If you’ve ever thought “I need a mentor” this is the blog for you. We’ll provide guidance to help you find a mentor that will help you master your industry. We interviewed Nic Reed and his mentor Mike Andes, and they shared their knowledge on starting a business and mentoring with us. Nic was employed by Mike at Augusta Lawn Care before becoming his first 3F franchisee. They have some great advice. We’ll be discussing the aspects of finding a mentor including what a mentor is, the different types of mentors, what to look for in a mentor, how to find different types of mentors, and how to maintain mentoring relationships. 

What is a Mentor?

A mentor is someone who is more experienced and that takes another person, commonly called a mentee, under their wing to help them grow. The mentor-mentee relationship will commonly involve seven dynamics to help the mentee grow:

1. Teacher: Good mentors help the other person develop the skills to be successful in their career.
2. Sponsor: A mentor helps the younger person find their way in the social environment.
3. Advisor: Great mentors will act as a sounding board to help young people look at different perspectives and offer advice.
4. Agent: Success is often about the number of people who buy into your narrative. A mentor will have already acquired more people in their professional network and will advocate for a mentee, assuming the idea or role is a good fit.
5. Role Model: A mentor should be someone you aspire to be like.
6. Coach: Mentors should help motivate and inspire you to be the best you can be. Sometimes we all need a good motivational speech or dose of harsh reality. It should help with your professional growth and build the relationship stronger.
7. Confidante: A great mentor will be someone who knows when to let you vent and when to offer a few tips. The pressures of building a career path, your own company, and your personal life can be a challenge at times. They’ll be there when they can, but they are busy too.

I reached out to Mike to follow up on our interview and he told me: [su_quote]Nic was not our first franchise fee but he was our first 3F (Franchise Fee Forgiveness) franchisee. He worked at one of our shops for two years and we forgave the franchise fee. That's where we really developed a mentoring relationship.[/su_quote] [su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HwEN2uQlxM"] Keep reading to learn about different types of mentoring.

There are Different Potential Mentor Relationship Types

Depending on what stage you are in life, you may need a different type of mentor. You’ll probably read a lot of differing opinions because there doesn’t seem to be a consensus on how to define the roles a good mentor plays, but we’re going to define them as follows:

• Career Mentor
• Life Mentor
• Professional Mentor
• Business Mentor

We’ll discuss each of these in more detail below so you’ll know what kind of potential mentor to look for when you decide to pursue a mentor.

Career Mentor (Typically Early in Career)

A career mentor is typically encountered early in your career and helps you learn the ropes. They might be a family friend or your first boss out of college. This mentor-mentee relationship is typically going to be one that may stay with you the rest of your life especially if they are in the same industry.

Life Mentor (Personal Mentor)

A personal mentor will be someone who helps you navigate your personal life more effectively. I hope most people have had a few of these.  Some of the people from my own situation that have played this role are:

1. My parents, for teaching me I can truly accomplish anything if I put my mind to it.
2. My grandpa, for teaching me I can say anything as long as I say it with a smile.
3. My high school chemistry teacher (the only person I knew believed in me when I was struggling as a teenager).
4. Dennis Rodman, (from afar) shows how you don’t have to fit a particular mold to create an amazing career path.
5. My manager at Pizza Hut, for showing me that leadership skills are not dictated by position but based on a combination of professional skills and your ability to find mutually beneficial solutions.

These types of mentors can come from anywhere and are what help each of us develop our own varying perspectives. Make sure to communicate to them how much they mean to you. Many of mine died before I truly manifested the lessons they taught me.

Professional Mentor (Paid to Advise)

There are people who act as professional mentors either in person or through online platforms. They are paid extremely well but can give amazing advice. Many of the people we interview offer consulting to help others rise above their challenges.  This might not be the best place to start because the costs can add up quickly, but if you get good feedback and absorb their knowledge it can pay off quickly as you gain from their expertise. 

Business Mentor (Often Called a Business Coach or Consultant)

If you just need someone to direct you on the path forward, a business mentor, business coach, or consultant can help you. When you look for a potential mentor that fits into this category make sure to check their references. A good mentor might be from the same industry as you or they might be specialized. For instance, you might need a mentor for technology resources, accounting, or human resources. Even a specialized mentor should have experience performing their tasks in your field to be considered a potential mentor. These mentors differ from professional mentors in that they may not have a mentorship concept currently on their agenda, but if you connect with them, a mentor-mentee relationship may form. Keep reading for information on what to look for in a mentorship relationship.

What to Look for in a Mentor

Experienced mentors are all over the place, but they are busy and their time is valuable. Some of the answers to the question, “What does a mentor do?” include:

• They are in a good spot in their career.
• They give constructive criticism in a way that you find palatable.
• You have common ground upon which you can connect.
• They have an existing network that is larger than yours. This may be a personal network, in a specific industry, or across a variety of industries depending on what you are hoping to learn.
• They have the time, desire, and energy to teach you new skills.
• You enjoy having a casual conversation with them.
• They need a personal assistant, employee, or intern.

When we asked Mike what makes him qualified to be a mentor, he told us: [su_quote]I’m not sure I’m qualified (in a self-deprecating manner), but the things I accomplished so far including mowing lawns to pay my way through college, getting my MBA, and Augusta Lawn Care has 34 (now 77 and growing) franchises[/su_quote] Check out this portion of our interview with Nic and Mike below. [su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODF5YdiGQo&t=808s"]

How to Find a Prospective Mentor

Most blogs will tell you the process of finding mentors looks something like the one below:

1. Identify your goals. 
2. Reach out to potential mentors via email, letter, social media, or phone call (if you know them).
3. Ask for an initial conversation to help you get to know the potential mentors.
4. Schedule an in-person meeting or virtual coffee. 
5. Discuss the industry, things you have in common, and goals.
6. Ask the more experienced person to provide a mentorship once you’re sure they are the right mentor.
7. Interact with them to ask for advice, keep them up to date with your career growth, and get feedback.

This approach might work best with family friends or when you are paying them. If you haven’t already built a relationship, they’ll probably ignore you though. So let’s set all of that aside and reimagine how to build a relationship with the right mentor. Mike told us: [su_quote]The first thing you have to do is ask and I don’t think that’s right. Absorb as much about them as possible from afar, then give first, ask later.[/su_quote] If we start with that, the process of finding mentors will look a little more like this:

1. Identify your goals and who inspires you.
2. Seek all the information you can about them. 
   1. Google them.
   2. Follow them on social media.
   3. Buy, and more importantly, read their book(s).
   4. Interact with their posts by asking relevant questions. 

This process may take a while, but you’ll be getting advice and guidance before ever meeting. If they are famous, you’ll probably want to accept that any guidance will be based on the knowledge they share with the world, but it never hurts to try to connect and build a deeper relationship. Mike also told us: [su_quote]The goal should be to figure out how to add value to the subject you want to be mentored by. They are typically extremely busy and are expensive to pay for their time. Just find a way to be close to them and you’ll learn from them.[/su_quote] When looking for a mentor, the next steps would be:

1. Look for a job or industry meetup that would likely connect you with the person or persons of interest.
   1. For a job, look for one that would include directly reporting to the mentor you seek. Apply for it, and be prepared for the meeting. You have lots of knowledge. Use it. Be ready to show how you are a good candidate for the job.
   2. Industry meetups tend to have keynote speakers and they announce who they are in advance. Most keynote speakers share their expertise, make it a point to connect with the crowd afterward and share their email addresses. 
2. Follow up. Thank them for their time. Ask them questions you didn’t get to ask them in the meeting. Hopefully, they give you some guidance and request another meeting.

At this point, you haven’t truly asked for any of their time. If they are the right person to provide your mentorship, they’ll be aware you are actually interested in developing a working relationship. If they do not seem interested, don’t press it. You’ll have other places to look at as well. They might give you some feedback or constructive criticism. If they offer either, don’t take it personally. It’s just a different perspective and an opportunity to learn. Use that feedback to help you find a mentor. If you get the job or receive a favorable response, that’s your time to shine. You’ll want to:

1. Work on building the skills and achieving success using their advice.
2. Reach out again when you achieve a goal using the advice you got from them.
3. Thank them for the advice they gave you and share the impact it had.
   1. If you worked with them, it probably impacted both your careers and they might already be aware they are developing a mentorship.
   2. Either way, ask them if you can meet for lunch as a way to thank your mentor for their help

That’s the truth about how to get a mentor. It’s not just about asking for the privilege; it’s about adding value for both careers. We followed up with Nic in part 3 of the interviews and he offered some great information on Mike’s mentorship of him. [su_quote]I actually met my goal back in August. I also hired my first employee. I’ve actually been investing more than I planned into growing the business to help it grow more.[/su_quote] [su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BGA336bBIY&t=1362s"] Nic also told us that the mentorship continued with 30-minute coaching calls. He also said: [su_quote]I also talk with a lot of the other franchisees to learn from each person’s perspective.[/su_quote] In regards to mentorship, Mika also told us: [su_quote]I think franchising is kinda like a mentorship because the franchisor teaches you how to run the business their way. It is much stricter than a mentorship because you have to use their name, their colors, and their process, whereas a mentorship doesn’t control what you do.[/su_quote] Now that you understand the process to find a business mentor, let's look at some of the resources available to find a good mentor both in person and virtually.

How to Find a Mentor for Adults

Adults will need to look for a potential mentor via some of the following resources:

• Online
  • Facebook Business Groups
  • LinkedIn Groups
  • Twitter
  • Business Mentoring Sites and Apps
• Work
• Career Development Centers
• Charity Work
• Local Business Gatherings
• Co-working Office Places
• Think Tanks and Incubators

How to Find a Mentor Near Me

If you are looking for mentors near you, try the following options:

• Limit Online Searches to Your Location
• Work
• Career Development Centers
• Charity Work
• Local Business Gatherings
• Co-working Office Places
• Think Tanks and Incubators

How to Find a Business Mentor

A business mentor can be found by looking in the following locations:

• Online
  • Facebook Business Groups
  • LinkedIn Groups
  • Twitter
  • Business Mentoring Sites and Apps
• Work
• Career Development Centers
• Charity Work
• Local Business Gatherings
• Co-working Office Places
• Think Tanks and Incubators

How to Find a Real Estate Mentor

Some ways to find a mentor in the real estate industry include:

• Go to continuous education courses.
• Identify successful brokers in your town, and offer them a good deal to work under them and learn their ways.
• Go to networking events and open houses to meet other real estate professionals.

How to Find a Mentor on LinkedIn 

LinkedIn is a social network. Be social and join groups in your industry. Follow business leaders that interest you. Ask questions on their posts. Join the groups they are in and allow for meaningful connections. Develop a relationship and build it into a mentoring relationship naturally.

Use a “Find a Mentor App” or “Find a Mentor Website”

There are a ton of mentoring apps and websites listed on TrustPilot. Most tend to be industry-specific though. 

Where Can I Find a Mentor for Free?

There’s no such thing as free. Everything costs time or money, but your best bet is family friends because they tend to already look at you favorably. Some call it nepotism, but it’s mostly people who like helping people they see as similar to themselves. You can try online, but that takes time.

How to Find a Mentor on Reddit

Reddit is a social network. You interact with people about subjects that interest you. Everyone in the group shares a common interest so you’ll eventually find people that you find insightful and can help advise you.  Some tips for using Reddit include:

1. Follow members that seem knowledgeable.
2. Ask questions. 
3. Develop relationships and watch them grow into mentorships organically.

How to Find a Mentor for a Teenager

If you are a teenager and you have made it this far, kudos to you for wanting to learn how to find a mentor! There are some unique advantages that teenagers have over the rest of us. You are still in school and typically have larger social networks.  Some of the unique opportunities for teenagers to find mentors are:

• Teachers, professors, and other educators
• Boys and Girls Club
• Guest presenters at colleges
• Coaches
• Youth activity leaders

Developing the Mentorship

Now that you know where to find a mentor, try this approach to develop the relationship:

1. Identify your goals and who inspires you.
2. Seek all the information you can about them. 
3. Find a way to meet when they are a keynote speaker or apply for a job that reports to them.
4. Follow up, thank them for their time, and ask questions.
5. When you achieve a goal using the advice you got from them, reach out again.
6. Thank them for the advice they gave you and share the impact it had.
7. Offer to assist them or take them to lunch.

Mentoring Relationships Have Several Benefits for the Mentor Too!

Now that you know how to find a mentor for business, I should point out that finding a mentor can benefit the person who is guiding you as well as yourself. Some of the reasons someone might want to be a mentor include:

• Helping others that are struggling
• Building a legacy
• Filling time in retirement
• Building a team to help achieve more than they can achieve on their own

Go Forth and Become Titans of Industry

A relationship where someone helps you navigate the challenges of the world can be an immensely rewarding relationship. When you find it, make sure to cherish your mentors for all that they do.  We are working on creating a section of the site to help people share their ideas, and seek mentors or mentees. Make sure to subscribe to our mailing list to get updates on the services offered. Hopefully, these insights will help you to achieve your career goals. I want to try to do something different below. Let’s make this comment section a way to honor those who have touched our lives. Who have been the most positive influences for you?

Protecting your brand assets is one of the most critical aspects of creating a business that has the potential to expand nationwide or globally. The company name, logo, slogans, and intellectual property rights can eventually be worth billions if you start a company that goes global. That's why it's important to know how to trademark a name. I went through the trademarking process in the United States for my own eCommerce store in the process of writing this blog, and I have documented the steps so it is easy to go through the process. UpFlip is going to share the information you need to trademark a name. We'll introduce you to intellectual property and the services that the United States Patent and Trademark Office offers. Then, we'll give you a walkthrough of the steps in the application and answer some of the most commonly asked questions about trademarks.

A Brief Introduction to Intellectual Property

There are three main types of intellectual property:

1. Trademarks protect names and designs that identify the source of goods.
2. Patents protect inventions. Anything that is a new creation for a product may qualify.
3. Copyrights protect works of art.

The United States Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) uses an example of a vacuum cleaner to show the differences between the three types of intellectual property. We'll use an example of the iRobot Roomba I3+ as an example. If you want to conduct the search for practice, go to the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS) and input iRobot Corporation as the Search Term and choose the search field as Owner Name and Address to limit the results to the iRobot Corporation. The iRobot Corporation has 94 trademarks involving their name and slogans, most importantly iRobot and Roomba which are the company and product names. The Patents are found by using the USPTO Patent Full Text and Image Database Search. There are 182 patents that the iRobot Corporation owns across their product lines including a vacuum brush and debris sensor. Note these are physical objects only. The related copyrights can be found on publicrecords.copyright.gov and include copyrights for their end-user licensing agreement, quick start guide, and owners manual. These are the words and pictures only, but they could have also applied for copyright on commercials and other advertisements. [su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4cIBcl7dD4w"] These protections can apply both in the United States and internationally. The protection defaults to the United States, but for an additional fee, you can apply for protection under the Madrid Protocol. Alternatively, you can apply for international trademarks on the World International Property Organization's (WIPO) website. Keep reading to learn about the services available at the USPTO.

Services Available at the United States Patent and Trademark Office

The USPTO serves five primary functions:

• Apply for Trademarks using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS)
• Apply for Patents
• Referrals to intellectual property lawyers
• Education on intellectual property
• Searching trademarks and patents for verification purposes

Now, we will focus on how to trademark a business name and a product name in the rest of this guide, but it is important to be aware of the services available at the USPTO. Let's prepare to apply for a trademark.

Step 1. Get ready to apply

Before you apply for the trademark you'll need to research whether the trade name is available, gather documentation, and create an account first. Let's look at each of the following to understand what they include.

Search business names

Small business owners should do the research on their own to establish whether another business owner already has the same or similar name as a registered mark under trademark law. If you don't check this before registering a trademark, you might be wasting a lot of time and money on applying for trademark rights you cannot get. As discussed earlier you can search for trademarks of goods or services on TESS and filter by the class code if you know which classes you need to register a trademark. TESS will show you all the registered trademarks for the search results as well as the company or person who owns the registered trademark. If there is an existing trademark owner, the information to approach them will be in the search and you can attempt to get legal ownership of the brand name by buying the trademark rights or paying a licensing fee to use the brand name. You'll need legal advice from a law firm to successfully do so though.

Prepare documentation

You'll need the following documentation: [su_note note_color="#dbeafc"]

1. Business documents for the name of the organization that will own the trademark if applicable
2. Personal information of the owner
3. Personal information of the person applying (if different than owner)
4. Products you are or will be selling
5. Proof of the trademark in commercial use by the company
6. International Class Number of each type of product or service you are registering a trademark to protect.

[/su_note]

Create a USPTO account

You'll need to create a USPTO account first. You'll need to input your name, email, and phone number, then accept the terms of service and perform the Recaptcha. It will then send you an email that asks you to verify it and create a 12-character password that includes upper and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Once you create the password, you'll be able to set up 2-factor authentication (2FA) and add additional contact information. Set it up according to your preference, but be aware that the following steps will require the 2FA, and if you don't set up a different one, it will use your email. You will enter a screen that looks like the picture below. File a trademark application is in the top left column. You'll want to go there. It will ask for you to provide the 2FA code. Now that you are in TEAS, it is time to start the trademark application process.

Step 2. Prepare and submit your trademark application

The next step in the process of how to trademark a name is to prepare and submit your business name for trademark protection. The first page gives some information on the following: 

• Overall process
• Contact information for the United States Patent and Trademark Office
• A notification that 30 minutes of inactivity logs you out of the system
• The questions listed below the screenshot:

1. Please select one of the filing options below. 
   1. TEAS Plus – I am filing a TEAS Plus application, with a reduced fee of $250 per class of goods or services. You should only choose this option if you are 100% confident that you will fill out the trademark protection application completely correctly. They will increase your filing fees if there is one error.
   2. TEAS Standard – I am filing a TEAS Standard application, with a fee of $350 per class of goods or services. They help you if you make an error in the application process. I recommend just accepting that you are probably going to use this fee for trademark registration unless you have a narrow range of products or services you sell.
2. Is an attorney filing this application?
   1. Yes
   2. No. I expect most readers will be included in this answer when getting a trademark for their business name. You should review the Trademark Basics page if you have not already.
3. [OPTIONAL] To upload a previously saved form file, first review the USPTO's TEAS Help instructions for accessing previously saved data and then use the "Browse…" button below to access the form file saved on your computer.

The next page (pictured below) will ask for information regarding the owner of the mark. It will require the following information:

• Owner's name – If using a person's name use the format: "Last Name, First Name, Middle Name "
• Business name – Whether the business is a DBA (doing business as), AKA (also known as), TA (trading as), or Formerly. This is optional, but if you have a DBA put it here. If you are involved in investment trading, you may use TA, and Formerly is for name changes that occur like Facebook changing to Meta.
• Entity Type TEAS – Asks different questions based on the entity type chosen and whether you are a foreign or domestic company
• Mailing address – Internal Address is Suite or Apartment Number
• Domicile Address – Physical address of the business. You can choose to use the same as the mailing address.
• Phone number
• Fax
• Email
• Website

Input all this information, and then go to the next step of trademarking a business name, which is submitting the trademark. The page below allows three options for filing:

1. Standard Characters – No style or design elements allowed. You'll have to reapply when you have a design if you use this option.

1. Special Form – If you want the design included it will ask you to upload a jpeg and to describe it both based on looks, text, and color. It will also allow you to add a variety of additional statements if any apply. Consult with a lawyer to see if you need any of the additional statements when you trademark a business name.

1. My description was: 

1. 1. A cartoon man with a brown goatee, eye patch, and exploding head is at the top center. 
   2. "Brandon's Insanitorium" is directly below the cartoon man. 
   3. “Crazy Designs for a Crazy World" is centered directly below the words "Brandon's Insanitorium".

    3. Sound Mark – If your business name or slogan is being said verbally, you may want to trademark a sound mark. After you have input the description, you'll need to choose the types of products that will be protected by the trademark. For every class of goods, you'll need to provide the International Class Number, the assigned filing basis, and provide evidence, description of the evidence, website link (if applicable), and date of commercial use. The photo below is some for my business name trademark application. The filing basis can be broken into four basic options:

1. Use in commerce basis (under Trademark Act Section 1(a)) – Logo and business name are currently in use
2. Intent-to-use basis (under Section 1(b)) – Logo and business name are intended for commercial use in the near future.
3. Foreign registration basis (under Section 44(e)) – Your logo and business name are already owned under a foreign registration in a different country and you want them to apply to the US
4. Foreign application basis (under Section 44(d)) – Your logo and business name are already owned under a foreign registration that occurred in the last six months in a different country and you want them to apply to the US. It expedites the process.

The next page will let you create a custom 12-character reference number and add a backup email. The final page requests verification of the amount, in my case $1,400. You'll also need to confirm that the information is true to the best of your knowledge and either:

• Sign electronically
• Print and sign (Personally, I use Adobe Fill & Sign to sign documents from my phone.)
• Email to a second party for signature
• Send without signature 

Then you'll go to a page encouraging you to review the documents for errors, save the document, then proceed to the payment page. After you have paid the processing fee, trademarking a name proceeds to the review process which we'll look at now.

Step 3. Work with the assigned USPTO examining attorney

There is still more to do before you have exclusive rights to provide goods and services under the trademark name. You might wait months for the trademark to get an initial review and years for the entire process to trademark a company name. This step of the registration process will require a USPTO trademark attorney to review whether:

• There is an identical or similar mark that your trademark would be infringing
• You filled out the application correctly
• The documentation you provided about the goods or services proves that you qualify for the trademark for each product or service
• The trademark application status should be approved, rejected, or awaiting proof of trademark use (only if filing intent to use)

Upon the first review, the USPTO will send you a letter if there are any issues. They call this an office action and you will have up to six months to respond, so the more attentive you are, the quicker you'll get the trademark name. After you respond to the office action, they will review it again and either reject or accept the application. Once this occurs, the path will vary depending on the result. Let's look at both of these to see the next step on how to get a trademark.

Step 4. Receive tentative approval or denial of your application

The next step to trademark your business name is to get approval or denial. What happens from there depends on the results. Let's look at each scenario.

How to trademark your business name after approval

Assuming you performed the search well and were cooperative with the lawyer, a trademark or company name will be published in a weekly publication called the Official Gazette. If no one contests it for 30-90 days after the publication date, you successfully receive the registered trademark. If another business claims they own the rights to the business mark or contests the registration of the desired name, there will be a trial at theTrademark Trial and Appeal Board(TTAB). The appeal board will operate using the same laws as the federal court. These will normally be because another brand identity thinks the mark will cause them harm due to being too similar to their own mark. It is a rarity to face opposition as only 2.8% of registration applications go through opposition proceedings, and 55.2%  of the ones that do still become a registered mark after the proceeding. You don't need to worry about it too much when wondering how to get a name trademarked. Watch the USPTO video below to learn more about the court proceedings at the TTAB. [su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qYFNIwg9JB0  "] Let's look at what to do if you get rejected on the path to get your limited liability company a business mark.

Your business mark application got rejected. Now what?

If after going through the application process, the lawyer rejects your trademark registration, you'll have a chance to correct it and get it approved. If they reject you twice, you have the right to appeal to get your business mark approved. This goes through the same appeal board, but these have much lower chances of success than opposition to a business mark because they are often over issues like common words or another business already owns the business mark. Hopefully, the steps of how to trademark your company go more smoothly than a rejection. If you have to appeal a rejection, you may spend years in court fighting for approval. Now that you know the results of an unlikely rejection, let's look at how to trademark your company name and keep it registered.

Step 5. Maintain your registration

Once your trademark has been approved, you will need to submit documentation to maintain the trademark business name. At different points, you'll need to submit the following forms. The following links require a USPTO account and fees may be subject to annual changes:

• Declaration of Use and/or Excusable Nonuse of a Mark under Section 8 – After the first five years but before the 6th year of commercial use, between the 9th and 10th year, and every 10 years after the Declaration of Use must be filed. At the time of writing, there is a $225/class fee and a $100/class six-month extension option.
• Declaration of Incontestability of a Mark under Section 15 – This document should be filed after the first five years and makes it where other companies cannot challenge your claim to the trademark business name. At the time of writing, it is a one-time filing of $225/class and can be combined with the Declaration of Use and/or Excusable Nonuse of a Mark form during the 5th year.
• Combined Declaration of Use and/or Excusable Nonuse/Application for Renewal under Sections 8 & 9 – This document needs to be filled out between the 9th and 10th year and every 10 years after or you will lose your trademark. The fee is $525/class at the time of writing, but the USPTO reserves the right to change fees.

Learn more about how to trademark a company name and keep it valid on the USPTO keeping your registration alive page.

FAQs About Trademark Registration

How much does it cost to trademark a name?

It costs $250-$350 per class to get a mark. Additional fees apply if you ask for an extension request, require legal action, or want border protection against a geographic area outside of the U.S.

How do I trademark a name?

You go through the following process to trademark a name:

1. Go to UPSTO.gov
2. Conduct trademark search
3. Create USPTO account
4. Apply for the trademark 
5. Wait for Office Action letter 
6. Respond to any requests
7. Tentative Approval/Denial
   1. Tentative approval is posted in Official Gazette to give people to contest
   2. Denials can appeal
8. Final Decision

Is it free to trademark a name?

No, but if you have been using a name for years and someone later registers the same name, you may be able to win an opposition case using common law rights. Don’t assume the courts will protect you if someone files a similar mark before you. Apply to register your trademark as soon as possible.

How to trademark a product name?

It's the same way as a company name, but you need to have the specific product in the proof. 

1. Go to UPSTO.gov
2. Conduct trademark search
3. Create USPTO account
4. Apply for the trademark 
5. Wait for Office Action letter 
6. Respond to any requests
7. Tentative Approval/Denial
   1. Tentative approval is posted in Official Gazette to give people to contest
   2. Denials can appeal
8. Final Decision

Do I need to trademark my business name?

You should, but many of our business owners say that it's not worth it when money is tight because you can't really afford to fight the legal battles that come with bad actors stealing your ideas. They suggest focusing on providing better service than the competitors, then get it when you're making a nice living. Check out this interview with Paul from Fast Cap. [su_youtube url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wog3FLh0tHk&t=286s"]

What's the cheapest way to trademark a name?

Trademarking a company name is always going to be expensive, but the least expensive way to get a trademark is to get a print-on-demand company like Printful, use their logo generator, throw it on a t-shirt, and sell it in an e-commerce shop like Shopify. Then do the trademark yourself for $250 under the “already-in-commercial-use option” in the USPTO application. Wait for it to go through the whole process. Start selling other items then apply for other classes as you go. And that's how you trademark for less.

Conclusion

That finalizes our walkthrough about trademarking. We’ve introduced you to trademarks and other intellectual property, provided the resources to learn more about it, and walked you through the application process.  If you have any questions, check out our FAQs below or leave them in the comments. What aspect of trademarking and intellectual property would you like to know more about?

The restaurant industry is highly competitive. Restaurant marketing is no different—you’re competing against restaurants in your niche and in every niche.

There are so many ways to promote your restaurant that you need a well-laid marketing plan. We’ll explain the goal of restaurant marketing and provide restaurant marketing tips, sample marketing plans and budgets, and software recommendations.

[su_note note_color="#dbeafc"] We’ll cover the following topics:

• What is restaurant marketing?
• How to market a restaurant
  • Step #1. Dream up your restaurant
  • Step #2. Create a restaurant marketing strategy
  • Step #3. Create a restaurant marketing plan
  • Step #4. Prepare a restaurant marketing budget
  • Step #5. Buy restaurant marketing software
  • Step #6. Implement the restaurant marketing strategies
  • Step #7. Optimize your restaurant marketing strategies
• How to advertise a restaurant
• How to promote a restaurant
• What are your favorite restaurant marketing ideas? [/su_note]

Click on any of the links above to learn more about how to promote a restaurant, or just continue reading.

What is restaurant marketing?

Restaurant marketing focuses on identifying the ideal clients for a restaurant, getting them to try your restaurant, collecting data, and creating loyalty. It can increase your restaurant's brand reputation, revenue, and profits.

How to market a restaurant

The four Ps of marketing are product, price, place, and promotion. So essentially, marketing should have a role in nearly every decision you make as you start a restaurant.

To effectively market your restaurant, follow the following steps:

1. Dream up your restaurant.
2. Choose a restaurant marketing strategy.
3. Create a marketing plan.
4. Prepare a marketing budget.
5. Market your restaurant.

Let’s look at each of these steps to understand how to market a business in the restaurant industry.

Step #1. Dream up your restaurant

Before your restaurant is even open, you’ll need to make decisions that affect your restaurant marketing, like:

• The type of food you’ll serve
• How much you’ll charge for food
• The location of your restaurant
• Your menu design
• Whether you’ll provide dine-in, carry-out, drive-thru, delivery, or other methods

These decisions will impact everything you do. It’s essential to think about them before you start spending money.

Once you’ve thought about the big picture, you need to narrow it down to the restaurant marketing strategies you want to use.

Step #2. Create a restaurant marketing strategy

You can choose a combination of traditional and digital marketing strategies. Some restaurant marketing strategies include:

Let’s look at how each of these restaurant marketing ideas helps you market your business.

#1. Style of restaurant

This decision is more of a business decision than a restaurant marketing strategy, but you’ll need to decide it before you do anything else. This will help you do competitor research and target market research.

Of course, if you have a themed restaurant (like Noah’s Ark, a former St. Louis-area restaurant shaped like a massive wooden boat), your style of restaurant will be closely related to your marketing.

#2. Brand

It’s essential to establish your brand. A restaurant brand includes:

• Restaurant values and mission: Your values and mission statement should explain how and why you do what you do.
• Restaurant name: Your restaurant's name will be on countless marketing materials, including its logo, website, and social media accounts. It will appear on ordering apps as well.
• Restaurant logo: The visual representation of your restaurant will be used just as much—if not more. If your logo becomes iconic—think the McDonald’s Golden Arches—you won’t even need the name for people to know what company it is.
• Color palette: The colors you use help create a brand image. Think of some of your favorite restaurants. What colors do they use? The colors can be used for everything from uniforms to marketing materials and even the restaurant’s interior. Dig into color theory here.
• Font: Different fonts are interpreted in different ways. Learn more about font psychology here.
• Communication style: How does your restaurant communicate with the public? A bar or neighborhood grill might want a friendly vibe, while a fine-dining establishment may use more formal communication.
• Slogans: Is there something you want your company to be known for? These are commonly used with fast food. For instance, what restaurant comes to mind when you see the words “I’m lovin’ it”?

#3. Location

Your restaurant location doesn’t inherently seem like a marketing decision, but it is.

The placement of your restaurant can make or break it. It could be in an area with a perfect vibe, or it could be a mismatch for your target audience.

Make sure the restaurant location is:

• Easily accessible from all directions
• Near your target market
• Convenient for employees who need to ride a bus

Learn more about choosing a location.

Note: Many modern-day point-of-sale (POS) systems make it easy to implement restaurant marketing strategies #4 through #9.

#4. Online food delivery system

An online food delivery system is a marketing strategy that connects you with outside companies such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub.

Lightspeed HQ expects a 20% or higher compound annual growth rate in food delivery between now and 2030.

You can’t really afford to ignore these restaurant marketing channels anymore, but you need to be aware that each delivery company has different commissions they take for their services.

You should assume that 30% of the total ticket price will be spent on delivery. That means if you need to make $15 on a meal to stay in business, you need to charge $21.99 for the meal to cover the delivery costs.

Failing to factor in these costs could cause your restaurant to fail, as the average restaurant has a slim 9.08% net profit margin. Make sure you get this right. Hire a restaurant consultant if you need help.

Hear from a restaurant consultant below:

#5. Online booking platforms

In addition to online deliveries, you can also take online orders or reservations through marketing channels like OpenTable, Resy, and Reserve with Google.

These restaurant marketing strategies increase your digital footprint and make it easier for customers to book reservations and orders. They might also increase productivity by reducing incoming phone calls.

#6. Customer loyalty programs

Another marketing strategy that every restaurant owner needs is a customer loyalty program. Rewarding loyal customers encourages people to keep coming back. It also helps you gather data about your customers to create better customer avatars.

Whether you’re using branded punch cards or digital rewards programs, business owners who implement loyalty programs could see up to 67% increased customer spending.

#7. Coupon-based discounts

Offering physical or digital coupons is another of the restaurant marketing ideas that may be included in your point-of-sale system. You can use coupons as a way to bring in first-time clients, encourage birthday meals, or reward loyal customers.

Make sure to calculate the cost of the discounts and include them in your restaurant marketing budget plan. As a good rule of thumb, don’t make coupons greater than the expected gross profit from the purchases.

#8. Running promotions

Promotions are similar to discounts but cover a broader range of strategies. They might include discounts, buy-one-get-one, giveaways, or other restaurant marketing strategies that help increase awareness of the restaurant on social media and other marketing channels.

#9. Pricing

Restaurant owners need to get the price of the food they are selling right. Too expensive, and you’ll scare off most customers; too inexpensive, and you may lose money with every item sold. The sweet spot will attract customers and allow for profit.

#10. Menu design

Your menu is part of your restaurant marketing strategy. Will it be professional looking in a leather-bound protector or laminated with lots of pictures? Maybe it will be on the wall.

Consider what your competitors do before making a decision. It would be weird to go into fine dining and see a fast food-style menu above the hostess stand.

#11. Visually appealing dishes

While you might not think of the plate layout as part of marketing, impressed customers might share photos of their dishes on social media. Take a food-styling course, plan out your food presentation, and train your employees to duplicate it with every dish. Just remember to be reasonable.

#12. Paid advertising

Restaurant advertising can take on many formats. In a search engine, you might have text-based advertisements, while you might prioritize pictures or videos when advertising on social media.

Make sure that you are narrowing your restaurant advertisement to people who live near the restaurant or travel to the location consistently. Otherwise, online advertising platforms can become prohibitively expensive.

#13. Events (like soft openings and a grand opening)

A great restaurant marketing strategy is to host soft openings and a grand opening. New restaurants can use these to get a lot of attention, especially if you combine them with promotions.

A soft opening also acts as a low-pressure environment for your staff to prepare for the grand opening by only serving friends and family. The grand opening is a more formal event that should include media and influencers.

Talk to people with PR credentials in your area to maximize the results.

#14. Search engine optimization (SEO)

Optimizing your restaurant website for search engines is a great way to bring more awareness to your business. You’ll want to research keywords for your type of restaurant, create pages that describe each item, provide an online menu, and make it easy to place online orders and provide reviews.

Check out TouchBistro’s blog about restaurant SEO.

#15. Local SEO

You’ll need to use local SEO techniques and directories, including:

• Google Business Profile (Formerly Google My Business)
• Foursquare
• Tripadvisor
• Yellow Pages
• Yelp

Learn more about starting a Google Business Profile for your restaurant.

#16. Social media marketing for restaurants

Social media marketing will require you to:

1. Create a social media restaurant profile on all social media platforms.
2. Add your business information.
3. Invite your friends to like the page.
4. Share posts about the food and restaurant.
5. Use QR codes to make it easy for guests to find your socials in your restaurant.
6. Encourage people to share pictures and tag your business.
7. Ask people to provide reviews. You can even offer incentives or discounts to provide reviews.
8. Consider using social media ads.

Suppose you don’t love being on social media. You might find a friend or family member who enjoys social media and have them manage it. Alternatively, you could pay a restaurant marketing company to manage your social media marketing.

#17. Influencer marketing

Another social media marketing strategy is inviting influencers to eat for free. If they enjoy your restaurant and provide a stellar review, it can help drive new customers.

There are keys to making this marketing strategy effective, including:

• Brand goals: Before hiring any influencer, define what you want to achieve by hiring them.
• Target audience: The influencer should share your target audience.
• Engagement rate: An influencer’s engagement rate, or how many people interact with posts, is more important than how many followers they have. Customer engagement is a sign that the influencer isn’t buying followers.
• Content alignment: If the influencer style and content don’t align with your brand identity, it could turn off potential customers.
• Cost: User-generated content helps attract customers, but the prices for influencers can range from free products to a percentage of sales to a flat rate per post. Learn about influencer pricing.
• Platform: Make sure your restaurant has a presence on the platforms the influencer works on.
• Reach: Pricing may be partially based on how many potential customers will see the user-generated content. If you take online reservations, you can use a promo code to tie the influencer directly to the revenue and then pay them a percentage.
• Search and discovery tools: How does the platform allow the content to be found by your target audience? Some platforms are more successful at bringing in new customers than others.
• Influencer vetting system: Each influencer has their own requirements for who they work with. You should also have requirements because digital marketing for restaurants can have unintended consequences if the influencer is involved in a scandal.

Klear and Traackr are influencer marketing tools that match influencers with businesses.

#18. Restaurant email marketing

Restaurants use email marketing to offer discounts, offer birthday gifts, notify people about new products, or confirm online orders. The more ways you use email marketing to communicate with your audience, the more you’ll stay in their mind.

Step #3. Create a restaurant marketing plan

Restaurant owners need to create a marketing plan (a document) for handling each of the marketing efforts (time and resources put into marketing), including:

1. The marketing strategy (the goals and process), including a step-by-step process
2. How much to spend on the marketing efforts
3. The restaurant marketing software that will be used
4. Who is responsible for implementing the restaurant’s marketing strategy
5. Metrics to measure the marketing strategy success
6. How often to optimize the marketing strategy

These will help provide a restaurant marketing plan that drives your marketing decision-making and efforts as you run your restaurant.

Steal restaurant marketing ideas from the big guys

There are two lists you might want to look at to get an idea of what the most successful restaurants do:

1. Independent restaurants
2. Chains

Independent restaurants

Restaurant Business estimated the earnings of the top 100 independent restaurants. Below, we did some calculations with the figures to help guide your goals.

Independent Restaurants
	Sales	Average Check	Meals Served
Sum	$1,505,018,003		30,220,154
Average	$19,802,868	$50	302,202
Median	$19,102,119	$70	241,289
Minimum	$11,155,420	$18	32,786
Maximum	$45,298,122	$230	1,001,254

To be one of the top 100 restaurants, you’d want to serve $20M in food at a price between $50 and $70 per person. Not feasible to start, but something to shoot for.

Look at restaurants on Restaurant Business’s list to see which are comparable to your restaurant, then research their marketing.

Chains

We also gathered some data about the top chains in the U.S. You can view the full list on Nation’s Restaurant News, but it’s most important to understand that there are 500 chains with a combined 230,250 locations and that you’ll want to aim for at least $1.5M in revenue to be among the top 50% of performers.

Chains
	Sales	Units	Sales/Unit
Sum	$391,164,100,000.00	230,250
Average	$783,895,991.98	461	$1,698,866.88
Median	$136,400,000.00	89	$1,506,060.61
Minimum	$47,300,000.00	13	$272,210.53
Maximum	$48,672,700,000.00	20,576	$12,612,019.23

You can review our calculations here.

Check out restaurants with Instagram followers

Another easy way to learn how to market a restaurant is to look at what the restaurants in your area are doing. Delicious has a great list of the “most Instagrammed restaurants” by state.

Step #4. Prepare a restaurant marketing budget

A restaurant marketing budget is normally only 2% of revenue, according to the Small Business Administration (SBA). This number is less than 25% of what the SBA suggests.

Based on IBIS World’s industry revenue and number of businesses, the average revenue for a restaurant is nearly $1.67M. That means your marketing budget should be somewhere between the values in the table below.

Budget	2%	8%	30%
Revenue	$1,668,571.43	$1,668,571.43	$1,668,571.43
Marketing Per Year	$33,371.43	$133,485.71	$500,571.43
Marketing Per Month	$2,780.95	$11,123.81	$41,714.29

Some recommend spending up to 30% on restaurant marketing strategies during the first year to help develop brand awareness at a much quicker base. If you decide to take such an aggressive strategy, monitor your marketing campaigns to verify that they are bringing in new customers and increasing customer retention.

If they are not, we highly suggest optimizing the strategies by focusing your spending on campaigns that are outperforming the others.

Learn how to prepare your marketing budget here.

A powerful restaurant marketing plan will encompass many of these strategies. You’ll also need to collect important marketing campaign data to refine your approach.

Step #5. Buy restaurant marketing software

A key component of collecting valuable customer data is using marketing software to collect and optimize marketing strategies. A restaurant marketer will need several hardware and software solutions to serve their customers best.

You’ll need a:

• Website
• Social media
• POS and restaurant management system
• Customer relationship management software
• Analytics software
• Accounting systems
• Keyword research tools

You’ll want to consider how each tool fits into your restaurant marketing plan, business goals, and marketing campaigns. In addition, you’ll want to consider costs, integration with other software, and online reviews when making decisions on marketing tools.

Website

When you create a restaurant website, you’ll want to consider what new and repeat customers need when they visit your website.

Take a minute to think about what you do when you are researching a restaurant. What did you want when you were a first-time customer? What did you want as a repeat customer?

The table below includes some restaurant marketing tools people expect to see when they visit a restaurant website. Can you think of more?

New Customers	Repeat Customers
Pictures of Food	Customer Loyalty Program
Positive Reviews	Online Ordering
Links to Directions	Ability to Order Previous Orders
Phone Number	New Menu Items
Menu	Saved Account Details
Ordering Platform	Discounts
Discounts	Promotions

In addition, you’ll want the website to link to your social media, restaurant management software, and analytics software.

Restaurant social media marketing software

In addition to social media accounts, some tools can help with social media marketing for restaurants.

Agorapulse (“agora” means meeting place) helps you track 10 social media platforms, providing analytics, scheduling, and responding. There is a free 30-day trial, and many other features depending on your plan. It’s the preferred social management platform for industry behemoth McDonald’s.

Learn about other social media tools.

POS and restaurant management system

Remember all the marketing strategies that were part of a POS system?

You can use POS or restaurant management systems like Toast to get all those features. Find out how Toast stacks up against competitors. You can get started for free, but the paid packages range from $69 and up, depending on your desired features.

Customer relationship management (CRM) software

OpenTable, Upserve, Toast, and Sugar CRM are some CRM software for restaurants. Many CRM software platforms will also serve as POS and online ordering systems. Before you mix and match software, make sure it works together.

Analytics software

Posist and Restaurant365 are top performers in small restaurant analytics software. Analytics software combines revenue, employee scheduling information, and food inventory to help local businesses and major corporations in the restaurant industry manage their costs more effectively.

You may be able to access analytics with your POS system, but make sure to check each provider to see what is included.

Accounting systems

Restaurant marketing tips are great, but you’ll have no idea how well you’re doing unless you can tie the marketing to financial results.

Most small businesses use QuickBooks, but restaurants can also use the POS systems to monitor financial performance for quick managerial decisions.

Keyword research tools

Another helpful tool is keyword research software. You can use software like SurferSEO or Ahrefs to find online search keywords.

A good rule of thumb is to go for high-volume, low-difficulty keywords, and as you increase your authority, progress to high-volume, high-difficulty keywords.

Step #6. Implement the restaurant marketing strategies

During this phase, you will set up all the software, create your restaurant marketing campaign, and monitor it to see whether it meets the goal of bringing in potential customers.

Even the most effective marketing strategies require time to work. In our courses, Joshua Brown explains that you’ll generally want to start email marketing and paid ads between one and three weeks before you want to earn revenue from new or existing customers.

Should I hire a restaurant marketing agency?

Restaurant marketing agencies can be tremendously helpful. They can help you establish your restaurant’s brand identity, advise you on the best software, set up effective marketing strategies, and monitor and optimize your campaigns.

Despite the benefits of hiring a restaurant marketing agency, a local restaurant may be better off hiring them for specific tasks than to manage everything.

When a single company does all your restaurant marketing, they might claim ownership of assets, like your Google Business Profile or website. If you want to fire them, you must find new, effective restaurant marketing strategies.

Be prepared to spend over $1K monthly if you’re looking for full-service marketing agencies. You’ll want to check their online reviews to see what their customer base likes and dislikes about the company.

Step #7. Optimize your restaurant marketing strategies

When you market a restaurant, you’ll adjust your marketing budget for each channel's spending based on how well they attract customers. Most small restaurants find local online and Google Ads to be the most effective.

Approximately once per month, you’ll want to adjust each marketing strategy for restaurant operations. But another business owner warned us:

[su_quote] You can’t throw $100 at ads for a month and decide it didn’t work. Give marketing for a restaurant a few months to adjust how to market your restaurant. [/su_quote]

When you find that marketing ideas for restaurants are not getting the results you want, you have a couple of options:

1. Change the call to action.
2. Change the offer.
3. Reduce the spending on the marketing channel.

Brandon told us you must track everything to see where you lose your customer base.

Suppose you get many potential customers from a source, but they aren’t ordering food at the same rate as other restaurant digital marketing campaigns. In that case, it’s probably not the right marketing channel.

Stop wasting money marketing a restaurant to the wrong people. Likewise, shift the budget to restaurant ads you know work.

The best restaurant marketing campaigns will be able to scale and attract more customers. No matter how well the campaign attracts customers, there will be a point where your returns start to drop. When this occurs, you’ve hit the point of diminishing returns and should stop increasing the allocation to those local ads.

How to advertise a restaurant

Advertising a restaurant should use a combination of traditional marketing strategies, paid digital ads, and customer retention methods. Restaurant advertisement examples will normally include:

• Google Business Profile: Provides location in Google Maps. This will help people see your food, restaurant, business hours, and location.
• Google Ads: Run paid advertisements on Google Ads. Help people find your restaurant when they search for the type of food you serve, or simply “food near me”.
• Social Media: Social media ads are the best place to increase brand awareness because you can narrow your audience to people in your location and show them videos.

On any of the platforms, you’ll want to:

1. Create a business account.
2. Sign up for ads.
3. Specify your goals.
4. Create the ad copy and/or designs.
5. Specify your budget.
6. Monitor the performance.

Restaurant marketing companies can help you market your restaurant online to help remove the learning curve, but the saved time comes with higher upfront costs.

How to promote a restaurant

There are numerous ways to promote a restaurant. Consider some of the following ideas:

1. Schedule a grand opening and publish it in places that announce local events.
2. Run local online ads with a promotional offer or discount for new customers.
3. Make it easy for people to provide positive reviews.
4. Respond kindly to negative reviews to show you care about the customers’ experience.

What are your favorite restaurant marketing ideas?

At this point, you should know what to do to prepare to market your restaurant. It’s up to you to choose the best strategies for you.

What restaurant marketing appeals most to you? Let us know in the comments.