Plenty my friend, plenty.
I’d go so far as to say it has everything to do with Markably – and its vision to protect online ideas as well as real world real estate!
Heck, you built it. You should have a right to keep it safe.
Today’s digital marketplace drives businesses of every size and in every vertical. From doughnuts to doctors – your company MUST be able to be found online. Your customers expect it. In fact, as of 2018, more than 80% of internet users bought goods or services online, spending a staggering $57.4 billion, up from $18.9 billion in 2012. And by 2021, global retail ecommerce sales will reach $4.5 trillion. TRILLION!
And if you are being found, you want to make sure that it’s the real you that your clients are finding.
Here are a few creative ways that digital thieves can burgle your intellectual property. Any one of these can have a HUGE impact on your business, and your bottom line. If this freaks you out, I apologize in advance. Creating awareness is my goal.
- Paid search ads: Hijacking customers and misdirecting them away from your site – and over to the competition. Boom. They find what they need and make a purchase. Just NOT from you.
- Websites, domain names, URLs: Using the same skullduggery as above, searchers find fully functional, branded websites. Just not the RIGHT websites. Their purchases are usually lower quality or flat-out counterfeit. This is especially relevant for those of you that sell products.
- Social media: Word-of-mouth is everything in today’s digital Marketplace. Shoddy customer service via fake social media accounts is a recipe for disaster. Be sure your social content has policies and disclaimers that protect it.
- Online marketplaces: Again, where consumers can purchase counterfeit or competing products.
- App stores: Where a crooked developer has created an app using your brand. Whether competing directly or complementing your business, that money NOT going into your pocket.
The Good News…? There’s always some!
The good news is that year over year, Canadian entrepreneurs are increasingly taking their intellectual property and trademark registration protection as SERIOUSLY as they would protect their homes.
And as a trademark lawyer I’m happy to see that filings by Canadians have grown consistently almost every year since the 2008 financial crisis.
In fact, both in Canada and abroad by Canadians, trademark filings grew 54% over the last decade and 7% in the last year alone.
Yes, it takes a bit of time.
Yes, it costs a bit of money.
But in much the same way that you spend time and money to protect your bricks and mortar real estate investment – by upgrading, expanding, renovating or redecorating, let’s say – make sure you put that same amount of care and concern into your intellectual property!
That’s why I created Markably. I wanted to help young start-ups, small business owners, and entrepreneurs ensure they wouldn’t be suddenly hit with potentially devastating and costly IP theft.
Markably is an affordable online option, easy, and remarkably intuitive.
I hope you’ll check it out and help me spread the word. We can all own and govern our ideas. I can help. For a LOT less when it’s proactive.
When it comes to your brand online, your reputation is all you have.
Lost sales, increased marketing costs, potential loss of your good name – all of these occurrences can happen – and will end up costing you way more than the act of protecting your brand online at the outset will.
Less doomsday resolutions.
More protections.
Cynthia