More companies are applying for trademarks than ever before.

And thanks to technology and electronic filling, it’s easier than ever to apply for a trademark for your business.

If your business has a brand that you want to protect, you should seriously considering trademarking your logo. You might be wondering if you can even trademark your logo and how to go about doing so.

In this article, we’ll explain the basics of trademarking and how to trademark a logo to benefit your business.

What is a Trademark?

Simply put, a trademark protects your brand.

You can trademark any word, image, logo, or slogan that you use to identify your brand and your products. A trademark protects you from someone else stealing your idea.

They key is that the concept you want to trademark has to be distinctive. There’s flexibility when it comes to the shapes a trademark can take.

Your trademark identifies you to consumers. When many people think of a trademark, they picture a logo such as the Nike swoosh. The swoosh symbol identifies an item as a product of the Nike brand.

There are many avenues to take for personalized options of products featuring your company’s logo to boost your brand image. 

Trademarking your idea protects your business from competitors. If another company creates a product with a logo remarkably similar to yours, you could lose money and customers. It’s especially frustrating if the other product is of inferior quality.

You don’t want consumers to mistake another product as your own or vice versa. If you trademark your idea and another company does create something similar enough that consumers could be confused, they are guilty of trademark infringement under the law.

They’ll have to stop using the trademark in question if you pursue legal action.

It’s worth noting that it’s usually businesses that own trademarks rather than the designers who create them. The business who uses the trademark on products in commerce is the trademark owner. 

Trademarking a Logo

Technically, your logo becomes a trademark as soon you start using it and consumers are able to recognize the business behind it.

This means that when you use your logo in commerce on packaging, labels, or products and its symbols, shapes, and colors are commonly understood to represent your company, the logo is a trademark.

The law in the United States views trademarking this way, but there are some caveats. Unless you officially register your logo as a trademark, you are only eligible for common law rights to your trademark and your rights are limited geographically.

It’s also hard to enforce these limited rights. This is why we recommend officially registering your logo as a trademark through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 

Registering a Trademark

Registering your trademark gives you protections not offered to common law trademarks.

If you’re serious about growing your business and protecting your brand, you’ll want to officially register your logo as a trademark. Here a few of the many reasons to register your trademark:

• You’ll have what’s called presumptive ownership of the trademark on a national level. That means you’ll own the trademark everywhere in the United States. Remember that common law trademarks often come with geographical limitations.
• You can request that U.S. Customers and Border Protection confiscate any counterfeit or infringing goods that are imported into the country.
• You’ll qualify for trademark protection in countries around the world.
• You can sue for infringement on the federal level instead of in state court.
• You’re protected under the federal Anitcybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. This means you can sue anyone who registers for a domain name that is identical or similar enough to your own to confuse customers.

Can I Trademark a Logo?

So you want to trademark your logo. Can you?

If your logo is original and as long as it’s not misleading or offensive, you can trademark it. In fact, hundreds of thousands of trademarks are approved by the Patent Office each year.

Remember that your logo will be denied for a trademark if it’s too similar to an existing one. It can’t look similar, sound alike, or mean the same thing as another logo.

Of course, this is not true if the products are totally unrelated. 

How to Trademark a Logo

Basically, you simply need to apply for a trademark by submitting an application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Office will review your application and approve or deny your trademark request. It’s important to note that your logo will be protected from the date you file for a trademark as opposed to the date the trademark is issued. This allows you to start using the logo right away.

If your business only operates in one state, you may apply for a state trademark. In order to apply for a federal trademark, you have to conduct business in more than one state.

If you are a web-based business or operate across state lines, you should apply for a federal trademark.

Register Your Logo as a Trademark Today

Now that you know a little more about how to trademark a logo, it’s time to take action.

If your business is growing, you should trademark your logo as soon as possible. If you aren’t sure if you can trademark your logo, a patent and trademark attorney can do an analysis of current registered trademarks and advise you further.

For more tips on building your brand using a logo, check out our blog.

Did you know the hidden arrow in the FedEx logo represents precision and speed?

Are you looking to design your logo but not sure where to begin? Not to worry! In this guide, we’ll go over design principles to use as you create your logo.

Want to learn more? Keep reading to find out.

Keep It Simple

Take a moment to think of the most famous brands in the world. Did you think of McDonald’s or Apple? Those two companies have a simple logo that’s recognized around the globe.

When working on your logo, go simple instead of complex. A simplistic logo is easy to print and can engage your audience instead of confusing them.

Choose a Balanced Logo

A logo is an icon no matter if it’s a graphic symbol or text. When creating a logo, you want to maintain a sense of balance. Don’t place elements together at random. 

When thinking about the look, keep your audience, and services in mind. Pick a logo that has a balanced appearance reflecting your business. 

Think About Symbols

Your logo doesn’t have to describe what your business does. For example, most shoe manufacturers don’t choose a shoe as their logo.

Pick an icon that can still communicate your brand without using the company name. This way, you can use the icon as an image that stands alone on the packaging.

If it’s too obvious, a viewer won’t experience the sense of discovery. Try not to go too abstract.

Easy to Adapt

Your logo should work on a small business card or a massive billboard. Use it on a t-shirt, brochures, or stamps. A strong logo will look great with different colors or one color.

When working on your logo, imagine how it will look on different marketing materials. This will help you make sure it’s flexible and looks striking in various formats.

Take Your Time Deciding on Colors

Before picking a color, think about what message you’ll send to customers. Do the colors reinforce the mood you’re trying to communicate? Blue can express loyalty, freshness, and trust. Green symbolizes cleanliness and nature.

Think about what colors work well with white and black backgrounds. Don’t include more than three colors in a logo. Too many colors will increase the cost when you have to print materials.

Uniqueness Factor

Will your logo stand out from the competition? Keep working on your logo if you think it’s too predictable or bland. You don’t want it to become invisible to your audience. Avoid typical cliches like pinwheels and clip art.

Research your competition. If your business is a PayStubCreator, research the industry and watch for patterns. Avoid mimicking those logos and create something that stands out.

Logo Design Principles

We hope you found this guide on creating a memorable logo helpful. With these logo design principles, brainstorm your company’s future logo. 

Don’t forget to bookmark our site. This way, you won’t miss out on any of our resources.

If you’ve gone through the process to create a great logo for your business, you want it to be seen as much as possible.

Breaking through the clutter of marketing messages is often seen as the biggest barrier for business owners to get new clients.

Promotional products can be used to help your business cut through the noise. It’s a $23 billion industry because companies see huge benefits by spending marketing dollars on promotional products.

Read on to find out how promotional products can help you build your business.

1. Build Your Brand

Your brand is the base of your business. The stronger your brand is, the more you’ll be able to grow your business. A good brand goes beyond the logo. It’s the connection that people have with your company.

As a business, you promise something to your customers. It can be a superior product, excellent service, or both. Your brand conveys that promise to your customers so when they think of your company, that promise is the first thing that comes to mind.

Look at a brand like Volvo. They go beyond selling cars and promise safety and security.

How can promotional products help you fulfill that promise? First of all, they help you set your brand apart from your competition. There will be no confusion between your brand and the competition.

Secondly, when your company’s logo is seen often, like on promotional products, people are more likely to remember it.

2. Recruit Top Employees

You’re going to spend a lot of time and money to hire employees. You want to make sure that you get the right employee, to begin with.

Promotional products can instill a sense of company pride among your employees, whether they’re new employees or have been around for a while.

When you present promotional products to new hires as part of their welcome package, you’re building a sense of loyalty that can drive employee engagement.

You can also use promotional products at job fairs and recruiting events. This will help prospective employees identify more strongly with your company.

Another great use of promotional products is to create teams within your company. It can spur on a friendly competition to do better. You can separate teams by using patches with different team names on them. View here for more ideas to use promotional patches.

3. Create Loyal Customers

Not only do you want your employees to be loyal, but you also want your customers to be loyal, too. Customers that feel that they are appreciated are more likely to remain your customers rather than go to a competitor.

You can show your appreciation for your customers by giving them gifts. You can give them cards and gift cards to local restaurants. You can also give them promotional products.

People love free stuff that has a purpose, so you want to make sure that your products will be used by customers. For example, a company that deals with corporate executives can use pens or keychains with USB drives on them.

If you have a fitness business and work with an active crowd, water bottles, t-shirts, and bags would be appropriate.

4. Improve Digital Marketing

Did you know that promotional products can impact your digital marketing efforts? Here’s how promotional products usually work.

Someone becomes aware of your brand through a promotional product, such as a pen or a t-shirt. They’re intrigued by your brand and they noticed your website on the promotional product. They look you up out of curiosity.

They don’t need your services right now, so they decide to revisit your company later. When they need your services down the road, they’ll do a search online. They’ll remember your company name and when they see it in search results, they will click through to your website and book an appointment.

5. Higher Brand Recall

Part of the reason why promotional products work so well with digital marketing is that they lead to higher brand recall.

Brand recall is the ability of someone to remember your brand when they see it. About 76% of people remember a brand from promotional products.

In traditional advertising like newspaper ads and billboards, it can take between 6-7 impressions before your brand is remembered.

6. Look Professional

Do you deliver products directly to clients? You don’t want your employees to look like they just threw on what was clean and roll out the door.

You want them to look polished and professional. After all, they represent your business. It’s the same when you go to a trade show. When you wear the same shirts with your branding, you look like a unified unit as opposed to a team of individuals.

7. Promotional Products Deliver ROI

You want to see a return on investment anytime you spend money. It’s no different with promotional products. Promotional products help your brand stand out and be remembered. How does that translate into sales?

People hang on to promotional products, with some lasting over one year. That creates a lot of impressions in the mind of the person who owns the promotional product and the people around them.

The more impressions, the more your company will be remembered. When someone is ready to use your services, they will remember your name. That’s who they’ll call first.

If you give promotional products to current customers, 79% of them say that they will do business with you again.

You probably spent $8 on a t-shirt, but if it lasts longer than a year, think of the number of impressions that will generate. Then there are the sales that come from that. That’s how you know that you have a return on investment.

Promotional Products Are a Smart Investment

You want your business to stand out from the competition. That’s how you’re going to get new customers to your business.

There are plenty of reasons to use promotional products. Customers and employees love them. They create a more loyal fanbase and generate a return on investment.

Do you need a spiffy new logo to put on your promotional products? Create your own using our logo maker.

It’s a given that promotional products work, but did you know that they may even work better than digital ads? Let’s look at the evidence in numbers.

A single promotional bag generates around 5,700 impressions. 85% of consumers also remember the company more because of a t-shirt or a hat.

This means nothing still beats a physical product when it comes to increasing brand awareness and brand visibility.

These numbers say something about the effectiveness of a promotional product, but it doesn’t include the quality of those products. 

If you’re planning to print logo images of your company, make sure you choose the right method. You’ll get more out of your investment by ensuring the quality. Read on to know the steps on how to do it right.

1. Prepare the Logo File

You must first have the logo file prepared. It should be compatible with the method of printing you want, which we’ll discuss later.

Your logo should have vector graphics. This will make it easier for you to scale it up or down depending on the material you want it printed on. This allows you to print it on small products like mugs or big marketing materials like banners without it losing quality.

Make sure it doesn’t have a background, too, not even a white background. It should be transparent. If it has a white background, the printed logo will have a white rectangular frame.

As for the colors, consider the product you want to print it on, too. For colorful bottles, consider putting a monotone logo, for instance. 

2. Choose a Logo Printing Method

Once you have your print logo file ready, choose how you want to print it on your marketing product of choice. The right method will also depend on the material. We’ll explain it more below.

Heat Transfer

In this method, you print the image on a sublimation transfer film. This then utilizes the heat from a heat press to transfer the design to another object. Note that the result looks glossy with bright colors.

This method is great for t-shirts, mugs, bags, and more. In general, you can use this method for fabric, plastic, and ceramic materials.

Silkscreen Printing

Silkscreen printing has been in use for over a century. Even today, it remains an effective method of printing.

It’s a popular method for printing on t-shirts. But you can also use this method to print on wood, paper, ceramic, and other materials. You can also use it to print your logo on suitcases, umbrellas, and other objects with flat surfaces.

The printing process involves a screen, a sheet of plastic with cut-outs, and a squeegee. You place the screen on top of the object, then place the sheet of plastic, and then use a squeegee to coat the screen with ink. This “prints” the image on the sheet of plastic onto the object.

Laser Engraving

As this method’s name implies, it uses a laser to engrave words or images onto materials like wood and metal. For metal products, you have to use the cool laser type and the heat laser for non-metal objects.

It’s easy, fast, and it allows you to create beautiful images on a variety of objects. If you use it on glass, it can create beautiful artworks without breaking the material.

The best thing about this method, though, is that it’s one of the cheapest methods there is.

Embroidery

You don’t have to do actual embroidery in this method; you leave this process to the machines. They “print” any image on the object using needles, threads, and a machine that does embroidery. This leaves a 3D and textured print.

As you can guess, this method is only good for promotional products made of fabric. It’s great for hats, bags, t-shirts, and so on. You can even create a different lanyard option using this method.

3. Buy the Needed Materials

For the printing method you choose, you must buy the corresponding equipment. You’ll need a laser engraving machine, for instance, whose costs depend on the size, power, and capacity.

You will also have to take these into account when buying the right equipment.

You’ll also have to prepare the materials you want your printed logo on. Make sure that the products are also compatible with the printing method of your choice.

Silkscreen printing is inexpensive for the most part, but for the other printing methods, you’ll have to shell out a huge amount of money for the equipment alone. Then you have to account for the manpower, materials, and such.

Get a Printing Company to Print Logo Images

For a hassle-free printing, send your logo to a printing company instead. They will already have the equipment and the knowledge on how to do it right. It not only saves you time but money as well.

First, look for a reputable company who does the printing method you desire and who can print on your chosen product. Most of the time, you can source the marketing product from them, as well. This saves you the extra step of finding a different supplier.

Coordinate with the company to learn what file type they need to print your company logo on products for marketing. For the most part, they’ll ask for an EPS file. However, they may also ask for it in PNG or PDF for test runs.

Speaking of test runs, this is a crucial step when speaking with printing companies. You must have mockups first to see if it looks good and for your suppliers to confirm all the details before they mass print your order.

Get High-Quality Prints of Your Logo

Whichever method you choose and whether you want to do it yourself or let a professional handle it, remember to prioritize the quality over costs. While it’s important to stick to your budget, choose a method that will give you the best results.

Your print logo is a visual representation of your brand; if it looks bad, you risk getting the same image, too.

Why stop here? Don’t hesitate to learn more about marketing by reading our other articles and guides today.