If you’ve been in business for any length of time, especially in consulting, you’ve probably developed unique concepts and materials to help in explaining and selling your services. This is your intellectual property. But are you making the most of it?

Carefully formulated and cleverly executed IP can be an extremely valuable tool in branding your business—explaining what you do and how you think in a memorable way that sets you apart from your competitors.

IP might include trademarked or service marked phrases or names for elements of your process. Or a diagram or symbol that sums up your key ideas or illustrates a methodology or sequence of steps leading to a desired outcome.

What does it take to create intellectual property that really clicks with a client? Big companies spend a lot of money doing this and most of us aren’t big companies. But, there are some basic principles that can help you to make your IP more professional and effective, whether you’re working with outside branding people or doing it all in house. Here are a few to think about:

1. Take Stock. First, value what you’ve done in your business, and make a list of anything that might constitute a unique, differentiating, idea. A name, phrase, a saying, a 3-step process, an assessment tool—whatever might be worth developing or refining for use in your marketing communications.
2. Take in the Big Picture. Examine everything you’ve identified, or things you’re already using in your marketing, and look at it all together. Does it work as a whole? Does it tell a compelling, clear, story? Or, do you see overlapping, areas of ambiguity, or wordiness? Think like a client and ask how you could integrate and clarify your IP to be razor sharp and different from others in your market.
3. Is it Really Unique? Before going too far, be sure that there truly is something about your idea that sets it apart. Even if some basic elements are the same as your competitors (and in any line of work, this will always be the case), you can still package and name them differently, put your own branding spin on them, and feature any specifics that no one else can claim.
4. Keep it Simple! Good, branded IP should be as simple as possible. Most clients don’t have the patience to figure out a complicated or confusing diagram or guess what a strange branding phrase might mean. You may have years invested in the details of your business and be fascinated by every one of them, but clients just want to know how you’re going to help them. Whatever it is—your slogan, tagline, service model, three-step solution, etc.—needs to resonate immediately, needs to be internally consistent (no mixed metaphors!) and able to stand on its own, even if your explanation of it will add further useful perspective.
5. Execute Professionally. For both the verbal and visual aspects of your intellectual property, you want it to look, read and feel professional. However you do it, find someone in your organization or outside, who will write, edit or design your materials to a high standard. Your IP is part of your image and brand and must be a worthy representation of your business.

You or I may not be the next Apple or Nike when it comes to branding, but there is no reason we can’t make the most of the intellectual assets we have acquired or developed in our work and present these in a way that speaks to a client’s needs and creates the opportunity for a conversation.