You’ve put in the hard work and long hours, and you’ve watched your business grow steadily from the ground up. The last thing you want is for someone to swoop in and steal parts of your meticulously crafted brand and identity.
That’s why brand monitoring is so important in ensuring that your hard work remains just that – yours. When looking for infringements, what's most important is knowing where to look. Here are six kinds of monitoring that are critical to protecting your brand:
1. Domain Monitoring
Your domain is how people find your brand. Cyber criminals will often use fake domains to redirect traffic to their own, similar site. By keeping track of domains that are misspellings, infringements, or similar titles to your brand, you can ensure that no one is attempting to cybersquat on your domain.
2. Internet Monitoring
Your brand can pop up all over the internet in ways that are both helpful and harmful to your company. Keeping track of your name and trademarks — and where they show up online — is necessary to know where and how you're being represented.
3. Online Marketplace Monitoring
The last thing you want is for your product to be pirated or copied on the Internet. Monitoring online marketplaces is the best way to find out when and where your products are being sold online, and if it’s being done legally.
4. Social Media Monitoring
Social media is a great way to promote your brand, but it also helps negative mentions of your brand spread like wildfire. Keeping an eye on mentions of your brand across social media networks is critical to protecting your brand from infringement or abuse.
5. Mobile Apps Monitoring
While you can control how your brand is being used in your own app, it's important to keep an eye on other apps where your brand or products might be mentioned or displayed. With hundreds of new apps launching daily, monitoring mobile apps is crucial to ensure that your trademark isn’t being infringed.
6. Trademark Monitoring
The name and logo of your company are the powerhouse of your brand. By keeping track of trademark applications, you can find out when someone applies for or receives a similar company name, trademark, or design. Trademark monitoring ensures that your name and design aren’t being applied for elsewhere, both internationally and locally.
While brand monitoring is crucial, it can be difficult or even impossible to keep track of every avenue yourself. BrandShelter can help you monitor your brand, saving dozens of hours you can better spend developing your business. With round-the-clock services, you can sit back and relax knowing that your company and its image are being protected online — without having to do all the monitoring yourself.
