How to Build an IP Expansion Strategy That Works

What separates a one-hit wonder from an enduring cultural phenomenon? It’s not luck; it’s intention. The most successful franchises are built on a foundation of careful planning that extends far beyond the first release. They are the result of a well-executed IP expansion strategy designed to create an interconnected ecosystem of stories and experiences. This approach transforms a single product into a thriving universe that engages fans across multiple platforms for years. It’s how you build a legacy, not just a launch. If you’re ready to think beyond your next project, this guide will show you the foundational steps to get there.

Key Takeaways

• Start with a Strategic Audit: Before you can expand, you need a complete inventory of your current IP. This audit is the foundation for your expansion blueprint, helping you identify your strongest assets and align every future decision with your core business goals.
• Protect Your IP as You Expand: Your expansion strategy is only as strong as your protection plan. As you move into new markets and platforms, proactively secure your trademarks and copyrights to prevent infringement, maintain brand integrity, and build a secure foundation for growth.
• Use Your Strategy to Attract Investment: A clear IP expansion plan is a powerful business development tool. It demonstrates to potential partners and investors that you have a scalable, defensible strategy for growth, turning your creative world into a tangible and attractive financial opportunity.

What is an IP Expansion Strategy (and Why You Need One)

Your intellectual property is one of your most valuable assets. But are you using it to its full potential? An IP expansion strategy isn't just about legal paperwork and protecting what you've already built. It's a forward-thinking plan to grow your world, connect with new audiences, and create new revenue streams. It’s about turning your creative assets into a powerful engine for growth. When you treat your IP as a tool for expansion, you move from a defensive position to an offensive one, actively seeking opportunities to extend your brand's reach and impact across new platforms and markets.

Define Your IP Expansion Strategy

Think of an IP expansion strategy as a detailed roadmap for your brand's growth. It’s a proactive plan that outlines how you’ll use your trademarks, copyrights, and creative works to enter new territories and formats. Smart businesses integrate this strategy into their plans from the very beginning, rather than reacting to problems as they arise. A solid plan helps you enter new markets, build partnerships, and negotiate from a position of strength. By defining how your IP will live and breathe on different platforms—from games to film to merchandise—you create a cohesive and powerful brand presence. This is a core part of our strategic development services.

The Business Case for Expanding Your World

Expanding your world is about more than just creative fulfillment; it’s a sound business decision. A well-executed IP expansion strategy protects your brand from infringement and counterfeit products, especially as you move into international markets. Registering your IP in every country where you plan to operate is a critical first step. Beyond protection, a strong and growing IP portfolio is incredibly attractive to investors. It signals that your brand has tangible value, a clear vision for the future, and the potential for significant growth. This kind of thoughtful expansion, seen in universes like the one built for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, demonstrates clear value and long-term potential to stakeholders.

Start Here: Audit Your Current IP

Before you can dream up new worlds, you need to have a firm grasp on the one you already own. An IP expansion strategy that isn’t built on a solid understanding of your current assets is like building a castle on sand. That’s why the first, most critical step is to conduct a thorough audit of your intellectual property. Think of it as creating a detailed map of your existing universe—charting every character, storyline, trademark, and creative asset you hold.

This isn't just a legal box-ticking exercise. It's a strategic deep dive to uncover the true value and potential of what you've already created. You might discover underdeveloped characters with spin-off potential, storylines that could be adapted for a new medium, or brand elements that resonate deeply with your audience. A clear inventory allows you to see your IP not just for what it is, but for what it could become. Understanding these foundational elements is the key to making smart, strategic decisions about where to go next. This foundational work is a core part of our strategic services and ensures every expansion effort is set up for success.

Conduct a Comprehensive IP Audit

First things first: you need to take stock of everything. A comprehensive IP audit means creating a complete inventory of all your intellectual property assets. This includes the obvious, like copyrights on scripts and character designs, and trademarks for your logos and titles. But it also includes less tangible assets, like unique world-building rules, signature sounds, or specific story arcs. The goal is to document every single component that makes your world unique. This process gives you a clear, holistic view of your portfolio, helping you assess the strength and commercial value of each piece before you plan your next move.

Evaluate Market Relevance and Identify Gaps

Once you have a complete map of your IP, it’s time to see where it fits in the wider entertainment landscape. This step is all about looking outward. Analyze what competitors are doing and, more importantly, what they aren't doing. Where are the untapped opportunities? If you have a beloved series of graphic novels, could it fill a void in the animated series market? By evaluating market relevance, you can identify gaps where your IP could not only fit but thrive. This is how you find your unique angle for expansion, turning existing assets into fresh, exciting experiences for new audiences, much like the work done to expand the Star Wars universe.

Align Stakeholders and Document Everything

An IP strategy doesn’t exist in a vacuum. To be effective, it needs buy-in from everyone involved. Make sure you bring key stakeholders—from creative leads and marketing teams to legal and finance departments—into the conversation early. When everyone understands the current state of the IP and agrees on the overall business goals, your expansion efforts will be much more cohesive and powerful. Just as importantly, document every finding, decision, and strategic pillar. This shared document becomes your North Star, ensuring the entire team stays aligned as you begin to build and execute your expansion blueprint.

Craft Your IP Expansion Blueprint

Once you have a clear picture of your IP’s strengths and weaknesses, it’s time to build your roadmap. Think of this blueprint as the bridge between your creative vision and your business objectives. It’s where you decide which new worlds to build, which audiences to engage, and how to make it all happen successfully. A solid blueprint doesn’t just outline creative ideas; it grounds them in market realities, legal frameworks, and strategic goals, ensuring every move is calculated and purposeful.

This plan will be your guide for every decision ahead, ensuring that each new game, series, or product line is a deliberate step toward sustainable growth. It helps you move from simply having a great idea to executing a world-class expansion that resonates with audiences and delivers results. By focusing on deep research, thorough legal diligence, and tight strategic alignment, you can create a plan that not only inspires your internal team but also excites potential partners and investors. This is the foundational work that separates successful, long-lasting franchises from one-off hits. It transforms your IP from a single product into a thriving, interconnected ecosystem.

Research the Market and Competitive Landscape

Before you take your IP into a new medium or territory, you need to understand the terrain. This goes far beyond a quick competitor search. True market research involves digging into audience behaviors, cultural nuances, and platform preferences. Who is the audience for a mobile game based on your film? What kind of storytelling resonates in European markets versus Asian markets? Answering these questions helps you tailor your expansion to fit the audience you want to reach. This research also uncovers potential roadblocks, like trade barriers or local regulations, that could impact your launch. By analyzing the competitive landscape, you can identify gaps and opportunities, positioning your IP to offer something fresh and compelling.

Evaluate the Legal Framework in Target Markets

Expanding your IP means working with a complex web of international laws. The protections your trademark or copyright has in your home country don’t automatically apply everywhere else. Each new market has its own set of rules, and overlooking them can put your entire IP at risk. You need to investigate the intellectual property challenges specific to each region you plan to enter. This involves securing patents and trademarks where needed and understanding how your creative assets will be protected. Filing for this protection can be a significant investment, so it’s crucial to be strategic. Prioritize markets that align with your primary business goals to avoid spreading your resources too thin.

Align Your IP Strategy with Business Goals

Your IP expansion strategy should be a direct reflection of your company’s overarching goals. Every decision—from licensing a character for merchandise to developing a AAA game—needs a clear "why" behind it. Are you aiming to diversify your revenue streams? Deepen engagement with your existing fanbase? Or reach an entirely new demographic? Your IP strategy should provide a clear path to achieving these objectives. When your IP efforts are disconnected from your business goals, you risk wasting time and money on projects that don’t move the needle. A well-aligned IP strategy acts as a filter, helping you say yes to the right opportunities and no to the wrong ones.

Put Your IP to Work: Strategies for Market Expansion

With your IP audit complete and a strategic blueprint in hand, it’s time for the exciting part: putting your intellectual property to work. Expanding your IP isn’t just about making more content; it’s about creating a richer, more immersive world that captivates your audience and opens up new financial opportunities. The right strategy will not only extend your market reach but also build a more resilient and valuable brand. Let's look at three powerful ways to make your IP do more for you.

Explore Licensing and New Revenue Streams

Licensing is one of the most direct ways to monetize your IP with minimal risk. Think of it as renting out your world—you grant other companies the right to use your characters, settings, or stories in their products in exchange for royalties. This is a fantastic way to diversify revenue streams without having to build new manufacturing or distribution channels from scratch.

From merchandise and apparel to consumer products and collaborations, licensing lets your brand show up in new and unexpected places. It allows you to test new markets and product categories with a partner who already has the expertise, letting you focus on what you do best: creating the world your audience loves.

Create Cross-Platform and Transmedia Stories

Why tell a story on one platform when you can build a universe across many? Creating cross-platform and transmedia narratives is about weaving a single, cohesive story through games, films, TV series, and more. Each piece should stand on its own while also enriching the others, giving your audience deeper ways to engage with the world you’ve built. This approach transforms passive viewers into active participants.

This strategy is at the heart of today’s most successful franchises. By developing interconnected entertainment ecosystems, you create multiple entry points for new fans while offering loyal followers more to explore. It’s a proactive approach that builds immense brand loyalty and turns your IP into a true cultural phenomenon.

Develop Franchising and Brand Extension Models

Franchising and brand extensions take your IP beyond the screen and into tangible, real-world experiences. While often discussed alongside licensing, these models offer a different level of control and expansion. Franchising allows partners to replicate a successful business model—like a themed attraction or retail experience—in new territories, making it one of the most popular international expansion methods.

Brand extensions involve putting your IP’s name on new products or services that align with your core identity. This could range from a video game character inspiring a line of athletic wear to a fantasy world lending its name to a travel experience. Both strategies help you grow your brand’s physical presence and connect with your audience in their everyday lives.

Go Global: Build and Protect Your IP Portfolio

Taking your world global is a huge step, and it’s essential to protect your intellectual property every step of the way. As your story crosses borders, it becomes more valuable—and more vulnerable. Think of your IP portfolio as a shield that guards your creative universe. This isn't just about filing paperwork; it's about building a strategic defense that allows your IP to thrive in new markets. A strong global IP strategy ensures that you, the creator, remain in control of your narrative, characters, and brand identity, no matter where your audience is.

Protecting your IP internationally is the foundation for everything else. It’s what allows you to sign licensing deals with confidence, build partnerships with local distributors, and prevent knock-offs from diluting your brand. Without it, you risk seeing your hard work exploited by others, which can damage your reputation and cut into your revenue. By taking a proactive approach to securing patents, trademarks, and copyrights in key regions, you’re not just playing defense. You’re setting your IP up for long-term, sustainable growth and creating a secure platform for every new game, film, or series you want to build. This strategic protection is what transforms a great story into a global entertainment franchise.

Secure Patents Across Jurisdictions

Filing patents in every country isn’t practical or cost-effective. The key is to be strategic. Instead of a scattergun approach, focus on the jurisdictions that align with your business goals. Are you launching a game with a groundbreaking new mechanic? Or maybe you’ve developed a proprietary virtual production technique. Pinpoint the markets where this innovation will have the biggest impact and where competitors are most likely to emerge. A well-informed approach to international IP strategies helps you protect your innovations where it counts, ensuring your resources are spent wisely and your competitive edge is secure.

Protect Trademarks and Brand Identity Internationally

Your brand is the heart of your IP. It’s the name, the logo, and the symbols that your audience connects with. When you expand into new territories, protecting this identity is non-negotiable. Failing to secure your trademarks abroad leaves you open to counterfeit merchandise and unauthorized use of your brand, which can confuse fans and damage your reputation. Think of international trademark protection as an investment in your brand’s integrity. Securing your branding and intellectual property in target markets ensures that when fans see your characters or logo, they know they’re getting the real deal.

Manage Copyrights and Creative Assets

Your creative works—the scripts, character designs, source code, and musical scores—are all valuable assets protected by copyright. As you expand, having a clear and organized system for managing these copyrights is crucial. This is what enables you to license your story for a new comic book series, adapt your game for a different platform, or partner with a studio for an animated show. When managed well, your IP portfolio becomes a powerful tool that helps you enter new markets and negotiate from a position of strength. Properly leveraging IP for market expansion makes your world more attractive to potential partners and investors who see the value and security in your well-protected creative universe.

Common Roadblocks in IP Expansion (and How to Clear Them)

Taking your IP to new heights is an exciting prospect, but the path isn't always a straight line. Expanding into new markets and platforms comes with a unique set of challenges that can slow you down if you’re not prepared. From working through a maze of international laws to managing budgets and bureaucratic delays, these hurdles are a normal part of the process. The key isn't to avoid them entirely—it's to anticipate them and have a clear plan for how to move past them. Think of these roadblocks less as stop signs and more as detours that, with the right map, will still get you to your destination. A successful expansion isn't about having a problem-free journey; it's about being resilient and strategic when problems arise. By understanding what's ahead, you can build a strategy that accounts for these variables, turning potential setbacks into opportunities for smarter, more sustainable growth. Let's walk through some of the most common issues and how you can clear them effectively.

Address Complex Local Laws and Cultural Norms

When you take your IP global, you’re not just entering a new market; you’re entering a new culture with its own legal landscape. Each country has a unique patchwork of IP laws, enforcement standards, and cultural attitudes toward intellectual property. What resonates with an audience in North America might not land the same way in Asia or Europe, and the legal protections you rely on at home may not apply. The solution is to do your homework. Before you launch, partner with local experts who understand the specific legal and cultural nuances of your target region. This proactive approach helps you adapt your content respectfully and ensure your IP is properly protected from day one.

Solve for High Costs and Resource Challenges

Expanding your IP portfolio is an investment, and the costs can add up quickly. Filing for patents and trademarks in multiple countries is an expensive process, and without a clear strategy, you risk spreading your resources too thin. The most effective way to manage this is to align your IP protection plan directly with your business goals. Instead of trying to be everywhere at once, prioritize investments in the markets that offer the greatest potential return. A targeted approach ensures your budget is used effectively, protecting your IP where it matters most and supporting your long-term growth without draining your finances on markets that aren't a strategic fit.

Handle Registry Delays and Enforcement Issues

Even with a solid plan, you can run into administrative hurdles. Government IP offices around the world often face backlogs and delays, which can stall your applications for trademarks or patents. These registry issues can disrupt your launch timeline and affect your competitive edge, leaving your IP vulnerable while you wait for official approval. The best way to handle this is to plan ahead and build buffer time into your expansion timeline. Working with an experienced partner who knows how to prepare thorough applications and follow up with registries can also make a significant difference, helping you move through the process as smoothly as possible and keeping your market entry on track.

Use Your IP to Attract the Right Partners and Investors

A well-defined IP expansion strategy does more than guide your creative vision—it’s one of your most powerful tools for business development. When you approach potential partners or investors, they aren’t just buying into a story or a character; they’re investing in a business with a clear path to growth. A documented strategy shows that you’ve thought critically about your IP’s potential, market position, and long-term value. It transforms your creative asset into a tangible, investable opportunity.

Presenting a comprehensive plan demonstrates foresight and professionalism. It signals that you understand the commercial landscape and have a roadmap for generating returns. Instead of just pitching an idea, you’re presenting a multi-faceted business model built around a core world. This level of preparation builds confidence and makes it far easier for stakeholders to see the financial upside. By outlining how you plan to expand across platforms and territories, you provide a clear picture of the future, making your IP an attractive proposition for anyone looking to partner on the next big thing.

Demonstrate Your Competitive Advantage

In a crowded entertainment market, a strong IP portfolio is your ultimate differentiator. It’s what makes your world unique and, more importantly, ownable. For investors, this is a critical signal. As legal experts note, "Companies with a strong IP portfolio look more attractive to investors because it shows they have a unique advantage." This protected status creates a competitive moat, preventing others from replicating your success and ensuring that the value you build stays with you.

This advantage goes beyond just having a great concept. It’s about securing the trademarks, copyrights, and patents that form the legal foundation of your brand. When you can prove that your core assets are protected, you show partners that you’re not just building a product but a lasting and defensible franchise. This significantly increases your company’s valuation and makes you a much more compelling partner for studios and brands looking for their next hit.

Create Scalable Revenue Streams

A single piece of IP can be the seed for an entire ecosystem of products and experiences. Your expansion strategy is the blueprint that shows investors exactly how you plan to grow that ecosystem. By outlining opportunities in gaming, film, merchandise, and other platforms, you demonstrate that your IP is a source of scalable, diversified revenue. This is far more appealing than a single-revenue-stream business.

Licensing is a particularly powerful tool for monetization. It allows you to "expand market reach, and diversify revenue streams with minimal risk." For example, you can license your characters for a mobile game while simultaneously developing a comic book series. Each new extension not only generates its own income but also strengthens the core brand. This model shows potential partners that you have a clear plan to maximize the financial potential of your world, making it an investment with long-term, scalable returns.

Mitigate Risk for Stakeholders

Investors and partners are fundamentally looking for opportunities where the potential reward outweighs the risk. A robust IP strategy is one of the most effective ways to de-risk your project in their eyes. By securing your IP across different markets and platforms, you protect your core asset from infringement and legal challenges. This proactive approach shows that you are a responsible steward of your business.

Effectively managing intellectual property risk involves identifying threats and having a plan to address them. When you can show stakeholders that you’ve considered the legal complexities of global expansion and have measures in place to protect your assets, you build immense trust. It proves that their investment is built on a secure foundation, safeguarding it from potential disputes and ensuring its long-term viability and success in new markets.

Avoid These Common IP Expansion Mistakes

Expanding your IP is an exciting step, but it’s easy to stumble if you’re not prepared. Even the most creative worlds can falter without a solid strategic foundation. Knowing the common pitfalls is the first step to avoiding them, ensuring your expansion builds value instead of creating complications. Let's look at three major mistakes IP holders make and how you can steer clear of them.

Prevent Timing Errors and Poor Market Adaptation

One of the biggest mistakes is moving without a clear purpose. Rushing into new markets or platforms without a strategy can be just as damaging as waiting too long. Filing patents and trademarks globally is a costly endeavor, and without clear business goals guiding where and how to protect your IP, you risk spreading your resources too thin. A successful expansion requires a deep understanding of your target market and a plan that aligns perfectly with your overall business objectives. This ensures every move is intentional, timely, and set up for success.

Overcome a Lack of Local Expertise

Every new market comes with its own unique set of rules, cultural norms, and audience expectations. A one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t work. By partnering with firms that understand the intricacies of local IP laws, you can safeguard your innovations and avoid costly legal battles. This isn't just about ticking legal boxes; it's about adapting your story and brand to resonate authentically with a new audience. Local expertise helps you build genuine connections and ensures your IP thrives in its new environment, rather than just surviving in it.

Strengthen Weak Enforcement and Compliance

Securing your IP rights is only half the battle; you also have to enforce them. Many companies enter new markets without a clear IP strategy and find themselves dealing with counterfeit goods, patent infringement, or the illegal use of proprietary technology with little legal recourse. Businesses operating across different regions face a patchwork of IP laws and cultural attitudes. A proactive monitoring and enforcement plan is essential to protect your brand’s integrity and value. Without it, you leave your most valuable assets vulnerable.

Stay Protected: Monitor and Enforce Your IP Globally

Securing your intellectual property in new markets is a huge milestone, but the work doesn’t stop there. Think of it like building a beautiful new home for your world; now you need to install a security system to keep it safe. Global IP protection isn't a "set it and forget it" task. It's an active, ongoing commitment to safeguarding the universe you've worked so hard to build. As your IP expands across different platforms and regions, from a new game release to a streaming series, so does its exposure to potential infringement.

A proactive approach is your best defense. Instead of waiting for a problem to arise, you need a plan to monitor your IP and a clear strategy for what to do when someone crosses the line. This vigilance protects your revenue, preserves your brand's integrity, and sends a clear message that your IP is valuable and defended. Managing this can feel overwhelming, but it's a critical part of any successful expansion. Having a partner who understands the complexities of the global entertainment landscape can help you build a robust framework for protection, ensuring your creative assets are secure as they grow. This is a core part of a comprehensive transmedia strategy that ensures long-term success and value.

Establish Protection and Surveillance Systems

You can't protect your IP from threats you don't see coming. That's why establishing a solid surveillance system is your first line of defense. This involves more than just an occasional search. It means setting up a consistent process to monitor how your IP is being used across the globe. You can use brand monitoring tools and watch services that scan for unauthorized uses of your trademarks, characters, and creative works online.

It’s also smart to conduct periodic audits of your IP portfolio to ensure everything is up-to-date. Keep an eye on changes in local laws and regulations in your target markets, as these can impact your rights. By staying informed about new enforcement mechanisms, you can adapt your protective measures and keep your digital fences strong.

Develop International Enforcement Strategies

When you do find an infringement, what's your next move? Having a pre-planned international enforcement strategy is crucial. A one-size-fits-all approach won't work, as the right course of action will vary dramatically from one country to another. Your strategy should be a flexible playbook that outlines different responses based on the market and the severity of the infringement.

In some cases, a simple cease-and-desist letter might be enough. In others, you may need to engage with online marketplaces or even pursue formal legal action. A dynamic, well-informed approach to enforcement allows you to effectively address the complexities of international IP law. This readiness not only helps you resolve issues quickly but also demonstrates to partners and potential infringers that you are serious about protecting your world.

Work with Local Legal Experts

When you're dealing with IP issues in another country, trying to go it alone is a recipe for disaster. Local legal experts are not just a good idea; they're essential. IP law is incredibly nuanced and varies significantly between jurisdictions. A lawyer who understands the intricacies of a specific country's legal system can provide invaluable guidance.

These experts can help you understand your rights, follow the correct procedures, and avoid costly missteps. By partnering with firms that have deep expertise in local IP laws, you can safeguard your innovations and defend against challenges more effectively. They are your on-the-ground team, helping you handle disputes efficiently and ensuring your global expansion is built on a secure legal foundation, allowing you to focus on the creative work of growing your universe.

Did It Work? Measure Your IP Expansion's Success

You’ve put in the work to build and launch your IP expansion strategy, but the job isn’t over. How do you know if your efforts are paying off? Measuring success is about more than just revenue; it’s about understanding your impact, learning what works, and making smarter decisions for the future. A great strategy includes a plan for tracking progress against your original goals. By defining what success looks like from the start, you can prove the value of your expansion and keep your entire team aligned.

Set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Before you can measure success, you have to define it. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the specific, measurable metrics you’ll use to track progress, and they should tie directly to your business goals. Your KPIs might be financial, like revenue from licensed products, but they can also measure audience engagement, such as social media growth or fan community activity. Taking a well-informed approach means choosing metrics that give you a full picture of your IP’s health and reach across every new venture.

Assess Your ROI and Optimize Your Strategy

Your IP strategy shouldn't be a static document; it’s a living plan that needs to adapt. Regularly assessing your return on investment (ROI) helps you see which initiatives are performing well and which ones need a rethink. This is more than a financial calculation—it’s a strategic evaluation. Conduct periodic audits of your IP portfolio to ensure it’s still aligned with your goals. Are certain platforms delivering better results? Use this data to optimize your approach and reallocate resources where they’ll have the greatest impact.

Track Long-Term Portfolio Value

While short-term wins are exciting, the ultimate goal of IP expansion is to build lasting value. Your IP is a significant business asset, and its worth should grow over time. Look beyond immediate sales and consider how your expansion efforts contribute to the overall strength and recognition of your brand. There are several methods for valuing intellectual property, and understanding these helps you articulate the long-term benefits to stakeholders. A successful expansion makes your IP more resilient and valuable, opening doors to bigger opportunities down the road.

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Frequently Asked Questions

My IP is still pretty new. Isn't an "expansion strategy" something for huge companies? Not at all. In fact, thinking about your expansion strategy early on is a massive advantage. It’s about building a strong foundation for growth from the very beginning, rather than trying to fix problems later. It helps you make smart, intentional decisions about your world's future, even if your first step is just a small licensing deal or a single comic book series.

What's the most important first step if I'm just starting to think about this? Start with a thorough audit of what you already own. Before you can dream up new worlds, you need a crystal-clear map of your current one. This isn't just a legal checklist; it's a creative inventory to find hidden potential. You might discover an underdeveloped character perfect for a spin-off or a piece of lore that could become the basis for a whole new story.

You mentioned licensing, transmedia, and franchising. What's the simplest way to understand the difference? Think of it like this: Licensing is letting another company put your character on a t-shirt for a fee. Transmedia is telling different parts of one big story across multiple platforms, like a game, a book, and a TV show. Franchising is allowing a partner to replicate a business model, like a themed cafe or an escape room, based on your world. They are all powerful ways to grow, just with different levels of creative and operational involvement.

Going global sounds intimidating and expensive. Where do I even begin? You don't have to take over the world all at once. The key is to be strategic. Start by identifying one or two international markets that make the most sense for your brand and align with your business goals. Focus your budget and legal efforts on protecting your IP there first. A targeted approach is much more effective than trying to be everywhere immediately.

What's the single biggest mistake people make when trying to expand their IP? The most common mistake is moving forward without a clear plan. It's easy to get excited about a new opportunity, like a game or a movie deal, without first checking if it aligns with your long-term vision or if your IP is even protected for that use. A solid strategy acts as your filter, helping you say ‘yes’ to the right projects and avoid costly detours that don't serve your brand.