There is a great debate on LinkedIn about law firm brands that has been started by James Howell – what exactly is a brand and who can identify a law firm that has created a great brand? With so many law firms offering the same services and thinking about how to deal with ABS, many lawyers find it hard to get noticed because they don’t have brands that stand out as clear differentiators in the market.
The comments on LinkedIn highlight the fact that our perception of what constitutes an excellent brand is often determined by the experiences we have with the people, products or services associated with a specific organisation.
When lawyers think about the brand they want to build, they have to think about the experiences prospects and clients have every time they make contact or have services delivered. These experiences in turn are determined by the culture and personalities within law firms, the nature of their client bases and the communication strategies used to build (or destroy) relationships.
And many law firms have something that is unique, even if there are lots of competitors offering the same services.
So, when thinking about building positions of authority within target niches (i.e. creating a brand that is not only respected but which results in more leads coming in), lawyers have to be unique to overcome one of their greatest challenges… getting noticed!
It is hard to get noticed when you list your services, partner bios and commentary on various law topics just like every body else. And copying what appears to work for a competitor does not mean it would work for you. The decisions they made could have been influenced by specific client interactions that are totally different to yours.
So, what should lawyers do before copying the marketing or brand-building tactics others might be doing?
- Identify who you specifically want to target – reaching out to everyone makes it almost impossible to actually create a noticeable brand (unless you have an unlimited marketing or advertising budget);
- Ask yourself what unique value you give clients? Think about your specialism – for example, your specialism is not ‘I am an intellectual property lawyer’ but ‘I help clients manage the IP they create more effectively, even if they have done so poorly in the past, so that they can compete more strongly, make a positive impact on target markets, build profitable businesses and have the life styles they desire.’ Ok, I made the last sentence up but you get what I am saying. Your specialism should manifest itself in the end results that clients want and get, not the services you have trained for and provide;
- Think about how you communicate your specialism to your target market. Do you already know the questions being asked by prospects and the information they are looking for? Given this, and based on your firm’s culture and expertise, what valuable offers do you have for prospects that identify you as uniquely positioned to help them solve their problems? This could include articles, white papers, seminars, webinars, etc.
- Create an authority hub to place content on, e.g. a blog which encourages discussions and feedback.
- Plan your offline, online or social media campaigns to drive traffic to your hub? A key problem many lawyers face is the lack of time or expertise to have systemised communications campaigns in place. There are tools that help to do this, but planning is still necessary to make campaign communication effective.
- Think about your sales funnel. “Aaaaarrrgghhh” I hear you shout, “I am NOT a sales person.” How many of you attend networking functions, contribute to bids and still meet prospects? All that is selling! If you map out how you will generate leads (i.e. bring them into your sales funnel), communicate to them and offer value at key stages (i.e. pointing out valuable content, invitations to seminars or webinars etc to move them through your sales funnel), and the desired actions you want prospects to take at each stage of your sales funnel before they make an informed decision to ask you for your services, then you are doing better than a lot of other lawyers / professional services people out there.
Everything above should be unique to you given your personality, background and specialism. It takes time and effort to get started but once it is in your DNA, then everything you do will market your specialism. The automation of communications also makes it easier to build your brand, with social media being the icing on the cake if used properly.
So, copying what other law firms do may not necessarily work for you. Running marketing or social media campaigns to build a respected and trusted brand has to be based on the unique value you give clients… but it takes time!
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