Suppose that brand you have built rocks so much that other businesspeople, entrepreneurs, coaches, or consultants approach you wanting to use it?
After all, if you have genuinely succeeded in establishing your identity as the Obvious Expert in you niche, many of your competitors may feel that they simply cannot compete with you. They may realize that their business future (at least in this field) has become a matter of, “can’t beat ‘em; might as well join ‘em.”
Great. You are absorbing your competition; just sucking them up with your business success and creating an opportunity to expand the value of your brand or trademark on a whole new level … by licensing it to others.
When you license your brand to someone else, you expand you revenue stream with virtually no capital expenditure of your own.
You create the potential to penetrate a new market in a very short time.
And you multiply brand awareness among consumers without spending a dime on business marketing to reach them.
Sounds like a homerun, right?
Well, it can be, but only if you enter into it with your eyes wide open. Licensing your brand or trademark is not the same as cloning yourself, producing a “Mini-Me” who will handle every business decision, every business marketing choice, and every customer interaction the same way you would. A licensee is not your genetic double. He or she will do some things in ways that are inferior to what you currently do; other things in ways that are superior, and many things in ways that are neither better nor worse, but are simply different.
Get Qualified Guidance in the Field of Brand Licensing
Never consider letting someone else operate under the brand you worked to build, without involving the guidance of an attorney who specializes in trademark and brand licensing. And even though you will be operating under a written licensing agreement, that will have very specific terms (if that attorney you are paying is any good at what he or she does), you will sleep better at night if you check out the prospective licensee on your own.
Does his business have the financial depth necessary to operate in a way that is in keeping with your current business standards?
How long has he or she been in this business and how successful has the business been?
Do you like the person to whom you are licensing your brand? This helps, but don’t let the fact that you may like someone a lot influence you to enter into a licensing agreement if that person is not otherwise well qualified.
Beyond the potential licensee’s financial success, what is his reputation and the reputation of his business? Your mother was right, you are known by the company you keep.
Watch how the big dogs do brand licensing, because corporations worldwide are throwing their trademarks around more generously than ever before, getting on the brand licensing bandwagon as a new source of revenue and a dynamic way to expand their business marketing.
The INTA (International Trademark Association) is one source to explore if you are considering expanding your brand through licensing and looking for more information. Other websites you may be interested in visiting include: LicensingPages.com and Brandora for a sense of just how big the whole business of brand licensing has become.
