5 proven ways how to protect a business name

Five most commonly used ways to protect a business name

Here are 5 proven ways to help you learn how to protect a business name and make sure the name you choose will be only yours and you can legally use it wherever you want.

Choose a unique name

Before you decide which business name to choose, make sure you’ve selected a unique name, and the selected name isn’t already in use by some other company. By doing this, you can be sure that only your company will be associated with your business content and not be confused with another company.

When choosing a unique name, it’s good to do detailed online research first, and while researching, stick to the following parameters.

• Adhere to state naming regulations
• Avoid choosing a name that is too similar to your competition
• Pick a name that’s simple to pronounce
• Pick a unique name that matches your business content

Making research by these parameters might take a lot of time to complete but, in general, the more unique the name you choose the less likely it’s that the name will already be in use. Having a unique business name will also help you to establish a reputation among your potential customers easier.

Register the name

After choosing the name, comes business name registration. Nowadays it’s quite easy because you can do it online. All you have to do is to send an application for the Employer Identification Number to some of the state agencies and you are done. By registering the name, your business legitimacy will be perpetuated, and your company will officially exist also, your company can be easily found in business name searches.

However, registering the business name doesn’t grant you any rights to it, and doesn’t prevent some other company from registering a name that is the same as yours. In order to be sure that you have full ownership and rights of the chosen name; besides registration, you also need to trademark that name.

Trademark your name

Once the trademark is approved, you may start using it everywhere to market your business and products/services on the market and be secure that no one can steal your work.

Register a domain name

This way doesn’t offer you complete protection over the chosen name but still can help you to function in the online world and be easily recognized by your potential customers. 

Important note; when you’re registering a domain name, always choose a domain with a .com extension because these domains are more secure and legitimate than URLs with other domain extensions. Also, the domain name you choose should be recognizable and easy to read and should be relevant to your business content.

Use the chosen name

There’s another simple and good way to “protect” a business name, and that’s to use the name as much as possible, starting with setup business accounts and claiming an online presence on all online platforms. 

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc. all these major platforms will help you to easily present your business content to your target audience via blog posts, paid ads, short commercial reels, etc. Thus your chosen business name will be easily recognized and remembered among your customers. 

By using this way you’ll prevent other competitors from creating fake accounts and using your brand name all in order to take over your customers.

Conclusion

One of your company’s most important assets is its business name, which you should protect it from the competition. By protecting your name, you will be able to ensure the reputation of the business and be sure that none of your competition will steal your work. For that purpose, we’ve tried to explain to you the five safest ways you can use to protect your business name and transform your business into a reputable brand.