At some point, your start-up business will develop a reputation. One of the unfortunate setbacks of business success is the risk of plagiarism, hacking, and data loss. As you become an easily identifiable household name, consumers are more likely to purchase your well-established brand.
However, with fame comes consequences such as fending off counterfeit criminals who aim to capitalise on your brand name. Safeguard your assets and critical data by turning to professional brand protection solutions.
What is Brand Protection?
Brand protection is a security measure that safeguards against pirates, counterfeiters, and infringers of intellectual property. With it, you can secure your company’s image, reputation, and revenue.
What is Brand Exploitation?
Brand exploitation pertains specifically to cybercriminal groups exploiting popular brands via fake websites, patent thievery, and social media impersonation.
The Impact of Brand Counterfeiting
When it comes to counterfeiting, your business can’t simply “ignore the fakes.” In exploiting your brand’s intellectual property, fraud instigators create the following consequences.
1. Your Sales Plummet
Reproduced fakes will typically sell at a fraction of the price listed on your website. Most counterfeit products are eerily identical to those of original products—but they are made with cheaper products. If consumers fall victim to these counterfeits, your sales funnel could take a significant blow.
2. It Taints Your Reputation
Counterfeit items aren’t a compliment. Your counterfeiters don’t admire you—they want to take advantage of the brand you’ve carefully built over the years. If consumers find that you aren’t reigning in on these counterfeit products, they might opt to do business with a more reputable and trustworthy brand.
3. You Lose Partner Trust
When counterfeit products arise, you don’t only lose out on sales and customers—you lose out on partnerships. Distributors might perceive counterfeiters as replacements, as they can offer virtually the same product at a lower price. Some will mistakenly assume that you are disloyal, even when you aren’t.
4. You Consume Resources
There is no denying the time, cost, and effort that goes into combatting counterfeit products. The process can take a considerable amount of time and pull departments out of other, more urgent assignments.
How to Incorporate a Robust Brand Protection Strategy
Counterfeiters are persistent, so you aren’t going to eliminate them in one go. Brand protection is an ongoing process that doesn’t end when one counterfeiter decides to throw in the towel. To safeguard your content, products, and services, work with a professional who can:
- Bring up direct misuse of your assets with the appropriate legal entities
- Combat identity and credit theft with anti-malware software
- Remove plagiarised content from websites abusing your brand name
- Act on brand impersonation offences on social media
Remember, your brand reputation isn’t what you make it out to be—it’s how consumers perceive it online. No matter how reliable your services are, in reality, counterfeiters can all too quickly disillusion unknowing consumers.
Begin cyber monitoring with our experts against brand abuse at FraudWatch International. We are a leader in the anti-phishing and brand protection business and work tirelessly to provide cybercrime failsafe for deserving companies.