Secure brand: how to protect your business in 10 steps?

Your secure brand is the greatest asset your business can have in the digital world. After all, in an environment of constant change, where reputation and built value can be rapidly threatened, protection becomes the basis for growth.

For Branddi, understanding and ensuring that your company has a secure brand is more than a specialty — it's the essence of what we do. And for this reason, we know that the quest to shield your business from unfair practices, deceptive actions, and online piracy is a daily reality. And the way to do this is clear to us!

In this guide, we share the knowledge you need to strengthen your brand and protect it efficiently.

Read on and discover the steps to ensure the security and continuous growth of your business!

What can we understand by a secure brand?

A secure brand transcends the simple possession of a registration with the INPI: it represents the integrity and trust that your business projects in the digital environment.

Just as you protect your physical store with alarms and security, or your factory with strict access controls, your online presence requires the same level of care and attention. In other words, the digital security of your brand is as relevant as your physical security.

Therefore, understanding a secure brand means recognizing that it is protected against misuse, such as unfair competition that diverts its customers, scams that deceive consumers in its name, or piracy that steals revenue and damages its reputation.

To contextualize, a recent survey that our team from Branddi Realized revealed that 6 out of 10 Brazilians stop buying from a brand after suffering a scam involving its name.

This data underlines the urgency and direct impact of having an unprotected brand: the loss of customers and revenue is a tangible reality.

Protecting your brand online is therefore a direct investment in your sustainability and in the relationship with your audience.

Who are a brand's main online villains?

Here at Branddi, we always say that in order to have a secure brand, it is necessary to recognize and combat the threats that evolve rapidly in the digital environment.

After all, the sophistication and volume of these practices have been growing alarmingly: online malicious activities, for example, increased 112% between 2023 and 2024, according to the report 2024 DDoS Attack Trends from F5, indicating a higher-risk scenario for all businesses with a digital presence.

And those are the key practices that can erode your reputation, divert your revenue, and mislead your customers, requiring constant and intelligent brand protection.

Will we understand who these “villains” are and how they act?

Fake news and rumors

Fake news and rumors are false or distorted information that is quickly disseminated, often by malicious or uninformed profiles, with the purpose of damaging the image of a brand.

They can appear on social networks, messaging apps, and even on sites that impersonate legitimate news sources.

The viralization of a rumor can cause significant damage to reputation and credibility, directly impacting sales. This is because consumers lose trust and the brand may face financial challenges, demonstrating the need for monitoring and quick action to protect its value in the market.

Seizure of KWs (Brand Bidding)

Keyword hijacking, or “brand bidding”, occurs when malicious competitors or affiliates use your brand name in their sponsored link campaigns (e.g., Google Ads).

To do this, they bid on your institutional keywords so that your ads appear when a user searches directly for you, diverting qualified traffic.

Imagine that a customer searches for “XYZ Brand” and is directed to a competitor. This increases your Cost Per Click (CPC), forces you to contest your own name, and dilutes your authority, hampering the performance of your campaigns and the consumer experience.

Worrying, isn't it?

piracy

Piracy involves the unauthorized production, distribution, and sale of products or content that mimic the originals of a brand. In digital terms, it is manifested in the sale of counterfeit items on marketplaces or in the illegal availability of software and media.

O Counterfeiting Yearbook 2025 The ABCF revealed that Brazil lost R$ 471 billion to the illegal market in 2024, with online commerce tripling.

However, financial loss isn't everything. After all, in addition to the massive loss of revenue for the original brand, piracy tarnishes its image, as counterfeit products often have lower quality, frustrating consumers and associating negative experiences with the legitimate brand.

Fake profiles and phishing

Fake profiles are accounts that impersonate your brand, executives, or influencers on digital platforms to deceive the public, disseminate incorrect information, or apply scams.

Phishing It is the online scam technique where misleading messages (emails, SMS) pretend to be from reliable sources to divert conversions and steal customers from the original brand.

These actions result in financial scams against customers, severe reputational damage, loss of consumer trust, service overload, and potential litigation, compromising the stability of your secure brand.

Brand misuse in advertisements

Finally, the misuse of a brand in advertisements includes the unauthorized use of your logo, name or visual identity in graphic advertisements (banners, videos) or campaign texts on platforms such as Google Display or Meta Ads.

This practice can be done by competitors to confuse consumers, or by individuals with deceptive intentions who want to give credibility to false advertisements for non-existent products or false promotions.

The result is consumer confusion, the association of your brand with low quality content, the dilution of your image, and the risk that customers will be victims of scams using your name, affecting credibility and future sales.

How important is it to keep your brand safe?

Maintaining a secure brand in the digital environment is not just a preventive measure: it's a fundamental strategy for the success and sustainability of your business. For this reason, there are many reasons to proactively invest in brand protection and directly impact your results.

See why it's essential to ensure your brand's safety below:

• Protection of reputation and credibility: your image is your greatest asset. In other words, a single online incident, such as a scam or fake news involving your name, can shake the trust of consumers and partners, taking years to rebuild. Remember: a secure brand preserves your good reputation;
• Safeguarding revenue: unfair competition and piracy divert customers and sales that would be yours. Therefore, protecting your brand means combating these losses, ensuring that your investments in marketing and product development translate into real revenue, not diverted to profiteers;
• Strengthening customer trust: when consumers feel protected when interacting with your brand, knowing that they won't fall for scams or purchase counterfeit products, loyalty and engagement increase. A secure brand builds lasting relationships based on transparency;
• Cost optimization: reacting to incidents after they have occurred generates high costs, whether to manage image crises, deal with legal processes, or recover lost traffic. Prevention and quick action, typical of effective brand protection, significantly reduce these expenses;
• Competitive advantage: in a saturated market, brands that demonstrate commitment to safety and integrity stand out. This is because customers prefer and trust companies that offer a safe environment for their purchases and interactions, making their secure brand a competitive differentiator;
• Long-term sustainability and growth: protecting yourself against digital threats ensures operational continuity and the ability to innovate without interruption. It's a pillar for sustainable growth, allowing your business to thrive and expand without the constant burden of invisible risks.

10 essential steps to keep your brand safe

In a dynamic digital environment full of challenges, the security of your brand is not only a preventive measure, but a strategic pillar for the growth and longevity of your business.

At Branddi, we understand that protecting your greatest digital asset requires in-depth knowledge, cutting-edge technology, and proactive action.

Based on our experience in the online threat landscape and the knowledge we've built in brand protection, we've compiled the 10 essential steps to strengthen your brand, shield it against misuse, and ensure that your investments turn into real results and not headaches.

Read on and discover what Branddi applies and recommends to ensure the integrity and success of your brand in the digital world.

1. Register the trademark officially (INPI and digital domains)

Registering your trademark with the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) is the legal basis, guaranteeing exclusive rights of use and the ability to prevent misuse, protecting your identity and legacy.

To start, search for availability on the INPI website and define the classes of products and services in which your brand will operate, a process that is important to start as soon as possible, ideally with specialized support.

In parallel, guarantee all web domains relevant to your name (.com, .com.br, etc.), avoiding Cybersquatting (registering domains under your name by malicious third parties) and ensuring that customers find your official site, protecting direct traffic.

2. Monitor online brand usage constantly

Your digital reputation is valuable but vulnerable. And constant monitoring is essential to detect misuse, scams, or rumors that could harm your brand. At this point, having a proactive approach allows you to quickly identify emerging threats, before they cause significant harm.

To do this, use tools to track mentions on social networks, search engines, and marketplaces, configuring personalized alerts.

3. Protect brand keywords

As mentioned above, the kidnapping of KWs, or brand bidding, is an unfair tactic where competitors bid on your brand's name in paid advertisements, diverting traffic and increasing your Cost per Click (CPC).

Protecting your keywords is an important step in keeping control of your sales funnel and optimizing marketing investments.

This involves keeping bids competitive on your own brand terms to ensure visibility, adding competitor terms such as negative keywords to your campaigns, and actively monitoring who is bidding on your brand.

Additionally, reporting violations directly to ad platforms is also a necessary measure to ensure that your branding effort isn't diluted.

4. Keep a clear policy for affiliates and partners

Affiliate marketing drives growth but requires caution. That's what revealed the FortiGuard Labs 2025 Report who indicated that the increase in stolen credentials on the dark web means that affiliate accounts can be compromised and used for scams, phishing campaigns, and the dissemination of false content in the name of your brand.

To mitigate these risks, define clear security rules, require strong authentication, monitor suspicious activity, and audit affiliates' compliance with security policies.

So, with a well-structured affiliate policy, you protect your brand, your customers, and your results.

5. Focus on quick and proactive action

In the digital environment, response speed is of great importance. After all, a threat to the brand, whether fake news, scam, or misuse, can go viral quickly.

At the same time, slow action allows damage to spread, affecting reputation and generating much greater crisis costs than those of early intervention. In other words, being proactive means anticipating risks and acting before the problem worsens.

To this end, it is recommended to have an incident response plan, use monitoring systems that send real-time alerts about negative mentions or suspicious activities, and ensure that your team is trained to identify and react.

In addition, familiarizing yourself with the platforms' reporting channels and having a partner to accelerate removals complements this strategy.

6. Seek to educate your team and your audience

Invest in education to shield your brand against risks and strengthen your reputation. To do this, empower your team on brand usage guidelines, the importance of the online image, and best communication practices, making them ambassadors for your brand.

Plus, educate your audience! Tell them about your products, services, and values. A conscious and engaged audience becomes a loyal supporter of your brand, combating rumors and valuing your products.

Remember: well-informed staff and public are the best allies to build a strong, reliable and lasting brand.

7. Track corporate reputation with specific and measurable KPIs

Monitoring your brand reputation is a compass that indicates the health of your business and the effectiveness of your protection strategies.

By using specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), you can quantify the impact of threats and the success of your actions, basing decisions on concrete data.

Metrics such as brand mentions and their sentiment, the Share of Voice (SoV) in your industry, and engagement on social networks are valuable indicators.

In addition, monitoring online reviews, direct traffic to your site, the Cost Per Click (CPC) of brand terms, and the number of complaints about digital scams helps you have a complete picture, ensuring the continuous adaptation of your strategy.

8. Perform regular scans of marketplaces and third-party sites

Third-party marketplaces and e-commerce are suitable environments for the sale of counterfeit products, unauthorized items, or for the delivery of scams.

Constant scans of these channels are important to combat piracy, protect your brand revenue and ensure a positive consumer experience, as the presence of counterfeit items can damage reputation.

To do this, search using your brand name and related terms, and monitor new sellers. Watch out for prices well below the market and misleading ads.

When identifying violations, follow each platform's reporting procedures to request the removal of content while maintaining the integrity of your product.

9. Conduct regular audits

Brand protection is an ongoing process of adaptation. Therefore, regular audits act as a complete check-up, evaluating the effectiveness of your existing security measures, identifying new vulnerabilities and ensuring that you're always one step ahead of rapidly evolving digital threats.

Set a frequency for these audits, reviewing all aspects of your protection strategy. However, remember that it's also important to analyze past incidents to learn and research new scammer tactics to adapt your defense.

Document the findings and create a detailed action plan with managers and deadlines for implementing improvements, keeping your strategy robust and effective.

10. Count on the support of a specialized partner

As we have seen, the complexity and volume of digital threats require more than internal efforts: they demand expertise, advanced technology, and capacity to act on a global scale.

At these times, having a partner specialized in brand protection is the most efficient way to protect your business, optimize resources, and ensure surveillance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

And partners like Branddi offer cutting-edge technology, including artificial intelligence for real-time monitoring of millions of data, detecting scams and misuse.

To do this, our specialists act from identification to removal, protecting your revenue, reducing marketing costs, and safeguarding your clients at every stage of your online presence.

With Branddi, you have an intelligent shield, integrating AI and human expertise to safely grow your business. Keep following our content and learn more about our Shielding marketing!