Chapter 7: Trademarks
If you’re building a brand, you may want to consider trademarking things like your name and logo. Trademarking allows you to “own” a name or image, preventing competitors or copycats from using your branded assets without your permission. Trademarks can be a bit pricey to acquire, and significantly more expensive to enforce. However, benefits like securing social media @’s may make the upfront cost worth the while.
Googling “trademark my business” will yield thousands of results for legal firms and services that can take care of all of the busywork when setting up your first trademark. The whole process usually costs around $5,000, including legal fees. However, in order to get your trademark approved, you must show “proof of use”. For example, if you’re trademarking your business name, you will need to show proof that your business has operated under that name for a certain period of time. Things like websites, social media accounts, physical storefronts, marketing materials, or merchandise are all examples of acceptable proof of use.
The biggest reason I recommend trademarking your business name is because it allows you to secure social media @’s. Since you legally own the name, if the @ is already taken, all major social media platforms have a streamlined process for you to submit your trademark paperwork and claim the @. Sometimes finding an available @ for a branded page can be insanely difficult, so being able to brute-force your way through with a trademark can be incredibly helpful, and is something I’ve personally done several times.