your business?

Goodwill and Reputation

The answer is that the goodwill and reputation your business carries and that you have worked so hard to create and to foster is hugely attractive. So, how do you protect that goodwill and reputation, and leverage it to your advantage?

Goodwill in a business is symbolised by its brands, or trade marks. For instance, the goodwill of your trade marks represents their recognition with consumers, and the extra earning power that that recognition generates. Consumers want to buy goods and services from you because they identify with your trade marks and what they stand for.

A significant proportion of the value of your business lies in its intangible assets, in the form of Intellectual Property. These assets often include rights created by your innovation (which are protectable by patents, designs and copyright), but will always include trade marks – the names or labels that your customers crave. Desirable trade marks with associated goodwill provide their owners with entry to markets, freedom to operate, and a source of reliable revenue, and also substantially increases the value of the business with which they are synonymous.

Put simply, your trade marks make you money!

Focussing on protecting and enforcing your trade marks will give you a competitive edge.

So its important you clearly identify the brands that you own or use, recognise that they are not just words, but logos or slogans or labels, and implement an Intellectual Property strategy that builds your trade mark portfolio, and distinguishes your business from those of competitors. Here’s a few things you could do:

-Ensure that, at the very least, your existing brands are adequately protected where you manufacture or sell;

-Identify market opportunities for new brands;

-Adopt trade marks that encourage consumers to choose your goods or services over all the other available options;

-Commit to searching new trade marks to prevent you from infringing third party rights;

-Register new marks;

-Employ watching services to identify infringements early;

-Enforce your rights to protect your product revenues and market position;

-Ensure that all important patented products are branded as a way of extending your monopolies beyond the life of the patents; and

-Seek to generate additional revenue through commercialisation and exploitation of your trade marks, including by licensing, franchising or assignment. Reap the rewards You are serious about your business, so consider your brands just as seriously. If you nurture and protect your brand, then your business will reap the benefits and that brand will contribute significantly to its value.