Selling on Amazon is only getting more competitive as we head into the second half of 2021. Amazon made over $55 billion in the first quarter of the year, and they are not slowing down anytime soon. To stay above the fold as a seller on their platform, you need every tool you can get your hands on, which is why I strongly recommend that you register your brand on Amazon’s brand registry. This article will tell you why it’s important to register your brand and how you can go about doing it. Let’s dive in!
Why Register Your Brand in Amazon’s Brand Registry
When you register your brand on Amazon’s registry, you take more control over your listing. Registered brands are more protected from hijackers as it’s more challenging for them to steal your listings. Additionally, registered brands have more opportunities to showcase their product on their listing page. For example, registered brands can add videos to their listings and add brand-enhanced content with improved and customizable layouts and images that resemble a website. Perhaps, a customer is looking at a tea maker and wants to quickly scan a listing to see if they can make both hot and iced tea with the product. With brand-enhanced content, sellers can include helpful graphics that show how you can brew your tea hot or cold. These features improve customer conversion odds because people tend to look at pictures before they read text. Next, registered brands can feature their other related products at the bottom of their listing with a comparison chart (see image below). This is extremely helpful for customers that want to ensure they are making the best purchase for them, and it could also lead to additional purchases.
Furthermore, brands that are certified have access to advertisement opportunities. For example, if a customer searches for terms like “teapot,” you can target them with a headline ad that appears at the top of the product listings. There are also additional ad types, including video ads coming soon.
Lastly, as a registered company, you can take advantage of the Vine program, allowing you to get up to thirty long-form product reviews from Vine testers to bolster your listing and build credibility.
How to Register
The first thing you need to do before registering your brand on Amazon is getting a trademark. A trademark is a symbol, word, or words legally registered to represent a company or product. It’s wise to trademark your brand name and logo to prevent others from using it, though Amazon only requires one trademark to register. Now that you have a trademark, you can begin the registration process:
Step 1 – Go to the brand registry page and click “Get started” and “Enroll now.”
Step 2 – Create your account by inputting your business information, including your name, address, business title, and company name. From there, Amazon will verify your information and trademarks to ensure that everything is legitimate.
If you DO NOT have a trademark, you will need to continue the process with these steps:
Step 1a – Visit USPTO to research trademark names and register for a trademark yourself without the need for a lawyer, which can be very expensive.
Step 1b – Visit Trademarkia to search for trademarks and have a lawyer register your trademark for a fee. The fee ranges from $500 – $1,000 so, it’s essential to be prepared for that financially.
Both of the options above can take six to twelve months, which as a busy entrepreneur, you’d probably like to accelerate. In that vein, I’d like to introduce you to a newer service from Amazon, the IP Accelerator. Amazon IP Accelerator helps businesses more quickly obtain intellectual property (IP) rights and brand protection in Amazon’s stores.
How Amazon IP Accelerator Works
Amazon’s IP Accelerator connects businesses with Amazon’s network of law firms that provide high-quality trademark registration services at competitive rates. Companies using IP Accelerator get brand protections and brand building features in just months compared to the six to twelve months or years it can take to register a trademark. Yes, you read that correctly. With the IP Accelerator service, you can get registered in a fraction of the time it usually takes. Though Amazon offers this service for free, the lawyers in their network charge pre-determined rates as follows –
- A high-level brand search of Trademark Office records for relevant pending applications or registrations ($500)
- A comprehensive brand review including Trademark Office records and unregistered uses. ($1,800)
Filing a US trademark application ($600 plus government fees)*
Once you file a trademark application through an IP Accelerator law firm, you can enroll in the brand registry and get access to the following benefits:
- Brand protections: Amazon can identify and remove bad/hijacked listings
- Search and report tools: You will have access to the Report a Violation tool to quickly report trademark violations
- Other brand-building benefits: You can further market your listing with enhanced brand pages, brand stores, sponsored brands, and the brand dashboard.
In a nutshell, it’s worth the effort to register your brand on Amazon. Registered brands have access to tools that other sellers do not like advertising, enhanced listing pages, and fraud protection. As selling on Amazon grows increasingly competitive, with nearly 3,000 new sellers registering daily, you must do everything you can to get ahead. The trademark process is long and drawn out, so utilizing the IP accelerator is the best option for business owners looking to speed up becoming a registered brand on Amazon.
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*maximum service fees