What is the Most Important Requirement of a Trademark?

Because a trademark has to be able to identify particular goods or services the most important requirement for a trademark is that it is distinctive. That is the only way that the trademark of one company can be distinguished from that of another company.

One of the most important reasons that trademarks need to be distinctive is that it will prevent potential customers from being tricked into purchasing a product from another company that they think was made by your company.

How Can You Make a Trademark Distinctive?

Trademarks can be made to be distinctive by having a unique or fantasy name, such as AACCCAA. Another way a trademark can become distinctive is if the trademark holder builds up recognition of the mark.

For example the word "Apple" is a very common word in the English language. However a computer and communications company was extremely successful promoting that name.

The Distinctiveness of a Trademark Can Vary Over Time

A trademark can become more or less distinctive as the years go by. If a trademark holder aggressively uses a trademark it can become more famous and subsequently may be identified more easily by the buying public.

However, if trademark holders becomes lax in their marketing and public relations efforts then the trademark may become a generic name that people use for every product in that category. You could probably think of a particular brand of tissues that this may have happened to.

Once a trademark is looked at as being a generic name by the public it can destroy all of the trademark rights that the holder of the trademark had earned. Therefore, it shouldn't be surprising to learn that the majority of trademark holders spend considerable time and money trying to stop people from using their trademarked name as a generic name.

Distinctiveness is Applicable to a Trademark as a Whole

The distinctiveness of a trademark is determined by its whole rather than its individual components. In other words, the words "heavenly" and "dreams" by themselves can be quite descriptive if they are used to describe a mattress. Alone they cannot be trademarked. But used together as "Heavenly Dreams" they may be able to be trademarked because they form an atypical juxtaposition which creates a certain amount of distinctiveness.

This does not mean that other companies could no longer use the words "heavenly" or "dreams" on their mattresses. But it would mean that if "Heavenly Dreams" is trademarked by another company they can't sell mattresses called "Heavenly Dreams."

Mailing Lists for Small Business

Is your target market small businesses? If you haven't considered renting mailing lists for this market then you are letting a lot of potential profit slip through your fingers.

A large number of marketers rent a mailing list as a way to create a large pool of potential buyers to whom they can send information about the businesses they are promoting. Using mailing lists is actually one of the most common means of conducting direct marketing.

However, although using a mailing list is a terrific way to get a business off and running quickly and to get the orders pouring in, the probability of your success will largely be determined by the quality of the list that you are going to send your mailing pieces to.

For example, how successful do you think your campaign will be if your mailing list is full of names of people who have moved or gone out of business? And what if the addresses simple are wrong? In either case your target market will not even see your message because they will not get the mail you want delivered.

If that happens the large majority of your production costs, your mailing costs, and the cost of the list itself will be wasted. In the mailing list world old information is pretty much worthless information and it can suck the balance out of your budget and leave it dry.

In order for a mailing list to provide the results you need it needs to be comprised of the newest and most up to date information available. That's the only way you will be able to maximize your success rate.

So how can you find the most up to date mailing lists? You probably could try to find mailing list owners, interview them, negotiate a comfortable list rental price, and then test a small portion of their list. But that is pretty much a hit or miss way of conducting business.

Do you think, perhaps, that you could save a lot of time, energy, and money, if instead you contacted a number of companies that act as mailing list brokers? In other words, the people that are between the list owner and you?

If you could locate mailing lists brokers that have been in business for a substantial amount of time, a company with considerable experience in your field, you could be tapping into a gold mine. That's because if they are worth their salt they will know which lists are up-to-date and which ones are to be avoided.

They will also be able to not only help you fine tune your target market, they will be able to negotiate the best list rental prices for you as well.

Starting Your Own Business - Printers For The Home Office

Are you starting your own business? Setting up a home office is often the most convenient and easiest solution for sole traders - and it means your daily commute is just the 20 steps from the bedroom to your study. However, regardless of where you operate out of, having the right equipment is important to any successful business operation. You'll need to think about your computer and work station set up and choose a quality printer as well.

Home office printers - what do I need?

In the modern way of doing business, it's all about email, PDFs and attachments - uploading and downloading, sending and receiving - all instantaneous, fast and efficient. However, for other aspects of your business operations, a printer becomes an essential part of your home office tools:

• Print records and documents - printed and filed statements are still the preferred way for bookkeeping. Printed invoices are easily matched to monthly banking statements and quarterly business activity - so you can be sure you're keeping accurate records for tax time. 
• Make beautiful portfolios and presentations - for client presentations or professional looking resumes, a well printed, bound and clean looking document can make a world of difference. For those looking to pitch a business concept, colourful charts, graphs and drawings can really bring your idea to life. 
• Scan and fax functionality - get a scanner, photocopier and fax machine unit all in one. Multi-function printers can help your business save money and space, so you can make the most of your home office set up. 

Home Office Printers - which should I choose?

Canon has an extensive range of printer solutions that are perfect for your home office use - what does your business need?

• PIXMA - Canon's all-in-one PIXMA printer range are perfect for the home office. These inkjet printers achieve high quality prints, with the PIXMA MX870 capable of delivering 9600 x 2400 dpi for exceptionally smooth and detailed images. Meanwhile, functions such as Auto-Duplex, wireless connectivity and the ability to print A3 documents, makes the PIXMA range exceptionally versatile for home office use. 
• LASER SHOT - quick and speedy, Canon's LASER SHOT laser printers are the perfect way to print high quality and flawless documents efficiently. If you're looking to do quite a bit of printing, these are the ideal machines for speedy output, with the LBP6650dn clocking speeds of up to 33 pages per minutes - so you could, in theory, print the 1483 pages of War and Peace in under an hour! LASER SHOT printers are designed for networking within small workgroups so they're perfect for sharing between multiple computers and workstations. 
• imageCLASS - for high-quality laser printing combined with multi-function convenience, look no further than Canon's imageCLASS printer range. These advanced multi function printers are ideal for small and home offices looking to consolidate their printing, faxing, scanning and professional photocopying into a single desktop solution.

A Business Development Plan Can Help A Budding Enterprise

While business development is a carefully thought out strategy mainly used to grow a medium to large business, it can also benefit a small business. Of course, there are many elements that go into creating a comprehensive business development plan. A small business consultant can help you focus in on certain key elements of business growth. These key elements include customer service, increasing customer loyalty, targeting your prospective customers, lead generation, and providing incentives.

A business that neglects customer service is destined to fail because customers provide the revenue of a business. While this of course is obvious, many businesses, while paying lip service to the idea, neglect to make customers feel important. Here are some simple things that can immediately improve customer service. You should always answer your phone and keep your promises.

If a customer has a complaint, it is important to listen. Try to solve the problem amicably. Always try to be helpful to your customers, by enabling them to select the product that will help them most, for example. According to business expert Fred Reichheld, who wrote the popular book, Loyalty Rules, a 5 percent improvement in customer retention can improve the perceived value of your business value by 75 percent.

How, then, do you go about getting customers to know, like, and trust your business enough to be loyal to it? Train your staff to treat customers well and to be helpful and courteous. Train them to be knowledgeable about your products and services because ignorance or common courtesy will turn customers off. Word of mouth spreads rapidly, especially when customers are treated badly or given incorrect instructions or information.

The way to best position your brand is to have a clear vision of how your brand fits into the market. How does it cope with the competition and what is the best method of product distribution? What is the least expensive supply chain? Once you understand these crucial factors, position your brand to offer the same things as your competition but with an added or improved benefit.

Targeting your prospective customers means understanding the many factors about your customer's lives, then creating an idealized image of your average customer and designing services based on your projections about your target market. Speaking in public about your business, writing articles about your industry, networking with those in your field, engaging in promotional events, and advertising are just some of the many ways available to generate leads. You should have two types of incentive programs, one for your sales staff to want to sell more and one for your customers to want to buy more. Incentive programs can be as simple as offering more commission or discounts or as complex as arranging contests for cash prizes, trips, or products.

As a business owner, you have to think of your own unique techniques that you can use to grow your small business. Be proactive about devising ways that you can improve customer service. Simply starting up a business is not enough for success. You have to design business development programs.