Trademarks and Your Salon Brand Name

May 24, 2024Nina KovnerGROW

It’s all in a name

From Module 2 of Creating Your Awesome Brand, A Complete Course for Beauty Professionals

Your salon brand name helps communicate your salon brand story and helps connect you to the clients, teams, and tenants you wish to serve. And part of naming your salon brand is knowing if it is available to use and hasn’t been trademarked by another salon.

A trademark is part of your salon brand’s intellectual property, which holds immense value and is worthy of protection.

Trademarks protect the investment you made in creating your salon brand name, including your signage, website address, social and digital page names, printed materials, etc. 

Last week I had three conversations with salon owners on trademarks, and it has been a highly misunderstood part of brand development in the salon industry, so I want to bring attention to trademarks and your salon brand name. This is what we share with our clients in One On Ones, in A School and also in Creating Your Awesome Brand, a complete course for beauty professionals.

In one conversation, the salon was told by ‘experts’ that they did not need to trademark their salon brand name. It took me less than one minute doing a search on the USPTO website (the US patent and trademark database) to learn someone already has the name trademarked in Class 44, the trademark class for salons. UGH.

While I am not a trademark attorney and am not, and will never give you legal advice, I have three decades of trademark experience, being responsible for some of the most valuable trademarks in the professional salon product space, including receiving a gazillion cease and desist letters from conglomerates with way more attorneys on staff than I had, along with helping our clients the last twelve years at Passion Squared.

Things To Consider When Creating Your Salon Brand Name

  1. Is the name aligned with your salon brand story?
  2. Is the name already trademarked in the Class you want to use it for? (Hair salons are Class 44)
  3. Is the name available as a web address and site?
  4. Is the name available to use as your brand email address?
  5. Is the name available on social pages?
  6. Is the name available on digital pages?

Trademark Investment

  • USPTO Directly $250 + (I don’t usually recommend this as it can be overwhelming for some)
  • Legal Zoom $649 +
  • Attorney $2000 + est It takes anywhere from six months to one year to secure a registered trademark, depending on the USPTO and the complexity of the mark.

Cost of Creating A New Salon Brand Name If Your Current Name Is Trademarked by Another Salon

  • New website address
  • New email addresses
  • New social page names
  • New digital page names
  • New signage
  • New printed materials
  • TIME ENERGY MONEY ++++++++

This is just one of many tools and strategies inside the Creating Your Awesome Brand, a complete course for beauty professionals. Because when you have clarity around your salon brand, you have a strong foundation to make more aligned decisions, save a ton of time, money, and energy, and feel more confidence, courage, and joy. Click here to learn more.

Much love, in service to you-

Nina

Five Questions To Help Create Your Salon Brand Promise

May 23, 2024Nina KovnerGROW

Trust is built on promises kept

From Module 1 of Creating Your Awesome Brand, A Complete Course for Beauty Professionals

What is a brand promise?
• How you solve the problems of the clients you serve
• The experience you deliver
• The expectations you set
• How you want your clients to feel

Different Audiences, Different Promises

When crafting your salon brand story, you likely have more than one audience unless you are a solo independent.

• Employment-based salons
Clients and team members

• Lease based salons
Clients and tenants

Example Brand promise for clients
Your clients may value relaxing experiences because previous salons they’ve been at feel chaotic.

Brand promise for teams
Your team may value working in an environment that is grounded and relaxing because their previous salon was toxic and chaotic.

Same. But different.

Five Questions To Help Create Your Salon Brand Promise
1. What does your salon brand experience look and feel like?
2. How does your salon brand solve the problems of your people?
3. What is the expectation you are setting for the experience of your salon brand?
4. How do you want your people to feel?
5. What do you want your people to say about your salon experience?

Having clarity of your salon brand story, which includes your salon brand promise, helps you simplify your decision-making process, make more aligned decisions for your salon business, set clear expectations, and connect with the people you wish to serve, whether it be salon clients, salon teams or salon tenants.

With that clarity, you will save a ton of time you waste not making decisions, or making ones that are not aligned with your visions and goals, have more confidence, and courage, and feel so much more joy. 



This is just one of many tools and strategies inside the Creating Your Awesome Brand, a complete course for beauty professionals. Because when you have clarity around your salon brand, you have a strong foundation to make more aligned decisions, save a ton of time, money, and energy, and feel more confidence, courage, and joy. Click here to learn more.

Much love, in service to you-

Nina

Salon Owner Insights: Danielle Green of Radically Curly Salon

May 22, 2024Nina KovnerPodcast

In this episode, Danielle Green, the owner, and creator of Radically Curly Salon, an employment based salon in Las Vegas returns to the pod. We discuss Danielle’s recent move to a large salon from a quad salon suite, to accommodate her growing clientele and team. Danielle shares the journey and motivations behind creating the Radically Curly Salon brand, which focuses on celebrating all natural textures of hair. Danielle also discusses her wisdom and insights from the build-out of the new Radically Curly location including the importance of external support systems like a business attorney and CPA, and the challenges and rewards of transitioning to a larger space. We also discussed marketing strategies, client referrals, self-care practices, and maintaining healthy boundaries as an entrepreneur. You can find Radically Curly Salon on the socials here and here, on the web here. Thank you Danielle for sharing your wisdom, again, with us! And thank you to our listeners for being here. We love you!

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Your experience matters. We would be so grateful if you shared your experience with our podcast by leaving a review wherever you enjoy your podcasts so others can discover it. It matters to us, and so do you. Thank you- Nina

Elevated Salon Prices Require Elevated Salon Experiences

May 15, 2024Nina KovnerPodcast

In this episode, Nina dives deeper into a recent Reel they shared on the connection between your salon brand, your salon experiences, and your salon prices. When your prices are aligned with the experience you deliver, and you’re attracting salon clients who see value in the experience for the price, you are good. When your salon prices are out of alignment with the experience you deliver, that’s where you may struggle. We also talk about the importance of context when absorbing content on the socials about your salon pricing. The Reel mentioned in this episode can be found here. You can learn more about the Creating Your Awesome Brand course here, find us on the socials here and here. Thank you so much for listening! 

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Your experience matters. We would be so grateful if you shared your experience with our podcast by leaving a review wherever you enjoy your podcasts so others can discover it. It matters to us, and so do you. Thank you- Nina

Salon Owner Insights: Kristen Peckich of La Pomponnee Salon

May 8, 2024Nina KovnerPodcast

In this episode, Nina sits down with Kristen Peckich, the owner of La Pomponnee Salon in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. We discuss Kristen’s 32 years as the owner and leader of an employment-based salon, her unusually low turnover of team members and clients, her salon leadership philosophy, lessons learned, and transitioning from working behind the chair into a full-time leadership position. We also talk about Kristen’s most impactful marketing strategies focusing on client care and how Kristen practices self-care while serving others. Thank you Kristen for being an inspiration to our industry and for being our guest on the pod. You can find La Pomponnee on the socials @lapomponnee Thank you for listening!


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Spotify
YouTube Podcasts

Your experience matters. We would be so grateful if you shared your experience with our podcast by leaving a review wherever you enjoy your podcasts so others can discover it. It matters to us, and so do you. Thank you- Nina