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When is it okay to let others use your brand?

July, 2023

Erica Jones, Account Director at Kent-based PR, marketing and public affairs agency Maxim, explains why it can be good to let your brand out into the wild.

Your name is sacred. As is your brand. Together they are your public face to the world. This means it’s important for you to look after them and protect them from misuse.

It also means it’s important for you to let them out into the wild, as an ambassador for your business.

Most of the time, this is achieved because your name and/or branding appears on your products, or on publicity or sponsorship you’ve arranged. This article is not about those times. Today, I’m encouraging you to accept that sometimes it’s okay to let others use your brand for their own benefit.

This isn’t always easy advice to accept, so why am I encouraging it?

There are two big, obvious benefits to your business:

  1. Your name will potentially be shared to a new audience, increasing your reach and potential customer base, with little effort by you.
  2. It fosters good relations with the client or contractor using your name.

Relationship-building

Let’s tackle the second point first. We’ll assume the organisation (X) in question is good quality (if they aren’t, why are you working with them?) and isn’t carrying out confidential work that you’d rather not draw attention to (it may still be possible to let people know you’re working together, providing you think carefully about your wording). In which case granting permission for them to share a case study or list you as a client or supplier will help improve your relationship because it’s doing them a good turn and demonstrates your trust in them.

Reinforced trust

Moving on to point one, it should also – because X is obviously good quality – reflect well on your business. The link reinforces your position as a good organisation to all of X’s clients or customers: they obviously like organisation X, you work with organisation X, so maybe you’re worth working with too. Think of this as slightly upgraded word of mouth advertising.

Now, I’m not suggesting other organisations splash your name and logo across their product (although such arrangements can work if strict agreements are put in place in advance), instead my recommendation is to agree to a case study on their website. X would write about your working relationship, giving you a chance to review the text and images before they are published, possibly even adding your own details or comment if you’d like.

Or a more simple option is to list you as a stockist or supplier. This involves less effort all round while still spreading word about your existence, if in a slightly less obvious way.

Alternatively (or as well), let them know it’s okay if they want to mention working with you on social media. Posting a photo of you at work or of the finished project, and tagging your business’ page can improve the social media reach of both your organisations for only a little effort. The catch for this one is that such posts can be more off the cuff and you won’t necessarily get the chance to see the wording beforehand.

As with all general marketing advice, think carefully before you say yes, but next time an organisation asks for an endorsement or use of your name, give it some careful consideration before you decline – because why wouldn’t you accept a free, positive, publicity opportunity?

This article originally appeared in Kent Director.

Erica Jones - Account Director

Erica Jones

Maxim / Account Director

posted in: advice, marketing, public relations,

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