How To Develop STAND-OUT Branding That Gets Noticed!

There are over 47,000 law firms operating in the United States, and you literally own only one of those law firms. You don't need me to tell you that the legal industry is a competitive one. The best way to stand out is by creating a recognizable brand for your law firm. These days, branding is a common way for law firms to inform the public of services, to generate loyalty from clients, and to attract new business. Although it may seem more tangible to check off other marketing strategies, brand building is the cornerstone of everything else you are trying to accomplish. If you have not yet created your law firm’s branding?for your business, this may be the ideal time to start.

Your Law Firm’s Branding

The essence of a brand is the perception it builds among consumers, telling them in a concise way who you are. Your brand carries a message, and every time a client encounters your brand, the individual will automatically link it with everything they know about your business: its social media account, website content, staff and services. Your?law firm’s branding?connects the emotional side with concrete experience, and if that familiar brand evidence links to a positive experience, it translates to further loyalty.

Your Law Firm’s Branding Matters!

We, as consumers, boost the reputation of a brand without even thinking. When we are loyal to a certain brand we share it, and perpetuate its positive imprint. The same idea behind store loyalty works for law firm branding, and it is crucial for several reasons.?

Law Firm Branding Helps Your Marketing Strategy

Your law firm’s brand supports your SEO efforts, because it tells Google that consumers recognize you and consider you reliable. A brand also helps establish the all-important signals of?expertise, authority and trustworthiness (EAT) . When a business carries these traits consistently, it boosts credibility and rankings, and when consumers habitually see your brand, they are more likely to click on it, because it is familiar.?

Law Firm Branding Outlines Your Company Mission

Carried within your brand is a sense of your company’s defined mission. A brand outlines your mission not only to consumers, but also to staff members. When opportunities come along, the team can filter each one by asking the question: “Does this connect with our brand?”

Law Firm Branding Distinguishes You

A brand distinguishes your law firm and sets it apart from your competitors. Since law firms have a proclivity to recite the same taglines and utter similar phrases, a solid brand announces your unique core message and displays what you have to offer prospective clients that is unique.

5 Steps to Building Your Law Firm’s Branding?

It takes time to create a brand, circulate it and see positive results. Gather your colleagues together to examine your goals before you begin. Meeting together to define your brand may result in a helpful reminder of your core mission, so do not hurry this step. Eventually, you should condense your ideas into a central brand message, then consider the following points.??

Begin Your Law Firm’s Branding Early

The earlier you begin thinking about a brand, the better. The reason it is helpful to start early is because your brand will be foundational to many other choices you make, including: a law firm title, URL, and domain name. Depending on your services and your ideal audience, your brand may be classy and reserved, or aggressive and edgy.?

Define Your Target Audience

Who is your ideal client? Before you nail down your brand, it may be best to define who your typical client would be, and your true target audience. Choosing this type of persona will tell you who you need to reach with your message, and your branding will be more effective. If you are unsure of your target audience, consider who your best clients are currently. Examine what these clients characteristics and needs they have in common, and this may help formulate your law firm’s unique, typical target audience.?

Summarize Your Core Message

Condensing the essence of your law firm is critical, and should reflect your company’s core message and personality. It should grab the attention and end up being different from your competitor’s core message.?One way to distill your law firm’s core message is by answering the following questions:

1. What is the story behind our business?
2. What prompted us to start offering this type of service?
3. How do we help our target audience?
4. What do we contribute to the community?
5. For what purpose do we exist?
6. What do we want potential clients to know about us?

Choose Your Design Elements

To incorporate all of your hard work into the concrete design elements of a brand, it may help to hire a design professional. Some elements of a recognizable brand include:

• A brief, descriptive, catchy slogan
• A color combination that conveys chosen feelings
• A logo that is versatile enough to be used anywhere you choose
• A font type that coordinates with the mood and message of everything else

Get Your Brand Out There

Marketing experts remind us that it is best to define and refine our brand before rushing out with it, but once you solidify your brand, get it out there consistently. Offer your brand to the world through your website, logo, color scheme and social media platforms. Providing a solid, familiar brand is crucial, if you desire your target audience to know, remember and trust you. If consumers are familiar with your brand and they trust it, they will be more likely to hire you.??

Remember These Tips

Once you have created, refined and presented your law firm’s branding, here are some helpful hints to stay engaged with your audience:

• Stay connected with your clients, colleagues and the community to keep in tune with the market and continue growing.
• Be consistent, ensuring that every ad campaign, social media post, community notice and website pages shows evidence of your brand.
• Let your brand soak into everything you do. Your brand’s distinct, core message should shine in your services, emails, and in every client interaction.?
• Include your entire team in spreading your brand message. Gain ideas from your staff as to making improvements in communicating it.
• Keep learning and listening to your clients. Listen to the reviews and communication they offer, and learn from this free and helpful feedback.
• Always advance. As the market changes, you may need to make minor adjustments in your brand. This does not mean you must bend to every trend that comes along; just keep watching for ways you can adapt to an ever-changing market.

How Do You Create a Brand for a Law Firm?

Creating a brand for a law firm is a long but important process that requires lots of patience to get right. Below are some things to consider when looking to create effective law firm branding.

Consider Your Skills and Motivations

To create an effective overall law firm brand, it is crucial for every lawyer in your firm to develop their own personal brand. This involves each lawyer thinking about why they practice law and how they can help people with their legal issues. With this information, you can then start to develop an understanding of what makes you different from other law firms, and use this as a basis on which to focus your branding efforts.

Focus on Brand Messaging

After thinking about these personal brands, determine your brand’s core message, and take steps to share it. This involves combining the personal brands of each lawyer in your firm into clear messaging that reflects your firm’s values and consistently sharing these messages with your target audience in a way that seems authentic and unique, while also unifying all the lawyers in your firm. When developing this messaging, use concise but attention-grabbing language to garner interest from potential clients. This is a time-consuming process that you can complete by brainstorming with other lawyers in your firm and speed up by seeking external support from branding experts.

What Color Is Associated With a Lawyer?

According to?Score Association , 93% of customers consider branding colors as one of the key factors that determine their purchasing decisions. Due to this, it is vital to determine what colors are suitable for law branding and to choose an appropriate color scheme for your firm’s branding. Below are some common colors associated with lawyer branding, alongside why this is the case:

• Blue:?This is a popular choice among law firms, with many individuals stating that this is their favorite color. People often associate blue with confidence, success, power, and trust. As clients prefer to work with lawyers that they think are trustworthy, adding blue into your firm’s branding can be useful for gaining new clients.
• Red:?Many firms use red in their lawyer branding as it conveys action and passion. Typically, a law firm may apply red to a call to action to encourage prospective clients to act quickly. It also helps to convince potential customers that your firm plans to act on their cases promptly.
• Orange and yellow:?These colors help convey warmth and optimism. They are useful for reassuring clients that your firm plans to handle their cases to the best of your ability.
• Gray and black:?Law firms often use these colors as they combine well with other palettes. These colors are also useful when a firm wants to highlight something in particular on their website, while also maintaining a sense of professionalism and quality.

Due to the above points, it can be useful to apply a combination of colors to your law branding. Moreover, think carefully about where to apply specific colors to your law firm’s website to convey the ideal message to prospective clients.

How Law Quill Can Help You With Branding Your Law Firm

Your law firm’s website is an extension of your law firm’s brand. Law Quill can help you extend that branding on social media, your email list, and throughout the internet through content that matches your law firm’s tone and style.?We have complete branding packages that are created uniquely for each law firm. Find out more here.

If you would like a free consultation regarding how to place content on your law firm’s website that you can then easily turn into videos, we would welcome the opportunity to visit with you for free. Consider reaching out to?schedule an appointment today , listen to the?Legal Marketing Lounge podcast , or check out the bestselling book?Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms from Amazon today!

Annette Choti, Esq. has over twenty years of combined legal and digital marketing experience. She founded Law Quill, a full-service digital marketing agency for law firms and businesses in the United States and Canada. Annette is a sought-after CLE and keynote speaker for Bar Associations and legal events throughout North America. She creates and hosts the?Legal Marketing Lounge?podcast, and is the author of the bestselling book, Click Magnet: The Ultimate Digital Marketing Guide For Law Firms. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so far from the law, if we are all being honest.??