Stand by Your Brand

However, defending trademarks can be a drain on resources. “Getting an idea to market quickly can be better than taking the time and energy to patent it,” Lilienthal says. “Getting there early can get you new customers and revenue, and help you develop yourself as a brand leader for ideas.”

Legal protections are always a good idea when you’re dealing with employees. Get any employee who has access to your intellectual property to sign confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements. “If employees realize that you’ll allow stealing, chances are it will happen again,” Kretsinger says.

The Company You Keep

Your brand is formed by what you do—but it’s also shaped by what you don’t do. “Turn down business that doesn’t fit your core, unless you’re going to change your core,” Little suggests. “To do otherwise is kind of crazy-making, and people can smell that lack of alignment from a thousand miles away.”

Unless you want to be known as the firm with the lowest prices, decline business from clients who ask you to do cheaper, lower-quality work. Your work speaks for you after it leaves your company, and it should reflect the brand you’ve built for your products.

“We turn down work that doesn’t fit within our capabilities and isn’t a representation of what we do,” Lilienthal says. “We’re not going to put our brand at risk for a short-term gain.” One potential client, he recalls, needed five thousand yard signs and campaign posters at a low price. “That’s way beyond our capabilities, and the price was too cheap,” he says. “We say that we don’t do that, but we wish you well and good luck with your project.”

You’re known by your clients as well as by your work, so consider what kind of clients you’d like to have. “We were approached for a Web site for a local gentlemen’s club,” Kretsinger says. “There’s no way we’d touch that. No way.” Every business has bills to pay, but careful controls will pay off.

“Maintain fiscal discipline so it’s not: Take this client and eat, or turn them down and starve,” Little says. “I’m very conservative in our organization about money. And I often find that if I choose to say no to something, something else comes flying along.”

Focusing on doing what you do best, for clients who pay fair prices, allows you to develop relationships with your customers, Lilienthal says. Those relationships, in turn, provide even more opportunities to maintain and promote your brand.