The Power Of Personal Branding With LinkedIn For Lawyers

In a world where legal marketing today is less “power brand” and more “power to the people” and where the significance of social media grows daily, LinkedIn is the place to be.

Imagine attending the world’s largest global legal conference – with relevant content, conversations and clients, right there at your fingertips – every single day. The best part? You can get involved on your own terms, with no financial investment.

LinkedIn offers you a unique opportunity as a legal founder to show up as your authentic self, with purpose and intention. By sharing your mission, insights and values as well as what you stand for, what you do and how – you’re building your very own personal brand and powering up your brand’s online presence.

And I’m here to make the case (pun intended) for Linkedin as the social media platform to do it.

Legal Marketing Has Changed

The legal marketing landscape has evolved from purely company-led branding to people-led marketing and personal branding. But so many marketing fundamentals remain! Building strong relationships based on trust, advocacy, and credibility is going nowhere.

Once upon a time – creating influence through thought leadership was delivered through corporate events and in print media. Today – those ‘thought leaders’ are people, not brands. In the legal services industry, people buy from people and social media offers a glorious opportunity to build real trust through personal storytelling and two-way conversations.

The need for a clear value proposition and a crystal-clear understanding of your ideal customer is as important as ever. Whatever your chosen channel, growing a thriving legal business means communicating who you are, what you do and how you can help – to the right people.

Your Personal and Professional Brands Both Have a Role To Play

LinkedIn Company pages play an important role as the professional presence of the company; they should showcase endorsements and host your corporate communications around your mission, vision and values. With much-needed personality. Let’s take Plume , for example. Their company page is managed with a sense of humour and a distinctive tone of voice.

Want to start conversations? You’ll always get better interaction (conversations) and traction (sales) with individual profiles.

Making personal branding work for both you and the business means using the company page to shine a light on the people who power it and a well-trained team who will also signpost and advocate for your legal business.

Grow your personal brand on LinkedIn and watch the business opportunities come to you.

As a legal founder without the support of a corporate marketing machine, you’d be mistaken into thinking that growing your business will be harder and take longer. But here’s the thing: you are your greatest asset! In the legal world, trust is an important currency and a personal brand delivers oodles of it.

Employ Social Media Superstars & Legal Influencers

By hiring or collaborating with social media superstars, or dare I say it – ‘LinkedInfluencers’ – you’re essentially leasing that person’s brand to help grow the company. By bringing in legal professionals with personal online brands, you encourage others in the team to take up the challenge, too. The more collective reach you have online, the more impact and influence you have as a business. People in your team with visible personal brands can also act as brand ambassadors, share insights and engage with a broader audience.

Become a Thought Leader

If trust is currency then thought is your super-currency. Consistently publishing content that shares your unique point of view, experience and expertise strategically positions you as a thought leader. And in a noisy sea of sameness, it helps you stand out from the crowd, attract followers and create new writing, speaking and collaboration opportunities.

Boost Visibility and Generate Leads

Nobody’s going to invest in your services if you’re not front of mind. Sorry, not sorry. Let me remind you of two things, though. People buy from people BUT you don’t have to please everyone. By showing up and demonstrating your personality and values – you can turn enough followers into fans. And by being clear about what you offer and how you approach that work, you can turn those fans into leads.

Build Credibility and Trust with Social Proof

As human beings, we look to others to reassure us that we’re making the right buying decision. There’s no better place than LinkedIn to display authentic endorsements, testimonials, and recommendations which serve as social proof of your expertise and reliability. By leveraging your personal brand to showcase what you do and how – you nudge people into taking the leap from lurker to lead.

You CAN succeed with personal branding in spite of the challenges

In the world of legal, there’s a word we fear more than any other and that’s risk. Throughout my decades of legal marketing experience I’ve seen weepworthy guidelines and policies that create more risk than reward.

But as a legal founder today, the greatest risk to your business is not showing up. Let us embark on a whistle-stop tour of the very real concerns I’ve seen and how you can navigate them.

Corporate Concerns

Your more traditional, corporate clients often seek the comfort and assurance of an established corporate brand rather than individual personalities. You can mitigate this by also using your personal brand to signpost your corporate Linkedin page – and your services, testimonials and expertise on show.

Managing Freedom on Social Media

Yes, the idea of individual expression and creative freedom can feel risky and nerve-wracking but knowledge is power. Equipping yourself with the best practice principles and platform knowledge enables you to find a balance between creativity and corporate adherence.

Algorithm Doom and Unpredictable Platform Changes

2024 has been a year of ups and downs when it comes to reach and engagement on Linkedin. There are more users than ever before which means more competition for eyeballs. And as it grows, Linkedin continues to tweak the platform and the algorithm itself.

But a word of warning: virality does not a growing business make! Consistent content and conversations with the right people does. Especially when combined with a solid understanding of the platform fundamentals.

Overcoming the “Ick”

Does the thought of showing up and being visible to your industry make you cringe? Then I’ve got good and bad news for you. Having a clear purpose and plan for your posts empowers you to demonstrate your influence and expertise with confidence. But here’s a little secret for you. It’s completely normal to have nerves or stage fright. You’re putting yourself out there. Just like experienced actors will tell you, if you care – you’ll still get those butterflies and tingles of worry every now and again. I do! But that’s ok. The key is to show up and post anyway. Sometimes that post can turn out to be one that resonates most with your audience.

Don’t fling spaghetti at the wall: post with a strategy

So now you know: leveraging Linkedin for leads is possible, despite the challenge. But it needs to go way beyond having an up-to-date profile. There are three pillars of success – strategic, purposeful posting and optimising your content for the platform.

Strategic Planning

How do you know if growing your personal brand on Linkedin is working? Because you’re hitting your business goals. First stop – define those juicy business goals. Only then can you measure and refine your approach in order to evolve, along with the platform.

Secondly – how can you know what to say if you don’t know who you’re speaking to and what they need from you?

Three’s the magic number here and it ends with you. Your personal brand is all about knowing who you are, what you do and what you offer to your clients – in a way that’s relevant to your audience.

Intentional Positioning

Developing a robust content strategy means focusing on key themes you want to write about and be known for, identifying the sorts of stories you want to share and how often.

This is where you get to really zero in on your unique positioning. Sure, lots of people do what you do – but nobody does it the way you do. What are you the go-to for?

Content and Profile Optimization

Make sure you go beyond using all the key features available – use your content and profile to strategically attract, engage and convert potential clients. Leveraging the right content types and formatting will help you to make friends with the algorithm and reach as many ideal clients as possible.

The power of Investing in LinkedIn Training

I bring good news, my legal friend. In this regulated industry that can make it hard to feeI like the risk is greater than the reward – I can show you the way. I can help you navigate the professional obligations and client confidentiality to create a personal brand that powers up your business, adds value to your ideal customer and keeps the SRA smiling.

My roots are very firmly in the legal industry and working with lawyers. I have held senior marketing roles across the market, from BigLaw to The Bar to a dynamic female-founded start-up scale-up business. Then my own personal brand and visibility enabled me to launch this very business.

I can build you a roadmap to success and a pathway to purpose. You don’t have to go it alone. My strategic branding session influences your bespoke personal branding workshop – which will give you everything you need to build your legal founder brand on Linkedin.

Growth of any kind is not linear. Over the next 3 months, we’ll catch up regularly to discuss progress and assess what’s working and what’s not. Just as importantly, we’ll celebrate your wins and build on them.

Arm yourself with training and support from someone (me) who has been using LinkedIn as a business tool for longer than she cares to admit.

Book a discovery call today and let’s see if we’re a good fit.