{"id":4619,"date":"2023-05-30T15:04:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T22:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/?p=4619"},"modified":"2025-10-21T14:24:45","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:24:45","slug":"protecting-your-business-protecting-and-valuing-your-intangible-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/blog\/protecting-your-business-protecting-and-valuing-your-intangible-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting Your Business: Protecting and Valuing Your Intangible Assets"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"co-flex_row co-flex_row__blue co-flex_row__long-form-text co-flex_row__next_row__blog-contributors\" >\n\t<div class=\"co-flex_row--row co-row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"co-long_form\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-long_form--block co-long_form--block__nomedia prow items-start \">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-long_form--text pcol-md:12\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-long_form--content\"><h2>Protecting Your Business: Protecting and Valuing Your Intangible Assets<\/h2>\n<p>Intangible assets often make up the \u2018secret sauce\u2019 of your business, such as the certain way you do business, your customer database, how your customers like to buy, budget cycles, or recipes, and processes and trade information you don\u2019t want to make public.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike intellectual property (for example, patents and trademarks) which you formally apply for and register through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uspto.gov\/\" rel=\"noopener\">US Patent and Trademark Office<\/a>, intangible assets are things that can be just as important (if not more) yet don\u2019t have legal protection.<\/p>\n<p>A great example is the reputation of your business or the credibility of your brand. It\u2019s impossible to box up your reputation, though you\u2019ll spend years building it. A ruined reputation is probably worse than a competitor copying your idea. You can usually take legal action to stop another business from stealing your intellectual property but clawing back your good name in the public\u2019s eye is a mountain to climb.<\/p>\n<p>Intangible assets that are critical to protect could include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Personal relationships and the history of trust with customers and suppliers build customer loyalty. You may know what they like and don\u2019t like, their kids\u2019 names, where they live, how they like things to be delivered, colors, styles, and anything else that you can customize to their needs, that another business would find hard to figure out.<\/li>\n<li>Any trade secrets, processes, or efficiencies of production that you\u2019ve found out by trial and error over the years you\u2019ve been in business. This could include knowing how to get new customers, client budget cycles, and their particular pain points.<\/li>\n<li>The business relationships you\u2019ve developed over the years, such as joint ventures or strategic alliances. Many agreements or referrals and word of mouth are built up over time. A good example is the network of referrals between trade businesses that verbally recommend work to each other.<\/li>\n<li>Your customer data, which could include addresses, emails, and buying history, provides useful information on their needs. Knowing your customer behavior patterns can also help with what products and services to offer, the staff to employ, and when to make contact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>The Benefits of Intangible Assets<\/h3>\n<p>Businesses with intangible assets tend to be worth more than those that don\u2019t. If you think about some of the largest businesses in the world (Facebook, Google, Apple), the value is in their recurring revenue, number of people signed up, online activity, or subscribers. It\u2019s not their buildings, equipment, or car parks.<\/p>\n<p>Other benefits of intangible assets include getting a higher price when selling the business, less chance competitors can copy you and you\u2019re likely to be able to charge more for what you do.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Locating and Protecting Your Intangible Assets<\/h3>\n<p>Even though these assets can be mission-critical, you\u2019re unlikely to see them on your balance sheet as it\u2019s usually too difficult to value them (plant and machinery is much easier to spot). The knowledge that exists in your head relating to important business activities is hard to quantify, and if you did write it all down in a business manual, the accountants would only let you include the value of the paper you wrote it on.<\/p>\n<p>Our suggestion is to list all the things in your business that make up your intangible assets and then work out what you\u2019ll do to keep them secret or confidential such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Having all staff, suppliers, and others that may come into contact with trade secrets sign confidentiality agreements or non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). Yes, they may still steal your ideas, but this will reduce the chance it occurs by signaling you\u2019re serious about preventing accidental disclosure and gives you some legal backup if you want to take action against the thief.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure employee agreements outline that a breach of confidentiality is serious misconduct.<\/li>\n<li>Having your most precious information on a need-to-know basis, to limit who knows what. For example, you wouldn\u2019t expect all employees to have access to specific aspects of your business that are commercially sensitive.<\/li>\n<li>Only put information online (websites, downloads, social media, e-newsletter) that you\u2019re happy a competitor may access.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Valuing Intangible Assets<\/h3>\n<p>It can be tough to determine an accurate valuation of an intangible asset, as it\u2019s difficult to quantify physically. You may have spent years developing a process or piece of software, but the accounting valuation will be incredibly low (you can\u2019t count your own labor as a cost in developing intellectual property or assets). An intellectual asset (such as your business credibility) is priceless.<\/p>\n<p>The main point of valuing an intellectual asset is to make yourself aware of how valuable it is, so you can take steps to protect it. Consider the cost to your business to redevelop a process, recover your reputation, manage a competitor copying your way of doing business, or loss of your trade secrets. By identifying the value that intellectual assets hold to your business, you can put protection in place to ensure this value remains.<\/p>\n<p>Doing the work to determine intangible value within your business makes it more attractive when the time comes for you to expand or sell.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Next Steps<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Undertake an audit of your business to identify which intellectual assets you have and then next to each, estimate the value, then prioritize from highest to lowest.<\/li>\n<li>Commence protecting these assets in order of importance and get help if you need to draw up any legal documents like confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements.<\/li>\n<li>Consider if you should convert any intellectual assets to intellectual property and register them officially with the USPTO.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a class=\"co-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/business-loans\/#businesscontactform\">BUSINESS LENDING \u00bb<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<a class=\"co-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/business-services\/#businessservicescontact\">BUSINESS BANKING SERVICES \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"co-flex_row co-flex_row__last co-flex_row__blog-contributors\" >\n\t<div class=\"co-flex_row--row co-row\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"co-blog_contributors\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-blog_contributor\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-blog_contributor--img_wrap\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/files\/WhiteClaire_scu-43_300x300.jpg\" class=\"co-blog_contributor--img\" alt=\"Claire White VP Business Banking Services\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/files\/WhiteClaire_scu-43_300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/files\/WhiteClaire_scu-43_300x300-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/files\/WhiteClaire_scu-43_300x300-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/div>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-blog_contributor--content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"co-blog_contributor--name\">Claire White<\/h3><div class=\"co-blog_contributor--title\">VP Business Deposit Services<\/div><div class=\"co-blog_contributor--bio text-component\"><p>Claire White is the Vice President of Business Deposit Services at Sound Credit Union. She leads a team of Business Services Officers and Specialists who work closely with local businesses to provide personalized support and smart banking solutions. Claire is a Certified Cannabis Banking Professional (CBP) and helps ensure Sound&#8217;s cannabis banking program meets the highest standards of compliance and care. She also oversees the credit union&#8217;s\u00a0treasury management program, helping business members access secure, efficient tools to manage their money with confidence. Claire is passionate about making business banking simple, accessible, and tailored to the unique needs of each member.<\/p>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"co-blog_contributor--social\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Connect<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/in\/clairepwhite\" class=\"co-social_share--link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-label=\"LinkedIn\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg class=\"icon-svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" role=\"img\" aria-label=\"Icon LinkedIn\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<use xlink:href=\"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-content\/themes\/soundcu-theme\/images\/sprite-icons.svg#linkedin\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Businesses with intangible assets tend to be worth more than those that don\u2019t. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/blog\/protecting-your-business-protecting-and-valuing-your-intangible-assets\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":11054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-commercial"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4619"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17258,"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4619\/revisions\/17258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soundcu.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}