Your brand is your story, and the design is storytelling. And to unfold your company's story across its prospects, you need to earn a reputation. Surveys suggest that a whopping 85% of brands in today's era experience brand infringement.
Branding does not happen overnight, but any form of brand or trademark infringement will immediately ruin your reputation. So, what do you mean by brand or trademark infringement and how does it occur?
An Introduction to Brand or Trademark Infringement: Important Aspects to Learn
What if someone else takes advantage of your brand's intellectual properties like logo, name, or something else? Despite establishing a distinctive brand identity, your company may experience these challenges. And one of the reasons why trademark infringement occurs is because of malicious affiliates.
In this digital space, brand or trademark infringement uses advertisers or brands trademarked, copyrighted materials or patents. The prime objective is to attract customers through malicious activities. Nefarious actors make use of a brand's intellectual properties, such as slogans, logos, names, etc. Utilizing these assets hits a company's reputation, thereby misleading prospects and loyal customers.
Why Is It Vital for a Brand to Secure Its Reputation Against Affiliate Fraud?
As an eCommerce merchant, one may think their niche business won't be a victim of a fraudster. But the truth is somewhat different. Malicious actors, these days, choose any business, irrespective of its size, to launch the attacks.
Thus, preventing the brand from affiliate fraud becomes the foundation step toward protecting its reputation. In short, affiliate fraud is an illegal activity focusing on misleading marketers and customers. Fraudsters apply several tactics to mislead them. Here are the most common ways how a brand's name can get ruined via affiliate frauds:
Typosquatting
Did you know around 39% of online customers end up mistyping a company's domain name? Fraudsters know this extremely well. Thus, they intentionally purchase misspelled domain names that resemble the brand name. What they do is, track or guess the typos while searching for a legitimate website. That's typosquatting – a popular form of cybercrime that contributes to a company's reputational damage.
Session Hijacking
Also known as cookie hijacking, this type of cybercrime is the insertion of affiliate cookies. Here, fraudsters distribute adware via web browser extensions or applications. They modify the stolen cookies to control a customer's session on the ad's site.
Other forms of affiliate fraud include:
Spamming Techniques
Website Cloning
Adware Round Tripping
Paid Ads Violation and more
What Consequences Can a Company Face?
With a highly secure software solution, a brand can prevent and mitigate the risks of getting infringed. The affiliate fraud detection software can assist in offering the right solutions so that it doesn't face the following consequences:
Losing Loyal Customers' Trust
Enterprises establish a solid brand to attract prospects and improve sales. After demonstrating a company's reputation, the prospect becomes a loyal customer of that establishment. In short, they base their buying decisions depending on the brand's reliability, quality, and loyalty.
When nefarious actors use their brand name or logo to attract people, it's a warning sign for the company. It means that the infringer gets the license for a free ride on the brand's reputation. That's how they make their profits. Underestimating the consequences of brand infringement may cause the company a massive loss.
If your company has faced this consequence, you can hire experts to eliminate invasive promotions and protect your online customer journey. Ensure the team assists you in recovering your advertising revenue through affiliate marketing compliance monitoring tools and securing your reputation.
Reputational Damage
Brand image is a significant element in creating a brand. And brand infringements by affiliates, competitors, arbitrage sites, and resellers can hit your brand's reputation. If that happens, your customers will immediately start avoiding your products.
They won't choose you for your services or products. In such a scenario, a loyal customer will begin to associate your brand with a lack of credibility and poor quality. If your reputation has already got damaged, it's high time to recover it. Restore the diminished brand reputation with the right software solutions.
Marketing ROI
What if your brand's logo or name gets used in promotional campaigns? Wouldn't that make it more straightforward for affiliates to attract customers? Yes, and for this reason, you must consider selecting the right software solution to protect your brand name. When any such thing occurs, advertisers will pay the nefarious affiliates.
Shield Your Brand Name & Improve Reputation via Virus Positive Technologies
The world's most prominent brands rely on VPT's monitoring solutions to protect their reputation or secure lost revenues. If you are one of them, take one step forward and consult the team of Virus Positive Technologies today. Book your initial appointment with the adept team of experts today.
