Law Firm Brand Marketing

Building a powerful law firm brand can amplify legal marketing efforts

Why is your law firm any different from all the others I have to choose from?

That is the question on the minds of the person who needs law firm representation on a specific matter – most often the one they are searching for online. The answer should be hardwired into a law firm through its brand.

Branding is the total package of visuals, messaging, values, and experiences that leaves a lasting and cohesive impression on audiences. It should communicate the law firm’s values and what it stands for. The brand should indicate how the firm treats and respects clients. It should communicate a sense of the unique aspect of the law firm. When a brand achieves this, that perplexed online searcher will find solace in the brand’s resounding answer.

While many brands may focus on some form of “fighting for you” as their tag line, there’s more to law firm banding than a snappy slogan. It’s about showcasing the firm’s strengths, values, and personality. Consistently. Everywhere.

Jump to: Brand plan Digital branding Brand promise

The AMA (American Marketing Association) defines branding this way: “A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” The key concept here is distinction.

Law firm brand differentiation & brand identity

Whether the firm is Biglaw, Littlelaw, or JustTheRightSizelaw, branding is essentially differentiating that law firm from all the others. Not an easy trick with more than 421,000 law firms in the United States.

The iPhone’s brand identity is being the coolest smartphone. Rolex may or may not be the most prestigious watch, as the field of prestigious watches changes. So does the field of law practice branding. Constraints of style and decorum that once dominated legal branding are fading away. Lawyers might smash things with a sledgehammer on YouTube to demonstrate that their brand will destroy the opposing counsel’s arguments.

The name of the game? To communicate that a law firm is better or different than others, and branding can help by making potential clients feel that. Even if a company seems to own a brand differentiator, there’s always a way to differentiate by the way the brand is communicated.

Rolls Royce: the most luxurious car on the planet.

BMWi7: the most luxurious electric car that saves the planet.

Of course, law firms are often very similar. So finding a singular distinction is not possible all the time, or necessary. “First law firm in the state to win a $10 million class action judgment,” isn’t a bad one. Neither is, “A staff of lawyers as diverse as our city.”

Differentiation and identity can also be forged from the way a brand handles it in language and style. “We make your case our cause,” is a simple, heartfelt statement – and already being used by several firms, for good reason. We often counsel law firms to go for a brand distinction of broad simplicity that’s durable.

Planning & developing law firm branding

Brands don’t spring to life on their own. Developing a brand takes effort determining first, what the law firm is, then second, what it wants to project. Brand development is often the first step in a law firm’s marketing plan.

Who are you? Every law firm has its own culture, and the firm’s personality stems from that unique culture. Being honest about that is an excellent basis for organic branding.

Law firm mission statement & values

Mission statements can help elucidate a law practice’s brand, while also reinforcing it internally. A brand is nothing if it isn’t known and embraced by all in the firm. Similarly, vision statements can also help reinforce a brand.

If community involvement is part of a firm’s objective (an admirable one potential and current clients appreciate), that should be part of its mission statement. But a mission statement may not have capacity for all of a firm’s admirable objectives. They need to be promoted in other ways such as on the firm’s website and in its social media.

Vanguard’s site visit hones a practice’s brand name

A cleareyed view isn’t always easy, or possible, from an internal perspective. A central tenant of Vanguard’s LawMarketLink program is helping a new law practice client hone its brand name. We find that most firms have put some effort into this area already but need an outside perspective to refine and instill a consistent approach.