Practice Development
Branding Your Law Firm
Do you know where you stand in your marketplace?
Figure out how to get from where you are to where you want to be. To draw a line from here to there, you need to see clearly where you are today.
A client-survey program will help with that; or ask your law school classmates how they would describe your practice - what is the public perception of your business? And what about your most direct competitors? What image do they exhibit by choice or circumstances?
Start your branding process by deciding which of the traits you now use to describe your practice you want to retain and which you want to change? What new traits would express who you want to be and what you want to offer potential clients? What were your perceptions of the practice of law that brought you to the profession? What would drive you out of the profession? This is the groundwork you need to do.
With your ideal practice in mind, consider how you would describe that practice to potential clients:
- Write-out your ten-second elevator speech to answer the questions: So what are you doing these days?
- Now write your 30-seond answer to: Tell me more about that?
Now how do you make that vision real? Consider the qualities and interests of the people you want to work with and the people you want for clients; how should your identity appeal to their emotional wants and needs?
How relevant does your image seem to their lives? In 25 words, tell how you will be different from all the other firms in the same field: We are the lawyers who help you by:
What characteristics should your brand portray?
You will have figured this out in the process above. Now decide on some key words or ideas that encapsulate those characteristics. These will be the basis of your brand.
One lawyer familiar with technical matters has branded herself The Hacker's Friend while others who make home and hospital visits call themselves The Home Lawyers. These brands simply express the practice focus or service style of the lawyer.
We'll be watching for your brand to appear on the horizon soon!
