Don’t ask me to sell you a paperclip.
This story explains why not. It also covers the difference between copyright (with an r) and copywriting (with a w).
When I set up my freelance copywriting business in 2001, I decided to trade as Comms Plus.
“Comms”, I thought, “for written and spoken communications. Plus, for the added results clients get when they choose me”.
The first problem
Oh dear, I found there were some other Comms Pluses.
CommsPlus Ltd is a telecoms business in Weston-super-Mare. That’s OK. There was no danger of me being confused with them.
And there was a Commsplus marketing agency founded in 1994 by Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones which specialised in food and drink. (It closed in 2005 when he launched The Black Farmer range of gluten-free pork products.)
There was a risk people would confuse my generalist copywriting service with them.
In the old days, long, long ago, the first business to use the brand name had the right to own it. But, for a long time, it’s been the first business to trademark the name.
I noticed that Wilfred hadn’t protected any of his IP. In fact, their website said they were CommsPlus Ltd when they weren’t – that was, and is, the telecoms company. And he was mis-using the ® symbol.
So I took advice from a trademark lawyer. He said I should trademark the Comms Plus name in order to continue using it, otherwise there was a risk Wilfred would accuse me of ‘passing off’ my business as his (even though I didn’t write copy for the food-and-drink sector), and I’d lose every penny of profit I’d made, and be fined £10,000.
So I did a trademark application to cover the UK and Europe for copywriting and training services under the Comms Plus brand.
The process includes three months where anyone who notices your application during that period can object to it.
The next problem
It turned out that Staples.com (the stationery supplier) had a brand called Staples.com Plus. The computer said it was too close a match.
My lawyer told me the only way round it was to get permission from the big scary lawyers at Staples’ Head Office in the USA confirming they had no objections to me using the name. “But they’ll never bother replying to a little sole trader freelance copywriter in England,” he said.
I wrote to the lawyers anyway.
They replied saying: “We have no problems with you using the name Comms Plus to sell your copywriting service, as long as you promise never to sell stationery online”.
So don’t ask me to sell you a paperclip. I’m not allowed to.
The next problem
I went out networking, proudly wearing my badge reading “Jackie Barrie, Comms Plus” – and everyone thought I worked in telecoms.
So it was a terrible brand name for me.
I owned the Comms Plus trademark for 10 years, but I only use the ‘trading as’ name for legal and accounting purposes.
After a year or so, I got a testimonial on LinkedIn from a fellow copywriter (thanks, Kat), saying “Jackie Barrie can write without waffle, that’s so rare”.
“Ooh,” I thought. “I like that. Writing Without Waffle. The three Ws go with websites and I write lots of web copy…”
So I’ve been using Writing Without Waffle as my tagline ever since.
I’ve tried different ones over the years, but always come back to Writing Without Waffle, even though I also do other things, including speaking, training and mentoring (“Talking Without Tedium”, perhaps?).
It sells the benefit and opens the door for me to all those other things.
It just works. People’s response is usually: “I need some of that” or “I know someone who needs some of that”.
That’s what a good tagline should do, in a short and snappy way. And it’s why copywriters aren’t paid by the word.
The last problem
Lots of people don’t know the difference between copywriting (with a w) and copyright (with an r).
Many don’t know they need copywriting (or, indeed, copyright, but that’s another matter). Even if they do know they need help with their marketing copy, they don’t know what the role is called, and, even if they know what it’s called, they can’t spell it.
I went networking this week for the first time in years.
“What do you do?” they asked me.
“I’m a copywriter,” I said. (Terrible answer, what a bad networker I am. I should have said “Writing without waffle” but I’m out of practice. That’s my excuse anyway.)
I could see in their eyes they assumed I dealt with trademark and intellectual property law.
I explained that I don’t deal with copyright – except when I need to have a conversation about it with a client.
I deal with copywriting. Writing copy that works.
What this means to you
Anyone can put the letters TM after a brand name, to indicate their intention to trademark it and hopefully deter other people from using it. But it confers no legal protection.
To put the ® registered trademark icon after a name, it must be a registered trademark, in which case you can go after anyone else that uses it (in the categories/locations in which you’ve protected it).
And finally…
If you’ve read this far, you’ll know I can write a compelling story.
You’ll know I can write taglines.
You’ll know the difference between copyright and copywriting.
And you’ll know why I can’t sell you a paperclip. So don’t ask me.
