Memorable, Viable, & Protected: 3 Must-Haves To Set Your Brand on Fire

Whenever we think of a product, service, or company, what we actually have in mind is the brand behind it. Research shows that our buying decisions are directly influenced by the perception of the value associated with the brand.

Knowing this, there are actually 3 qualities that all successful brands have in common:

1. It is memorable

If nobody can remember your brand, it isn’t that valuable.

Memorable brands don’t need to be sophisticated pieces of art or literary masterpieces.

Check out the world’s 10 most valuable brands:

• Apple
• Google
• Microsoft
• Coca-Cola
• Facebook
• Toyota
• IBM
• Disney
• McDonald’s
• GE

While all of these brands are iconic, not one of them features any literary genius or unsurpassed branding ingenuity.

A brand does not necessarily need to be amazingly brilliant to be valuable...

...but it must be memorable.

A good brand is one that stays in people’s minds—because if it does, those people will more easily be able to tell that brand apart from everyone else selling similar products or services.

A brand that is memorable is more likely to have people telling their friends and family about it.

So make sure the brand you pick for your products, services, or company is easy to remember.

2. It is associated with a successful business

You might pick the most amazing name, a perfect logo, and the best tagline in the world—but if you’re selling products and services nobody wants to buy, you don’t have a valuable brand.

What’s behind the brand is what brings value to it.

A great example would be Google.

The name Google was worthless in 1995, before Larry Page and Sergey Brin decided to create a new search engine under that name.

Today, the brand is worth billions—not because the world decided to embrace an archaic mathematical term, but because of the immense value the company has to the masses.

The Nike Swoosh isn’t legendary because it’s an artistic masterpiece, but because it visually identifies a business that is known as the world's largest supplier and manufacturer of athletic shoes, apparel, and other sports equipment.

The lesson here is that a brilliant name and logo will definitely add value to your brand and help you get recognition faster—but it won’t build your business for you.

The key here is to figure out what the market wants—and overdeliver.

At the end of the day, it’s what your business offers that builds the most value to your brand.

3. It is well protected

Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, famously said “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.”

While what he said is true…

...If you have a competitive advantage, but you don’t protect it—you won’t have your competitive advantage for very long.

Recognizable brands provide a massive competitive advantage to successful businesses.

The brand does all the heavy lifting for them.

People know, like, and trust successful brands—that’s what makes it so hard for the new dogs to compete with them.

However, a brand only gives you a competitive advantage IF you protect it.

Protecting a brand secures your monopoly in the marketplace—because no one can legally get away with using your brand to compete with you.

There are many horror stories about famous businesses who neglected to protect their brands.

Some had to go through multi-million-dollar lawsuits—with varying degrees of success.

This is a clear lesson for your business and what you can easily avoid by just protecting your brand.

Watch this cartoon to better understand the value of trademarking:

Without going through the details and mechanics behind it, here are the 3 stages of brand protection:

1. Make sure there are no legal obstacles to trademarking your chosen brand;
2. Actually trademark your brand; and
3. Enforce your trademark rights against competitors who try to take a free ride on your brand and your reputation.

The Path to Building a Successful Brand

So to review, the three essential qualities to a successful brand are it must be memorable, it must be associated with a successful product or service, and it must be protected.

So, now that you know valuable brands must have 3 essential qualities to become successful, here are some steps you can take to build a strong brand of your own:

1. Come up with a product or a service for which there’s high demand in the marketplace.
2. Come up with a memorable brand for that product or service.
3. Check whether the brand is trademarkable and can be protected.
4. If the answer to step 3 is yes, trademark the brand right away. If not, go back to step 2.
5. Conquer your market, while preserving evidence of your branding, marketing, and advertising efforts, so you can effectively enforce your rights against anyone who might come close to diluting or compromising your brand.