Building a brand for your US small business: positioning, protection and the rules on reviews and endorsements

European companies arrive in the United States with real assets: craftsmanship, a long history, a reputation at home. Too often they arrive with a brand built for a different audience, and with the assumption that a trademark registered in Europe protects them here. American customers respond to brands that make a plain promise and keep it, and American law protects the names that are registered and used in this market.

What Americans buy when they buy a brand

In our experience, American customers ask three questions of a small brand, often within seconds: what do you do for me, why should I believe you, and do you seem like people I would like to deal with. A brand that answers all three in plain words does well here. A brand that hides behind elegance, understatement or a long company history tends to be overlooked.

That is the main adjustment for European firms. At home, restraint signals quality. In the American market, confidence and clarity signal quality, and a customer who has to work out what you sell will simply move on. Say what the product does, who it is for and what makes it better, in the first sentence of your website and on the front of your packaging.

Your European origin can be a strong asset, if you use it as proof. "Engineered in Bavaria since 1952" tells an American buyer something. A coat of arms and a Latin motto usually do not. Our overview of the US market entry covers the commercial side of positioning in more depth.

Translate the brand instead of transplanting it

Before you print anything, run your name and claims through an American filter:

• Pronunciation. Ask ten Americans to say the name aloud. If they hesitate, customers will hesitate to recommend you by word of mouth.
• Meaning. Check slang, regional meanings and what the name sounds like in Spanish, which many of your potential customers speak at home.
• Units, sizes and formats. Inches, pounds, Fahrenheit and US letter paper. Packaging that shows only metric sizes looks foreign in the wrong way.
• Tone. Copy translated literally from German, French or Italian reads stiff in American English. Have it written from scratch by someone who writes for this market.
• Origin claims. If you assemble or source in the US, be careful with the words "Made in USA".

Then decide what stays fixed. A small brand cannot afford five logos, three colour schemes and a different tagline on every channel. Write a one-page brand sheet with the name, the logo files, two or three colours, one typeface family, the one-sentence promise and five words that describe your tone. Give it to every designer, agency and new hire. Consistency is what turns a small company into a name people remember, and it costs nothing but discipline.

The goal is a brand that feels at home in Texas while keeping the European substance that gives it an edge.

Your European trademark does not cover the United States

Trademark rights are territorial. An EU or national registration at home gives you nothing in an American court, and the first party to use or register a similar mark here may block you. Search the USPTO register before you invest in a name, and file early. Our guide to registering a trademark in the USA walks through the process.

The USPTO's fees, set in 37 CFR 2.6, are charged per class of goods or services:

Two rules matter especially for Europeans. First, an applicant whose domicile is outside the United States must be represented by a US-licensed attorney before the USPTO (37 CFR 2.11). A US subsidiary with a real US address changes the picture. Second, once registered, a mark must be maintained: a declaration of use is due in the year before the sixth anniversary of registration, and again in the year before each tenth anniversary.

TM, the circled R and a business name filing

American law gives you two symbols. The letters TM can be used with any mark you claim, registered or not. The circled R is reserved for registered marks. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1111, a registrant gives notice of registration with "Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office", the abbreviation "Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off." or the R in a circle. Without such notice, profits and damages for infringement are only available against someone who had actual notice of the registration. Use the symbol once registration is granted.

Newcomers also confuse a trademark with a business name filing. In Texas, an LLC that trades under a name other than its legal name files an assumed name certificate with the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State is clear about what that does not do: the filing does not prevent anyone else from filing the same assumed name, and it gives no right to use a name in breach of trademark or unfair competition law. The same is true of your LLC's own name on the state register. Only trademark rights protect a brand.

"Made in USA" means almost all of it

European firms that start assembling in the United States often want to put the flag on the box. The FTC's Made in USA Labeling Rule, 16 CFR Part 323, sets a strict test. A product may be labeled Made in the United States only if its final assembly or processing happens in the United States, all significant processing happens in the United States, and all or virtually all ingredients or components are made and sourced in the United States. The rule covers labels and also mail order catalogs and online promotional material that carry such a label.

If your product contains significant European components, use a qualified claim that describes the truth, such as assembled in Texas from imported parts, and keep the documentation. Your European origin is a selling point in itself, so there is rarely a reason to hide it.

Reviews are your brand now, and the FTC is watching

For a small business, star ratings on Google, Amazon or Yelp often say more than any logo. The FTC's Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials, 16 CFR Part 465, published in August 2024, sets out what a business may not do:

• write, create or sell fake reviews or testimonials, including ones by people who never used the product;
• pay or reward customers for reviews that express a particular sentiment, positive or negative;
• publish reviews or testimonials by officers, managers or employees without clearly disclosing their relationship to the business;
• run a "review" website it controls while pretending it is independent;
• suppress reviews with groundless legal threats, physical threats, intimidation or false public accusations;
• buy or sell fake indicators of social media influence, such as bot followers or fake views, for a commercial purpose.

Violations of an FTC rule can bring civil penalties, currently up to $53,088 per violation under the FTC's adjusted penalty table. Separately, the Consumer Review Fairness Act makes void any clause in a standard-form contract that restricts customers from reviewing you, or charges them for doing so.

Asking every customer for an honest review is allowed and, in our view, the best marketing a young brand can do. How you answer the critical ones says more about your brand than the five-star ones. Our guide to customer service the American way covers that side.

Influencers and endorsements

If you send free products to creators or pay them to mention you, the FTC's Endorsement Guides apply (16 CFR Part 255). When there is a connection between the endorser and your company that could affect how much weight the audience gives the endorsement, and the audience would not expect it, the connection must be disclosed clearly and conspicuously. The Guides say expressly that free or discounted products count as a material connection even if you did not require a post in return.

In practice that means a simple, visible disclosure in the post itself, in words the audience understands. The Guides give examples of disclosures that fail: one placed only on the creator's profile page, and one that only appears after clicking a link labeled "more". Put the requirement in your written agreement with every creator. Our guide to social media marketing in the US covers platforms, content and measurement.

A 90-day plan for a European brand entering the US

1. Weeks 1 to 2. Clearance search at the USPTO and online. Decide whether the US company or the European parent will own the mark, and file.
2. Weeks 3 to 4. Write the American positioning: one sentence on what you do, three proof points, one tone of voice. Test it on real American buyers.
3. Weeks 5 to 8. Adapt packaging, website and sales material, with US units and an origin claim that passes the FTC test. Set up your Google Business Profile and review process.
4. Weeks 9 to 12. Launch with a small group of customers and creators, with disclosure clauses in every agreement. Collect honest reviews and answer every one.

A strong brand also needs the right company behind it. The Texas LLC is the vehicle many of our European clients use to hold their US operations, and our page on protecting intellectual property in the US covers patents and copyrights alongside trademarks.