Gone are the days when consumers consulted the Better Business Bureau or state agencies to determine if a company was reputable. Today, consumers research businesses and products via the Web, which may include unofficial and unauthorized sources such as auction sites, blogs, websites owned by third parties, and chat rooms. As a result, protecting corporate identity has become far more challenging.

Because corporate identity is often at the core of a consumer’s decision-making process, companies must be supported by robust brand protection programs that both monitor and proactively shape their corporate identity. Otherwise, a business disparaged online could suffer lost customers, lower revenue, and a major setback to the brand equity that it has painstakingly built over the years.

The most common threat to corporate identity is the so-called cyber squatters, or “domainers,” who purchase URL addresses based on variations of company names. If a consumer makes an error typing a Web address into a browser, that mistaken link could divert customers to competing goods—or to a website that generates revenue through pay-per click traffic.

“A company’s most valuable asset is its corporate identity,” says Gretchen Olive, director of Education & Industry Affairs at Corporation Service Company (CSC), a leading provider of legal and financial services to corporations, law firms, and financial institutions. Each time a potential customer of a brand owner is diverted to a competitor’s website or a website owned by a third party who provides links to competing goods and/or services (known as a pay-per-click site), companies risk losing control of their brand experience and thus losing revenue. “Since online content and websites can be available for the world to see in seconds, and our recent research found that three out of every four domain names containing a brand are not registered by the brand holder, it is clear the risk of corporate brand infringement is pervasive,” explains Olive.

To keep abreast of the risks and opportunities in a rapidly evolving online marketplace, corporations need outside help to secure, promote, and protect their corporate identity. Though there are many companies that can help with one or two facets of corporate identity management, it is almost impossible to find one that can help manage the entire brand life cycle.

“It’s chaotic and risky if companies try to do it piecemeal, having IT, marketing, and the legal department all working in their individual silos with multiple vendors,” says Olive. “CSC has pulled corporate name registration, global domain name management, trademark clearance, research and investigations, Internet content monitoring, phishing detection and takedown, DNS [domain name system] hosting management, and SSL [secure socket layer] certificate services under one roof so we can help brand owners take a holistic approach to corporate identity management.”

CSC can monitor different types of names (corporate names, trademarks, domains, brands) on the Internet and at various agencies worldwide. By working with CSC, companies have greater visibility and access to corporate identity data, monitoring tools, and analytics across the enterprise. All deliverables are also interactive and analyst-reviewed, so companies receive only the information and alerts they are interested in, based on their requirements and sensitivities. Furthermore, everything is tracked and archived on a secure, Web-based platform to enable a company’s legal counsel to easily manage enforcement activities.

“Companies don’t just receive data dumps from CSC,” says Olive. “Instead, CSC collaborates closely with companies to understand their priorities and enable them to quickly mitigate risk and identify opportunities that can help grow their business and its brands.”

To learn more about brand protection services from CSC, visit www.cscprotectsbrands.com or call 800.927.9800.

This article is being reprinted from 8-K Magazine with permission by Daily Journal Corp.  Leslie Gordon is a San Francisco–based journalist.

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