Becoming a brand parent

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I’m going to be an aunty in February of next year, delightful! This got me thinking about the similarities of becoming a parent creating your own brand for the very first time. It is true that nothing can prepare you on how to look after that precious new-born bundle. Similarly, when you create your baby there is little advice on how to keep your brand safe. Having recently gone through this myself in creating Storyteller, here are some helpful tips on how you can protect your empire.

  1. Who’s property is it anyway? When working with a designer on any design work, always go in to that relationship completely transparent and ensure an agreement has been reached as to who owns what, such as your logo. The designer by rights owns this unless you say so.. If you decide to sell your business down the line, they could have rights to some of the profits if that logo goes with the new owner.
  2. Trademarks vs. Registrations? It is not well-known that only a trademark (TM) covers your rights to that brand. Some brands will scare off poachers by using (R) for Registered, this doesn’t exist therefore they have no rights as yet to that brand/ logo/ emblem.
  3. Who’s watching? Do keep an eye on social media – type your company name in to twitter for example to see who is talking about your brand – this is called “Earned Media”. The saying “Any press is good press” isn’t always necessarily true, so check your brand isn’t being used in any way other than positively.
  4. Laws of Association. Beware who you associate your brand to. For example, before you retweet another companies tweet, consider whether they hold similar values to your brand, are they a likeable brand and will it add value to your profile if you RT them?

I hope the above is helpful to you. It is simply to remind you that what you have created is one of a kind and it is you who must nurture and brand guardian this entity until it is ready to fly the nest! Happy parenting!

Love, The Storyteller x

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