11 Brand Protection Strategies You Need to Implement Today

Online brand abuse is rising.

So, what are some brand protection strategies that can counter this influx?

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, along with online marketplaces like Amazon and Shopify, help brand owners reach more people and boost their profits.

But today, worldwide, luxury fashion houses are experiencing a rising tide of issues with counterfeit goods sold through fake Facebook and Instagram profiles. These fake products damage brand image, result in lost sales, and mean that potential clients are duped with inferior or unsafe items. What is rather unsettling is the speed at which new pages spring up across social platforms.

Brand impersonation which unfortunately goes hand in hand with counterfeiting, is also rampant. In 2023, the FTC recorded over 330,000 cases of individuals pretending to be businesses and almost 160,000 cases of people pretending to be the government.

What is clear is how brand abuse comes in many forms. With dire data predictions as a yardstick, learning about brand protection and having a comprehensive brand protection strategy is completely vital- both within and outside of the CISO’s department.

To help you out, we’ve listed effective brand protection strategies below. But first, let’s recap what exactly common brand abuse entails.

What is brand abuse?

Brand abuse is exactly as it sounds. It’s when external sources abuse a brand’s name and reputation for profits. The worst part? It can take various forms, some of which include:

Counterfeiting

Counterfeiting involves making fake versions of a brand’s products without permission. These fake products use the brand’s logos and trademarks to trick customers.

Counterfeiting accounts for up to 2.5% of global trade and it’s a key concern for brand protection services, which focus on anti-counterfeiting protection.

Trademark infringement

Trademark infringement occurs when counterfeiters deceive customers into buying fake products copied from a legitimate brand. This damages both consumers and the company’s reputation.

Trademark squatters may also register trademarks in bad faith, including issues like foreign registrations or transliterations.

Copyright piracy

Copyright protects creators of artistic, literary, and scientific works. Even if companies aren’t creating such works, they need to guard their copyrights. Counterfeiters often copy and misuse a product’s genuine images to promote fake products online.

Domain spoofing

Malicious websites can harm legitimate companies or violate their intellectual property. Types of these sites include:

• Cybersquatters: Claim domain names to exploit a brand’s trademark.
• Typosquatters: Create sites with misspelled addresses of other websites.
• Imitation sites: Attempt to impersonate a real brand’s website.

Patent theft

Patents protect inventive products that solve specific problems. Inventors have exclusive rights to their designs. Infringement can look like :

• Design patent infringement: When a similar design is used for sale.
• Utility patent infringement: When a new or improved product or process is copied. This is assessed based on functional similarities, not just visual ones.

Social media impersonation

There’s a rise in counterfeiting and IP theft on social media. Fake accounts imitating real brands can sell counterfeits, direct users to phishing sites, or spread malware.

NFT copyright infringement

NFT ownership belongs to the creator who mints it. Minting someone else’s NFT is considered theft and is a copyright violation. To protect against NFT infringements, monitor global NFT marketplaces for counterfeit listings, and use brand protection services to handle these issues.

Why is brand protection abuse on the rise?

Brand abuse is skyrocketing and this affects every single last one of us- from CISOs answering board members to consumers. Consumers might lose money or personal data, and businesses can lose trust and revenue.

More importantly, 3 in 4 customers will switch brands after just one bad experience, showing how damaging brand abuse can be. But why is it on the rise? Here’s our reasoning:

Everyone is online

As businesses go online more, they create more opportunities for brand abuse. Take this example, in the third quarter of 2021, fake websites, apps, and social media pages impersonating brands increased by 274% from the previous year. Fast forward to 2023 and platforms like Meta shut down nearly 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to a Chinese ‘Spamouflage’ campaign.

Fraudsters can easily access tools for creating fake websites, counterfeit products, influence campaigns, and fraudulent social media accounts.

Easy impersonation

The internet makes it simple to mimic a brand. Attackers can create phishing websites or emails that look like those of real companies. For example, a site like “amnazon.com” can easily trick people into thinking it’s “amazon.com.”

Alternatively, scammers use robocalls or text messages to pretend they’re from well-known companies, trying to steal personal information, account details, or money. They often pretend to be financial institutions or package delivery companies.

A survey found that 78% of people have been targeted by these scams. This means over 200 million people in the U.S. have experienced it.

What is a brand protection strategy?

A brand protection strategy is a method for safeguarding a brand’s identity and value. It uses intellectual property rights like trademarks and copyrights to stop bad actors from misusing or copying the company’s intellectual property, such as names, logos, and taglines.

The International Trademark Association (INTA) highlights that having a strong brand protection strategy that enforces IP rights can shield a brand’s reputation, prevent financial losses, and reduce counterfeiting.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) also notes that protecting valuable assets helps a brand stand out in the market, allowing it to charge higher prices and build customer trust.

A brand protection strategy can also attract investors and partners. In other words, it can increase brand value, according to the Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association (LIMA).

11 effective brand protection strategies

Now that you know more about brand abuse, you probably have many questions and concerns regarding brand protection. What is brand protection? How to protect a brand?

Worry not! We’ve got you covered with tested and proven brand protection solutions. Here’s how to protect your brand from counterfeit products and other common threats:

1. Create a unique brand image

A unique brand image, also known as trade dress, is important for brand protection because it makes the brand easily recognizable. For example, Apple’s unique design and logo help customers spot fake products.

The International Trademark Association found that brands with distinct images have fewer issues with counterfeits and recover faster from online attacks. This uniqueness also builds customer trust and loyalty, hence making the brand stronger and more resilient.

2. Have a strong online presence

A strong online presence is key for brand protection because it helps you connect with people, making it harder for counterfeiters to trick them and cause reputational damage. For instance, Nike actively fights fake websites and social media accounts that sell counterfeit products.

A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that brands prioritizing their online presence can better handle infringement activities. This reduces revenue loss and protects the brand’s reputation, which automatically builds customer trust and loyalty.

3. Register trademarks and patents

Make sure you meet all legal requirements for trademark and patent registration in all relevant markets. This includes understanding the specific rules and regulations of each country or region. Then, follow these steps:

• Register your brand’s names, logos, and other identifying marks as trademarks. Trademark registration protects your brand identity from unauthorized use.
• For products, consider both design and utility patents. Design patents protect the ornamental aspects, while utility patents protect the functional aspects of your inventions.
• Don’t just register in your primary markets; also consider regions with high rates of counterfeiting. This broad coverage ensures more comprehensive protection.
• Use NDAs when negotiating with potential partners to protect your confidential information and avoid misuse.
• Register common variations of your brand’s domain name to prevent others from using similar domains to mislead your customers or misuse your brand. This strategy helps protect your brand from domain squatting and cybersquatting.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have noticed malicious domains or simply want to check for potential threats, request a demo of our domain protection module, with newly added features today! We can monitor, detect, and remove any fraudulent domains without your intervention immediately.

4. Monitor for infringements and take down infringing content

Regularly check for unauthorized use of your brand’s trademarks. This includes looking for counterfeit products that misuse your brand’s name, logo, or other identifying marks.

• Monitor for unauthorized use of your patented inventions, methods, or processes.
• Keep a close eye out for unauthorized copying and distribution of your copyrighted materials, such as written works, music, films, and artwork.
• Use tools and services to monitor various online platforms, including e-commerce sites, social media, and marketplaces.
• Gather necessary evidence of brand infringement, such as photos, videos, screenshots, and detailed descriptions.
• Follow each platform’s specific process for reporting infringements. This often involves submitting the collected evidence and filling out forms.
• After submitting a takedown request, regularly check the status and respond to any counter-notices or additional requirements from the platform.
• Register your IP with platforms like Amazon Brand Registry or eBay Verified Rights Owner (VeRO) to streamline the takedown process.

5. Choose the right online brand protection service

Start by looking for a service that fits your needs and budget. You should check if they offer coverage in all the areas you care about, like online threats or counterfeit products. It’s also helpful to see if they provide real-time alerts, detailed reports, and strong support like that of CybelAngel.

Next, make sure to read reviews and maybe even ask other businesses about their experiences. This will help you find a brand protection service that not only protects your brand but also works well with your team.

6. Educate your team

Inform key stakeholders within your organization about the importance and benefits of brand protection. This includes departments like sales, marketing, digital, legal, manufacturing, supply chain, and finance. Teach everyone how to recognize brand abuse and report it as well as how to implement brand protection strategies.

PRO TIP: You should also educate your organization on the dangers of smashing, phishing, and vishing.

7. Educate consumers

Teach consumers how to identify genuine products and understand the negative impact of fake goods. Share unique product features, price guidelines, and security indicators.

8. Leverage brand protection technology

AI and automated tools can help you scan the internet for counterfeit products and trademark infringements. These tools can identify infringing listings quickly and efficiently. You can also do it manually, but why waste time when you have tools that can do it for you, while you focus on legal actions and strategy development?

9. Collaborate with brand protection experts

IP infringements require a proactive approach so we suggest contacting brand protection experts who can help you identify infringers and take legal actions. These companies can help you connect data points and unmask the identities of cybercriminals using clustering technology.

You can then use data from your brand protection efforts to improve your other strategies, such as marketing, product development, and sales

10. Mix old and new brand protection

Traditional offline methods, like customs checks and border protection, can prevent fake goods from entering the market in the first place.

On the other hand, strategies for enterprises to combat online threats can help protect against cybercriminals while modern tools like Optical Character Recognition (OCR), can help identify fake goods that don’t appear in traditional searches online.

11. Update your brand protection strategy regularly

You can’t just set your brand protection strategy and forget about it. To protect your business reputation, you need to keep it updated based on new information or feedback from others. This means regularly tracking reported incidents, response times, and resolved issues to see how well your brand protection strategy works and if it can handle new vulnerabilities.

FAQs

Why should CISOs care about brand protection?

A study suggests that about 29% of CISOs could lose their job if the brand is damaged by online threats, even if the issue is unavoidable and 20% might be fired regardless of whether they were at fault. That’s why CISOs should care about brand protection.

Cybercriminals often create fake websites, send phishing emails, or sell counterfeit goods that look real. This confuses customers and puts their personal information at risk. CISOs play a key role in preventing these attacks and should hire brand protection companies like CybelAngel that offer advanced monitoring tools that detect and alert you of any unauthorized use of your brand online. This can help with IP enforcement and preventing threats before they cause damage.

What are some examples of brand abuse happening on the dark web?

On the dark web, brand abuse includes selling fake products, sharing stolen customer data, and making phishing kits that look like a company’s website. For example, criminals might sell fake luxury goods, trade stolen credit card info and personal data, and trick customers into revealing their login details. These actions hurt the brand and endanger consumers.

CybelAngel can help by providing dark web monitoring services to detect these illegal activities, alert you to threats, take down fake sites, and prevent further abuse.

What are some examples of brand protection strategies that are effective?

Effective brand protection strategies include monitoring online activities, using trademark protection, and educating customers.

Monitoring is basically watching out for misuse of the brand on the web and dark web. Trademark protection, on the other hand, ensures no one else can legally use your brand’s name or logo.

Educating customers is also important because it helps them recognize phishing emails and fake websites. Follow the example of some companies that send updates about new types of scams or counterfeit products.

What are the most effective ways to protect your export brand identity and reputation?

To protect your export brand identity and reputation there are

• Register your trademarks in every country where you do business. This stops others from using your brand legally.
• Monitoring your brand online helps catch intellectual property infringement quickly.
• Working with local law enforcement and legal experts can help enforce your IP rights and get legal protection abroad.
• Educating your international customers about official channels to buy your products and how to spot fakes is also very effective.

Prevention is the smart move

The offline and online brand protection strategies that we mentioned above can without doubt help prevent brand abuse. And we all know that prevention is better than cure.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and lack the time to create a comprehensive online brand protection strategy, request a demo of our domain protection module today.