How your law firm is branded and positioned determines the strength of your reputation and recognition within the area of your firm’s expertise in a major way. There is a misconception among attorneys that they simply need to design a catchy logo, create a definitive mission statement, and present an appealing website to be noticed. However, these efforts are only the beginning tasks for powerfully branding your firm.

What Exactly Is a Brand?

In short, the first impression potential clients get when they initially see or hear about your firm is your brand. Folks can hear about you through chatting with a friend, catching an advertisement on TV, or driving by your office. Branding is based on feeling. It gives potential clients something that ties them to you in the form of trust.

Law Firms Should Ask Themselves These Questions

  • Who am I targeting as a potential client?
  • What impressions would I like people to get about my firm?
  • How would I like clients to feel?
  • What sets us apart?
  • How do competitors brand themselves?

Take a deep look at your answers for inconsistencies. Personal injury lawyers, for example, who would like to seem approachable to potential clients, but who have websites full of weighty legalese, have a definite branding problem called inconsistency. Successfully branded law firms align their business objectives with their targeted client’s point-of-view and with the firm’s branding strategy.

Here’s an example of inconsistency. A firm wants to come across to the public as being very sophisticated and high-end. However, the attorneys are all car accident lawyers. Well, the clientele base for auto accident attorneys is all over the spectrum, virtually anyone injured in a vehicle accident, so the wide “fishing net” thrown into the water of car accident victims is going to haul in all types of fish. If the law firm has adopted a high-end, sophisticated feel, then a great many of these folks will feel inferior and alienated and will avoid this firm.

When considering the brand you’d like to evoke, bear in mind your targeted clients and make choices that resonate with them. Some attorneys build the type of brand they themselves like, but they are missing the target of potential clients. Keeping this in mind will help you outline the correct strategy that will win new business for your firm, the right kind of business.

Be frank in assessing who you are, then find a few unique aspects of your law practice on which to build your brand. If all attorneys in your area are charging the same amount as you, it wouldn’t make sense to try to brand your firm as one offering affordable fees.

How to Build Your Brand Concept

Writing a brand statement is the first step in branding your firm. This is similar to coming up with a mission statement. You want it to briefly explain who you are, the clients you serve, and what your approach is. The approach part needs a few important adjectives interjected. A firm’s brand should:

  • Be Clear
  • Be Consistent
  • Be Differentiated
  • Be Realistic

Key Aspects of Branding Elements

When evaluating your law firm, use the following factors:

Brand Equity

When consumers hear a business name and immediately feel a sense of loyalty and pride arise, this is a perfect picture of brand equity. It is the measure of how clients think, act and feel about the brand. This type of loyalty to a brand raises awareness and increases the attraction of others to a law firm’s culture and its proven track record.

Brand Values

The firm’s core beliefs that are non-negotiable are its brand values. Everything about the firm is influenced by these values – from every employee-hiring decision to every service provided, plus everything in between. The soul of any firm is its values, and these values should be the driving force behind everything that’s done. The culture of a business rides on the day-to-day actions of the individuals who shape the firm by their strong principles.

Brand Story

Because prospective clients are bombarded with numerous options for legal services, a law firm must have its own authentic brand story that makes it stand out from competitors. The brand story should connect with people on an emotional level and relay powerful information about the firm, its attorneys and its services.

Brand Strategy

Brand strategy is the process of creating a plan that will build a specific image of a particular law firm within the minds of present and potential clients. When this successfully happens, the public knows exactly who the firm is and what they do, without ever having had dealings with the firm.

Visual Brand

This facet of a law firm’s brand involves visual elements that provide a distinct and unique identity for the firm in the marketplace where thousands of items are vying for a consumer’s attention. Here’s where a firm’s logo, color palette, and typography can make or break its brand. In addition, this visual category of the firm’s brand includes proposals, its website, professional profiles, and advertisements.

Develop a Plan

Determine what needs to be done to develop your law firm’s brand. Using the budget you have, prioritize your efforts to effectively accomplish the goal. Bear in mind that some tasks could be minor, like a few simple updates to the website. Others may require more intense changes, though, like a completely new logo. Your firm’s social media sites may need better and more cohesive content. If you don’t have a social media presence yet, this may be your first priority.

Make a realistic plan and devote sufficient resources to accomplish it. You can change the entire atmosphere surrounding your law firm by effectively branding it. Keep in mind that brand and marketing trends are always changing, so it is best to adapt to what your target audience uses to communicate and find information.   

Law Firm Brand Marketing and Qualified Retainers

For law firms that need to establish their brand and are also looking for more quality retained clients, Broughton Partners has the solution. We offer professional legal marketing and provide personal injury law firms with signed claimants that fit your firm’s specific case criteria.

We have a team of trained specialists and a 24-hour call center ready to take calls and review lawsuit eligibility of leads. Our qualification process involves in-depth interviews, examining pertinent documents, and analyzing case details. Additionally, we prepare the necessary case documents that an attorney needs to start work on a case immediately.

You can save time and money by letting Broughton Partners find the qualified claimants you want, not just leads. Call (800) 949-8904 today or fill out an online contact form for a free consultation.