Lawyer Branding Ideas: Why Your Law Firm Needs a Powerful Brand

If you’re already here at the Enchanting Lawyer, you don’t need me to convince you how important it is to build and maintain a brand for your law firm.

Personal branding is self-advocacy. Your brand is ultimately your reputation. Clients are often drawn to specific law firms because they want to work with a specific lawyer based on what they’ve heard about their work. Putting out your own authentic brand as an attorney helps you attract more of the types of clients you want the most to grow your practice.

A strong personal and professional brand helps your law firm:

• Establish your expertise and authority in your field
• Build trust among your target audience
• Earn you the respect of potential clients
• Attract more clients who need your services
• Increases your earning potential and career opportunities

If you build a strong enough brand, you could find yourself invited to speak on podcasts, lectures, or other workshops related to your expertise. As I’ve grown my own personal brand, I’ve had some truly amazing opportunities to meet and work with incredible industry leaders.

But it’s no longer enough for your brand to simply be memorable. You must also promise some sort of unique value proposition to stand out from the crowd and grow your reach.

To nurture a successful personal brand for yourself as an attorney, you must consider:

1. How do you want to characterize your personal brand?
2. What is the unique value proposition that you bring to the table?
3. What platforms will you use to grow your personal brand?

Client acquisition doesn’t have to involve sinking thousands of dollars into paid advertising for lukewarm leads that require their own part-time job to convert.

Instead, if you’re smart with your business development, you can find out where your ideal clients hang out and target them with value you know they will appreciate. The leads you can cultivate through these channels are much more likely to hire you after seeking you out.

1. Characterizing Your Personal Brand

People respond to authenticity. Your personal brand should reflect who you are and the type of lawyer you aspire to be. Attorneys often work extensively on a personal basis with their clients. You want to attract the type of client who connects with what you’re genuinely passionate about. That way you’ll find clients you enjoy working with and vice versa.
Be clear and authentic when building your brand. Have a coordinated strategy for how you want to present yourself. It’s critical to make an emotional connection with your ideal clients so that they feel compelled to reach out to you over another lawyer they don’t know at all.

Considering How to Present Your Brand? Ask Yourself:

• What are the main services you provide?
• What types of clients are you trying to reach?
• What are your clients’ pain points that you’re trying to solve?
• What are your core values and passions both in and outside of the law?
• What are your unique gifts and special skillsets?
• What can you confidently say you do better than most people?
• How would you want people to describe you after you’ve left the room?

For lawyers and law firms, consider what adjectives you’d like people to associate with your practice. Are you aggressive, passionate, determined, dogged, pragmatic, trustworthy, empathetic, discreet, level-headed, or a combination?

Make sure to identify your target market and tailor your brand to them specifically. The biggest mistake attorneys make when marketing their brand is to target the broadest market they can think of. When you do this, you become a generalist competing with specialists.

It’s much harder to get traction with a general audience than a narrowly-tailored one. Write down in detail how your ideal client looks and acts – then speak directly to that person.

Once you’ve nailed down your brand, commit to it. Make sure your branding and voice shine through on every website page, profile, and platform you’re on. Keep branding consistent with chosen design elements like your logo and brand colors.

2. Identifying Your Unique Value Proposition

Once you’ve nailed down your brand, consider the unique value proposition you bring to the table. What is your distinct angle? What makes you personally stand out from every other trustworthy, passionate, or pragmatic attorney out there?

If someone were to walk away remembering only one thing about you, what would you want it to be? Don’t be afraid to really lean into what makes you unique.

• Do you have any special skills or talents that give you an advantage?
• Do you have any additional degrees or certifications in a relevant area?
• Has your career path given you unique insights into your field?
• Do you have beneficial industry connections that others may not?

When it comes to personal branding, be humble, sure – but don’t be shy about your accomplishments. This is the time for you to show off and shine.

3. Finding the Right Channels to Target

Now, this part is key. You need a targeted strategy to grow your brand. If you have a general strategy that involves Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Yelp, Google Business, Twitter, and Instagram all at the same time, it’s going to be much harder for you to make significant progress on any one platform when you’re spread so thin.

Pick one or two platforms and stick to them. Move on to other platforms only after you’ve mastered one that you’re already on or determined it’s not working for you.

When picking a channel, focus on your target market. Try to get into the mindset of your ideal client. Even better, do some research online. Consider:

• How does your ideal client prefer to communicate?
• What types of media does your ideal client consume the most?
• What social channels does your ideal client use and spend the most time?

Finding the right channels is critical. If you’re putting out incredible value on Twitter but your target market spends all their time on LinkedIn, your brand won’t get very far.

How can you tell? Search for some of your ideal clients on different social media platforms. See whether your target market uses that platform and how. Are they congregating in Facebook groups or meeting over a subreddit? The platform should inform your branding strategy.

Sometimes you’ll find yourself in the unique situation of being an early adopter on a new platform. In 2020, some early-adopting attorneys hit it out of the park on TikTok. Currently, there’s a lot of potential on the new Clubhouse app.

If a new social or networking platform appears to be taking off, getting in early can help cement your audience before your competition comes along.

What has been your branding experience? Comment below!