When can/should I trademark my business name?

[OnTopTheBizz]

I believe that I have a very unique business name for the service I will be providing and the people I will be providing this service for. However, the business plan is a work in progress. Can I or should at right now secure the name before establishing my business structure? I would like to freely use the name to create a buzz, get a consensus, as well as campaign for funding. Am I too early to go ahead and trademark the name without even having a business to really register? At what point can I or should I? Thanks in advance.

[BizAdvisor]

For a large majority of businesses, actually registering a trademark is not only a waste of time and money, but it can also be more trouble than they are worth. For the most part, common law trademarks, which automatically attach itself to businesses when used in commerce, are usually more than enough protection for most business that operate locally or statewide.

In fact, the only businesses that should really consider registering their names are those in which their brand is their product and there is a threat of imitation, or if a business operates nationwide and believes another business with a similar name may conflict with their branding in any particular region of the country.

[vangogh]

You're putting the cart ahead of the horse. Register the name with your state (go to the website for the secretary of State in your state), but I think it's too soon to be thinking about trademarks. Most businesses never need a trademark anyway. Spend your time getting your business up and running. Stop worrying about protecting protecting the name of a business that doesn't yet exist.

[Paul]

I don't think you can trademark a name until it is actually used in commerce although there may be a provision to reserve for a very short period. You can't warehouse trademark names like domain names.

[Harold Mansfield]

I agree that if you're just using it locally it probably won't be an issue. But if you're developing something like software or apps to be marketed worldwide ( or in the app store) then I'd probably trademark it. First things first, grab all of the social media profile urls, free email addresses, domains that you're going to use and so on in your company's name.
You can do all of that stuff for free.